Riding the latest bike home

Khaos

Cafe Racer in Cardiff, Wales
The GPZ305 cafe racer is now home with me - would have had her last night, but when we tried to start her.... nothing. Problem was crap in the float bowls, stale petrol and low charge.

Today, she starts on the button - so she got ridden home. And the first thing I've found is that she definitely was not jetted to suit the cheapy crappy pod filters fitted to her! Got a busy day tomorrow, but the first chance I get I'm going to whip them off to check for restriction and carve/junk if necessary. Then it'll be off for a rejet and carb balancing. She bogs down at 4k and it's heartbreaking - but spot on with the experience of other GPZ305 riders, as is the very slight hesitation on the throttle until the setup is right. She's running leaner than an anorexic supermodel with diarrhea right now :(

And the speedo reads 20 when she's doing 30, and 30 when she's doing 40. No danger of me getting a speeding ticket at the moment :D My right shoulder looks amazing when I'm riding her as well. I know this, because the custom (fixed) mirror shows it to me. And nothing else! Thankfully I've got folding bar end mirrors already on order. The mirror is actually directly over the throttle, and close enough to it to restrict access to the brake when trying to grab a handful! It's SO gone. The miniature indicators do nothing for me either - but I'd already bought some in, and their styling matches the aftermarket headlight - so when they're painted to match (still thinking about the colour scheme) they'll look great. I'd alrought bought some nicer brackets as well, but since they're going on this bike now :D

What there is, though - is a great deal of promise here. She's never going to break land speed records - the original bike was light, this is lighter, she's got a better exhaust, (hopefully) less restrictive filters and with the right jetting she'll be lovely. She's stable, but easily flickable with the low weight and she's going to be fantastic on twisty back lanes. She'll do the ton, but I reckon not too much more - but above all, she's going to put a HELL of a smile on my face. Although it was only a short ride to fetch her home I can already tell that the riding position mainly suits me, once the brake pedal's modified to suit I'll be able to munch miles. Spring/summer 2017 are going to be great.
 
Make sure the carbs are clean, get some proper filters on, give her a proper tune up and I bet you're off to the races. Great little bike. Would imagine your speedo vs actual speed differential may be due to non-stock sprocket ratio. Good luck!
 
coyote13 said:
Make sure the carbs are clean, get some proper filters on, give her a proper tune up and I bet you're off to the races. Great little bike. Would imagine your speedo vs actual speed differential may be due to non-stock sprocket ratio. Good luck!

Yeah, going to use some disk brake cleaner on the carbs (use sparingly, it's a damn powerful solvent - sprayed into air filters it cleans beautifully), change the suspicious looking pod filters, I'm sorting out jet kits for Keihin CV32's (dynojet don't make a kit any more, boo!), the speedo runs off the front wheel and the size is standard, it's just a crap aftermarket speedo. I'll get a replacement sorted - probably go for something off a naked Kwak from the same era with the same wheel size.

The bike came with the standard airbox (in a carrier bag!), so that may have to go back on temporarily. But - let's see how it goes. Hopefully like a little pocket rocket once she's running right ;)
 
You could also look at an electronic combo gauge to get rid of the mechanical cable drive. Not sure what's available that would suit the styling, but a simple TrailTech Vapor would be fairly inconspicuous. There are also some simple and cheap tacho's with digital speedo in a single round case that might work too.
 
teazer said:
You could also look at an electronic combo gauge to get rid of the mechanical cable drive. Not sure what's available that would suit the styling, but a simple TrailTech Vapor would be fairly inconspicuous. There are also some simple and cheap tacho's with digital speedo in a single round case that might work too.

I'd rather stick with the mechanical gauges for the look to be honest - standard 2240rpm:60mph gauge for speedo, 1:1.5 for the tacho - Ideally I'll find a BIG tacho and a small speedo, or I may go speedo only to try and clean up the front end. I've got carbon fibre sheet ready to make a new mount (apparently it... "fell" off one of those Handley Page Victors the government scrapped before they even made it into the air, but that's another story). It's still a bucketload cheaper to buy mechanical gauges than good quality digi tachos and speedos, and with them you've got the bum ache of fitting magnets and sensors.
 
Well Eff me.

I had a chance to whoosh the bike down to a rolling road tuner, so went for it.

And she died on the way.

Fair play to my mate Big Paul, he picked me and the bike up, and got us the rest of the way. In an effort to sort the bike's running out, rather than fit the right bloody jets, the jizzwrangling twunt brother of last owner had "modified" the filters... by stuffing lumps of foam rubber inside. Of course, I give the bike a run and open her up... and initially she's revving cleanly. Then the foam rubber gets sucked into the carbs mid journey... and she goes slower... and slower... so before anything silly happened I pulled her over.

A bigger battery is required - when spunkpuffin was "improving" the bike, he squeezed a smaller battery into the tool tray under the seat hump, just about suitable for a single cyl 125, no good for this bike. That'll be done next. There's room for a bigger battery - the small unit was held in place by wedging in the starter relay next to it - so with that bolted properly in place elsewhere, plenty of space for the right unit.

Small steps. It's annoying that I'm dealing with other peoples' bodges (one person in particular). It's like there was more concern over looks than on having a running motorcycle.

Now the good news - the engine is actually in good condition, runs sweetly, just needs the carbs fettled, and she'll be sorted. She'll be back with me in a couple of days. Then it'll be a case of trying another shakedown run. Fun times :)
 
She's back from Two Wheels- Dean has done a great job. They thought she was fun, and they're spot on. You have to work the gears, she's only a few bhp up on stock, but lighter than the standard GPZ305 which helps. Balance is good, and flickability too. Gearing is slightly taller than the standard 305, but acceleration seems a little faster (due to diet and power tweak I guess) and top end is higher.

I took her on a test ride around the industrial estate where two wheels live in Bridgend, and she was rather good fun. The ride back was a little more restrained, keeping to the speed limits ;). The ton is easily doable, motorway cruising is going to be fine as well.

The only arse in the situation is the battery. While she's running she's fine, but despite being charged earlier she didn't have enough oomph to even turn the starter when I got home- I wanted to fire her up for one of the neighbours (despite lights and horn working fine). She needs a bigger battery anyway, I'm thinking it's a blown cell causing the problems - hoping it's not the alternator! - so tomorrow I'm going to order a larger capacity battery. After that, if it's alternator then so be it. Another bump in the road.
 
Check the voltage at the battery terminals whilst the engine is running. You should have between 13.5-14.5 volts when the bike is revving at 5K. If it's low or fluctuating it could be loose / bad wiring, if it's not charging at all it could be RR or stator or both.
 
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