'75 Suzuki GT250 cafe/brat/bob type thing

dan74

New Member
Hello,
This is my first attempt at a custom road bike. I was originally on the lookout for an old CB400 to chop but this popped up at a very good price so thought it might be a cheaper project and a good base to learn on as a first project. It was a non runner and needed completely rewiring and it was sporting some pretty nasty accessories.
There was no real plan other than to shorten the frame and remove unsightly objects. Ive saved a few pics from this and other forums for inspiration and pretty much making it up as I go along.

Here's the bike as I bought it
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And here's where I'm at.
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So far it's pretty much standard mods apart from the seat which was originally intended as a bolt on stop-gap until I got around to welding a seat loop in but I kind of like it now. I think I'll ride it like this for a while before making the decision.

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I'm going to change the rear light for something a bit more vintage looking but this will do for the time being. It just needs tuning up now. The previous owner said it kept flooding but turns out the petcock was dripping fuel out continuously and he had the float levels set all wrong, miles out in fact. I rebuilt the tap and both carbs and now it fires up but doesn't run great, but not bad since the last time it was on the road was 1980!
 
What were you planning for pipes? And follow up to that, were you running it without pipes when you determined it ran badly? This question is not intended as an insult.

I like the build. We have one of these in the family and I've always wanted to do something with it.
 
jlgace said:
What were you planning for pipes? And follow up to that, were you running it without pipes when you determined it ran badly? This question is not intended as an insult.

I like the build. We have one of these in the family and I've always wanted to do something with it.

Ha ha yes it does have pipes, they were just soaking in caustic soda when I took the pics. Turned out the baffles were wrong when I inspected them so probably didn't help with the running. I stripped the carbs down and discovered a long list of issues, wrong throttle sliders, float bowls were mixed up and a couple of airways were clogged. I had a mechanic rebuild them for me with the correct parts as the Mikuni carb kits I bought were really bad and the o-rings were all wrong. So now its running and I'm on the road. Still need to decide about the seat but for now I'm riding it like this and having fun :)
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