1980 SR250 - Gravel and Backroads Runner

I finally made some minor progress over the last couple of evenings bending up sheet metal to make a battery box and electrics tray for under the seat. I still have to figure out the best way to mount the battery box and will have the joints welded up on the electrics tray, but these pics will give the general idea. I'll paint them black once I'm done with the fab work.







 
I had a pretty good weekend working on the bike. I picked up some signal lights and tail lights off Kijiji from a dude in town that worked out pretty well. I had originally thought that a small round tail light was the ticket, but then I mounted the LED cat eye and I think it fit the lines of the rear end much better. I also got down to business making some brackets to mount up the fenders. I'm really happy with how the front fender turned out that I got from Jadus. My electrical box is off at my buddies putting the finishing touches on it with the TIG welder. Here are a few photos of where I'm heading... I think that the dualsport tires that I'm planning to get will really make a difference and pull it all together.







 
No idea on the speedo drive sorry mate :(
 

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magazine said:
Looks fantastic. I would really like an electronics tray like that!

Hi Magazine,

It's not that difficult to build and if you want to give it a try I can scan the template I created and send it to you...

Let me know!
 
JadusMotorcycleParts said:
No idea on the speedo drive sorry mate :(

RATS! No problem at all but THANK YOU for looking. I ordered a 1400:60 KPH so I will soon find out if I'm correct.
 
I was looking for some off-road oriented pegs a while ago, so a buddy of mine gave me some pegs of his 80's vintage XT250 to see if they would fit the SR. It's really hard to believe that these pegs are what was used for off-road use in the 80's! They are sooooo small; It's not a surprise why he chose to replace them with a modern peg. The first pic is the XT peg beside the SR peg...

I drilled the post out of the stock SR peg and the XT pegs bolted up with no issue... I'll probably keep them for the time being, but it's good to know that the XT pegs are a straight swap so I can replace them with a modern peg at some point down the road. A coat of black paint and they should look sweet...




 
Yeah, the offroad pegs from that era were unbelievable, same on my XL250. Haven't ridden with mine yet so I don't know how they'll work out.
 
I was killing some time this morning and decided to mount a small round tail light to see how it looked compared to the LED cat eye light. My first impression was the cat eye fit the bill but now I'm second guessing. The round tail light fits well with the round head light and signals, however the cat eye fills the space around the rear hoop better.... I'm sure I will change my mind again once I get the seat made but it's fun to experiment in the meantime.

I'm looking for comments/ opinions on what you think looks better!







 
Looking like a super fun project. I was never a fan of that particular cat eye. The round looks much better, unless... you fit that cat eye between the fender and the hoop. Hmm...

Are you concerned about knocking those turn signals off the first time you drop er?
 
MORK said:
Looking like a super fun project. I was never a fan of that particular cat eye. The round looks much better, unless... you fit that cat eye between the fender and the hoop. Hmm...

Are you concerned about knocking those turn signals off the first time you drop er?

Thanks Mork! It should be a fun bike to ride once it's done... it feels VERY small even compared to my KTM 200.

What ever do you mean by "drop er"?? :) I almost never crash when I'm riding off-road. hahaha You're right though... the signals are a touch wide and will probably be moved more in-board to avoid the inevitable. I mounted them there because I found a pair of brackets that worked perfectly over the shock mounts.

Thanks for the comments!
 
I started working on cleaning, servicing and lowering the forks on the weekend. Through experiences/ challenges diassebmling forks in the past I decided to remove the lower bolt first, before removing the top cap. The thought being that the preloaded spring will help hold the damper rod from spinning. If you pull the top cap off first you usually require the specialized tool to hold the damper rod. Instead I improvised a little with an old 8mm allen key that I cut and used a 8mm nut driver in my cordless impact gun... voila! The bolts spun out no problem:



The next step was getting the top caps out... what a hassle. I haven't had the opportunity to work on forks that didn't have a threaded top cap. After consulting the shop manual I learned that you have to push the cap down while digging out a spring retaining clip with a small flat head screwdriver. As you would expect on a bike of this age, the caps were well rusted making removal a challenge. Again, I had to devise a method to hold the cap down to free up both hands so I could work the retaining clip out. With a couple old sockets, a C-Clamp and the vise I was able to press the cap down so I could dig out the clips.





Once the clips are out the caps "should" pop out. One of my caps was rusted in pretty tight and had to soak the cap with PJ Blaster. After a day of soaking and a few hits on a block of wood the caps popped out. At this point I dumped the old oil and cleaned up the internals. The next stage was to lower the forks 1.5" which is accomplished by inserting a spacer on the damper rod under the top out spring. After finalizing the length of the spacers, I removed the exact same length of off the fork spring. Cutting the spring was a relatively easy task with a reinforced cut-off disc on my dremel.





While the forks are apart I'm going to take the opportunity to clean up the lowers with a brass wire wheel on my bench motor.
 
Subscribed. Just out of curiosity, have you been measuring to make sure the frame is straight while you're chopping it up and welding in new metal? If so, what method are you using? It looks like the fender is sitting a little crooked but maybe it's just my eyes or the camera angle.
 
Hellapet said:
Subscribed. Just out of curiosity, have you been measuring to make sure the frame is straight while you're chopping it up and welding in new metal? If so, what method are you using? It looks like the fender is sitting a little crooked but maybe it's just my eyes or the camera angle.

Hi Hellapet,

I have not been taking any measurements with the frame, but really haven't removed too much that might change the geometry. When I cut and replaced the rear hoop the main cross members remained in place and it tact. It is conceivable that things have moved marginally, but it's more likely that the fender is sitting a little cockeyed. (I assume you're referring to the rear fender) Most of the parts are just mocked up at the moment so I can get a better feel for the overall look before I commit to the final location. Thanks for catching that... I will have a closer look next time I'm working on the bike. I have to clean up the look of the the rear fender anyway!

Thanks for the comments!
 
sbruton said:
Hi Hellapet,

I have not been taking any measurements with the frame, but really haven't removed too much that might change the geometry. When I cut and replaced the rear hoop the main cross members remained in place and it tact. It is conceivable that things have moved marginally, but it's more likely that the fender is sitting a little cockeyed. (I assume you're referring to the rear fender) Most of the parts are just mocked up at the moment so I can get a better feel for the overall look before I commit to the final location. Thanks for catching that... I will have a closer look next time I'm working on the bike. I have to clean up the look of the the rear fender anyway!

Thanks for the comments!

No problem, it would be a shame to get the bike together and then find out it no longer rides straight. Also, it's possible that the bike has seen some impact force in its 36 years that may have changed its geometry a bit. Not sure you ever mentioned it but, did you ride the bike before dismantling it?
 
I did ride it a bit, but not extensively. Generally speaking the bike didn't show any signs of abuse or evidence that it was in a wreck... I'm sure that what you are seeing is that the fender is a bit skewed.
 
Nice build so far.

If you haven't put your fork tubes back together yet, consider putting a 90 degree (or so) bend into one end of those clips so they are easier to get out the next time you have to take them apart. I had to take my forks back apart to make changes and was glad I did it, for sure.
 
ridesolo said:
Nice build so far.

If you haven't put your fork tubes back together yet, consider putting a 90 degree (or so) bend into one end of those clips so they are easier to get out the next time you have to take them apart. I had to take my forks back apart to make changes and was glad I did it, for sure.

Hi ridesolo,

Thanks for the comments and the exellent tip! Most appreciated...
 
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