SR250 Brat/Street Tracker - First Build (aka Little Trouble Kid)

Had it to 130 today. It was 35c out and humid. It was a cooker but it was running so well today.

Tomorrow I'll try the 155 main jet and put the needle back to two lines showing. See if it runs a bit smoother on the top end.

My plug looks a lot darker than hours. I'm a bit of a reject when it comes to plugs since I'm colour blind. Orange is easy to see but tan or brown lol...
 
What did you alter regarding your jetting? I went up 2 on the pilot and 1 on the main (mixture screw 1,5 turns out), but i guess i'll have to start over when i'll be using the K&N. Best response i had was +1 on the pilot and the mixture screw out 2,5 turns, everything else stock. But this makes your plugs look orange, so don't really know if it's a good thing :) Did have a constant popping from the exhaust on decel, no matter what the jetting was.
 
The only alteration right now is a 145 main jet and one line showing on the needle. I want to try a 155 main but out the needle down a step.

That essentially gives me a fatter top end bit theoretically and similar mid range fuel delivery.
 
Sorry for the delay, but i had to finish everything for powdercoat. I already used up half of my vacation for reassembly, so i've got this week left to finish up. She's looking sweet already, but before i show you guys anything i have to start with the story of the teardown :)
I'll try to condense it a bit.

The bike came with a centerstand, but since the bike is so low, it's a p.i.t.a to mount, so i always wanted to install a sidestand. Since i'm a cheapskate (al have a lot of extra material lying around) i decided to build this one myself:

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You can see the rusted and abused frame, and the rear shocks were no different. So next up was the teardown, paint and rebuild of the rear shocks.
Because i value my face i built a safety device to compress the shocks without the risk of losing teeth and/or eyes in the process: just 2 pieces of wood with the correct holes cut in them, 2 threaded rods, 2 nails and a pair of nuts.

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Disassembled and masked. Ready for some paint:

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Had to repaint twice due to paint not sticking to sanded chrome and scratching, but eventually got the result i was after:

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This also shows the color scheme for the rest of the bike: black, with a dash of chrome and gunmetal grey.

Received a first of many orders in the mail, the speedo and headlight:

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Marked al the tabs with tape and spent the next two nights detabbing and sanding the frame:

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After detabbing i took a shot at removing al the wiring and electrical stuff. I'm planning on replacing most of the wiring, but for easy of reassembly i marked every connection with it's own type and number:

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And the spaghetti bowl:

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Had a test fit with the new 4" headlight (but the custom bracket didn't survive the test phase, too much vibration on this one):

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Bit by bit the bike started loosing some weight and parts:

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Spent the next 2 weeks trying to remove the bearings from the wheels, but nothing really worked. Tried to do the anchor bolt trick, but this one only worked with a lot of heat and a nice, hard tap with the hammer:

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After struggling with the removal of the tires i marked the spoke pattern with some tape and took a lot of photos:

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Got some more goodies from the mailman:

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Next up was the front end. The forks were yellowed and the triple tree lost it's paint. I wanted to get them powder coated, along with the rest of the frame and rims, but failed to remove the soft blocks, to decided to sandblast and paint them myself.

Before:

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After sandblasting and masking:

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(The box in the lower right corner is for the battery)

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And finally everything got a nice coat of Satin Black VHT Epoxy paint (Rollbar & Chassis):

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The gas tank got a bad rattle can job from the previous owner, so whatever i did to it, it couldn't be worse than this.
It's a shame he couldn't leave the dented blue tank alone, so the paintstripper would also strip the factory paint from the XS tank.

Before stripping and sanding:

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After the paint stripper did it's job:

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The p.o. already filled some dents with body filler, so i marked all the little dents and scratches and tried my best to straighten out the tank:

Right after filling:

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After wet sanding with 800grit:

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(As for the rust, it was treated inside the tank, and the outside got treated right before priming. The self etching primer also acts as a rust inhibitor)


Some more goodies. The mailman is becoming my best friend these past few months:

Bar-end mirrors:

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Renthal ultra low:

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K&N Oval tapered filter:

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Decals and bolts:

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A smaller but more powerful Motobatt Gel battery:

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And All Balls USA Wheel and tapered steering head bearings:

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The primed gas tank (VHT Self etching epoxy primer) with a little more bondo and sanding:

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Eventually i primed everything again with some motip 1K primer to make an even base for the metallic paint to stick.



And some new rubbers for the bike. Pirelli city demons:

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I stayed with the stock sizing of 90/90-18 up front and 120/90-16 in the rear. I could have gone up a size in the front, but i'll save that for the next set.

Sorry for the rush in pictures and lack of an explanation, but we're not even halfway and i'm loving the build-part, not the taking-pictures-and-trying-to-come-up-with-some-text-stuff :)

Next post will show the finishing of the tank, all the powder coated parts and start of the assembly
 
Thanks guys! The point of this bike was to learn a lot more about mechanics and fabrication, so i'm trying my best tot do everything myself. For now the only things i outsourced were the powdercoat and saddle upholstery.
 
Nice work mate. The city demons look great.

Ohh an nice job with all the tedious filler work on the tank. It is going to look great when it's all done.
 
Re: SR250 Brat/Street Tracker - First Build (aka Little Trouble Kid) [PIC HEAVY]

Thanks Brodie.

It's been a while again. Spent my holiday trying to finish the bike, then ran into some troubles with the electrics, then got sick, and now she's still waiting to be finished. She's about 90% ready i guess.

So, how did i spend my holiday? Getting up at 7am, getting my hands greasy and quitting at 10pm, every single day for two weeks. Had a lot of problems along the way, but she is turning out nice. First things first, lets start where we left off.

After the filler and primer, the dents were still visible, albeit very faint. So refilled the smaller dents and scratches, and had to reprime because sanding after filling took off some primer to the bare metal.

New coat of primer:

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If you look at it under the wrong lighting conditions, the filler is still a bit visible, but couldn't get to spending more time on it.

After the primer i shot it with some coats of gunmetal grey metallic, and placed the decals: (the tape was for alignment purposes)

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Next up it was time for some shiny protection: 2K clear coat.
First few coats went on fine, but when i wanted to move the tank to the basement for curing, all went downhill.
Got some dust, spidereggs (!!) and all sorts of crap in there. So tried to get out most of it and respray the spots because the top coat was still wet.
The final results after curing were one drip (from the respray), 2 black particles under the layer of clearcoat, and no (or not enough) clearcoat under one side of the tank, but all in all it's not that bad. Lesson learned for the respray during winter season ;)

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Love those flakes, shame for the dirt and drips:

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Vinyl is a bit thick too:

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The drip:

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Then my holiday started and i got a phone call from my powdercoat guy: my parts were ready. Just in time!
A nice, thick, satin black. Everything looked brand new. Only had to spent 4 days getting of the protective plates and nuts, including the liquid sealant. This was the hardest to come off, and had to use a markingpen to remove it scratch by scratch.

Fresh powdercoated pieces:

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When all was ready to be mounted, i started with the wheels. Respoking, truing and balancing, mounting tyres and setting up the brakes.
Lost quite some time on this one. Had the spokes on backwards (pattern), so had to redo the rear wheel. Truing went well. The maximum horizontal and vertical runout was 2mm. Had to spent 2 evenings on this one, but got it down to +0.7 and -0.7mm, so maximum runout was 1.4mm.
Mounting the wheels with spoons was another problem. Rear one was doable, but the front one was near impossible. Managed to puncture the inner tube, so had to redo that one, managed to repuncture the tube, had to redo-redo, and two days later i noticed i had a front flat, so decided to take it into the shop and have them fix it for me. 2 minutes later and 30$ lighter all was fixed :)

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All parts coated, wheels built, … Only thing i had to do next was clean the engine, apply a fresh coat of paint and mount everything back together.

Taped off everything that couldn't be painted, cleaned the engine with engine degreaser, sanded some rough spots and went nuts with the VHT engine enamel, satin black:

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Almost brand new:

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To finish it off i used some stainless allen bolts, and semi-polished/sanded the covers and some fins.
So, on to mounting phase one: Frame over the engine, and mounting the front-end:

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She's a roller now:

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Now, this thing will still have to prove itself once i can get her out for a test ride. The battery box is mounted on the swing arm (2 bolts right through). It is a little off-centre, to compensate for the chain, but it's a tight fit. The clearance between the chain is around 6-7mm, and at it's tightest gap, around 4mm. But whatever i try the chain doesn't seem to touch the battery box:

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These springs had to wait a long time, but finally they're back into place and looking like they belong:

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And a first view from the cockpit:

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There were still some things to be manufactured. First up was the bracket for mounting the rear light, made from 2mm sheet steel. The second was a bracket for the front light. This was made out of a 6mm aluminum bracket, because the 2mm sheet had to much vibration from the weight of the front light.

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Only thing left to do now is redoing the wiring, mounting some final pieces and she's ready, right? Wrong. Spent 4 days rewiring all the electrics, then tested it, and some crazy electrical voodoo got hold of the wiring. It's not easy to explain what's wrong with it, and it's quite long, so i'm going to save it for part 2 of this post. For now i think you'll all get by with this pic heavy post ;)
 
Thanks for asking and sorry for the long delay.
Been househunting for the past six months, so she had to wait.

At the moment she is fully assembled (except for oil and gas), but the electrical problem still persists.

I can take some pictures on sunday morning, but there's still no time for finding a solution to her problem :/


(But no worries, i found a house with a large garage/workshop, so there's plenty of space for fixing up bikes ;) )
 
Thanks Desmo! We bought the house, so next spring i'll be all set for fixing more bikes.
Pics will probably follow tomorrow (It's so cold outside the dogs are sticking to the fire hydrants)
 
A little later than promised, but finally the sun came out so i pushed her down the driveway and managed to get a few shots.
She still needs a lot of work (tidying up the wires, mounting turn signals and bar end mirrors, fixing the electrical problems, etc.)
After looking at these images i still think she stands a bit too high on her front legs, from an esthetic point of view.
The parts i like the most are still the seat and the way the tank looks huge compared to it, and the homemade side stand worked out nicely.


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You should research how to lower your forks internally. It's super easy and looks way more put together than slipping your tubes up through the top triple. I did it on my cb750 for the first time ever and I love the way it turned out. Even for a first timer, it was really simple.
 
First of, love the bike man think it turned out fantastic! love the seat and tank combo!


7aliveatlast7 said:
You should research how to lower your forks internally. It's super easy and looks way more put together than slipping your tubes up through the top triple. I did it on my cb750 for the first time ever and I love the way it turned out. Even for a first timer, it was really simple.

Any quick links to these as I also have a cb750 I am working on currently, will do research myself but just curious as to what you might have readily available!
Thanks!
 
Thanks guys. I was thinking about lowering the front forks, but didn't really want to mess too much with suspension.
If you have some info i'll be glad to take a look at it.
 
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