"NEIL" the CB250RS - Novice rural tracker build from the UK.

Gumper

Excellence does not demand perfection.
Hi Guys,

been lurking on here for a while and picked up this a few months ago.

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Yeah, I know...why? Simple, light, chuckable and cheap. That plan is to build a (legal) bike that's lots of fun and very ridable on the local roads in Norfolk UK which are often narrow, bumpy, twisty with the odd bit of wildlife.

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I'll be sticking roughly to the tracker outline, but it's going to be more of a form follows function build. Just so happens the Norfolk is home to Lotus cars, so I'll be doing a Chapman and adding lightness.

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I have a decent sized garage at home and access to a well equipped workshop at work complete with a bike mad toolmaker. I'll be learning how to machine and turn parts as I go on so expect this to be a long build. No doubt I'll be making plenty of mistakes along the way.

I had originally planned on getting the basic bike on the road and riding it for a bit to assess what improvements I could make. But decided against this as much of the original components would fail the MOT thus i'd be wasting time and money.

and so it begins......
 
First off is to sort out the front end. The stanchions are badly pitted. Having priced up re-chroming or new stanchions I've decided to bite the bullet and do a front end swap to something better, lighter with better brakes. But something that will go on relatively easy and allow me to use the original wire wheel with alloy rim.

I've done a little bit of Googling and have just taken delivery of a pair of decent forks complete with yokes from a 90's ZZ-R250 for £60 and caliper, complete with master cylinder , usable pads and braided line for £30. Appropriate ALL BALLS RACING tapered head bearings have been ordered (3-4 week delivery) £40.

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I wanted to see what the bike weighs in it's original form, so with the aftermarket tat removed I pushed her on to the scales.

Front 57.3kg Rear 71.2kg Total 128.5kg (in old money that's Front 126.3lbs Rear 157.0lb Total 283.3lb)

Not bad wet weight (oil & brake fluid) no fuel. Which appears the manufacturers spec of 125kg (275.6lb) dry weight is pretty much spot on.

That's front 44.5% and rear 55.5%.

Be nice to get it sub 120kg (264.5lb) with closer to a 50/50 weight distribution, I doubt if I will, but I don't think it'll be a millions miles away either.

As for me, yeah there's some weigh I can shed there too, but my mass is centralised ::)
 
That's an ideal tool for the Norfolk twistys - sort of Green Laner meets Flat Tracker !

Keep the details coming.

I went down the same route with my K100 Streetfighter - re-chrome stanchions £165 [ including carriage ] - excellent set of forks from K1100 [ including upgrade from 2 pot to 4 pot Brembos ] -£60 off E-Bay ! Bonus was that BMW had rationalised their bearing sizes and it swapped straight in !
 
AMD500 said:
looking good! shame you are loosing that fairing ;) ...don't see that sort of thing much anymore.

i was wondering how the hell it moved with that fairing on......mind you, i've always fancied something like that for the Vmax, kind of a ProStreet effect
 
Works well with a tail wind.... ;D

I'm in the process of sorting my front brake disc and caliper options.

Also managed to machine the front wheel spindle down by 90g (3 1/2oz)

Talking of weight........I realised that I'd taken off one of the shocks and had not included it in the weigh in. It comes in at 1.5kg (3.3lbs) So the revised starting stats are.

Weight 130kg (286.6lbs) Front 57.3kg (126.3lbs) and rear 72.7kg (160.3lbs) that's Fr 44% and Rr 56%.
 
I almost went for this bike as a build. Looking forward to seeing what you are going to do with it.
 
Sorry for my absence guys......been busy (hiding from you Aussies whilst the Rugby World Cup Was on)

Back on this now. So far as my brake set up goes, I'm using a Brembo 2 pot from a CB500 and 276mm disc from a CB900 as it bolts straight on to the hub. I shall be making up a caliper bracket next week (also learning how to use a mill) and I'll be venting the disc too.

Also I know I promised myself not the buy anything until I am ready for it...........

Honda XL250R gearbox by

I plan on slipping in this 6 speed box from a XL250R...goes straight in, looks immaculate and it was cheap on the bay of evil.
 
yes and we are now hiding from the NZealanders.
Your upgrades sound well worth it. I gotta get me some of that shit.
 
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