And then there were two.. 1976 GT250 Rebuild

Hurco550

Hurco550

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Wasnt sure of where to post this as it will not be a true concourse resto by any means, but more of a frame swap/ cleanup. Sorry in advance for the long post, but its my story to tell eh. I know most may just skip to the pictures as I usually do haha It was a few years back when i was about 18 when the vintage motorcycle bug bit me in the form of a 1976 Suzuki GT250. The bike was out for sale a few miles from my house and man was she sexy. Very nice shape for its age, running (though it needs crank seals) and begging to be mine. Talked to the guy and swapped him $75 bucks for my soon to be freedom machine. Before I bought it in my then blissful ignorance he told me that "it doesn't have a title, but you can just go get one." HA to this day I wish it were that easy.

I spent many a afternoon (to my poor mothers dismay) riding that thing up and down the back roads near my house. Of course I had no motorcycle license, the bike had no tags or insurance, and was riding on what are probably the original tires and brake pads... I did wear a helmet though =P

I ended up buying a rough but titled gt250 a few years later on feebay to do a frame swap, but after buying (for far to much money) I got it home and realized that the frame was rusted far beyond repair. Many of the mounting nuts on the frame were rusted to the point of not having threads left. After that point I lost interest in the bike and it has been sitting in dads shop/barn since.

The other day I was thinking about parting the ol girl out and decided to check out craigslist to see if anything comparable was selling as a baseline. During my search I found a Nice, complete titled frame about 2 1/2 hours north of me for $180. The frame for that bike is a 1975 where my nice bike I have is a 1976. My wonderful wife and i went and picked it up Saturday =)

The bike was nice for its age, and the more I am around the ol vintage bikes, the more i realize how lucky I was to find such a solid ol horse. My plan at this point is to fix er back up into a solid vintage rider. No mods planned here besides MAYBE a set of expansion chambers, other than that just a clean old stocker. After that I may ride it for a bit and put her back on the market to fund my other rides. I already told my wife though that i may have a real hard time selling my first vintage bike, so that plan could end up foiled haha.

Here are a few pictures of the bike back when i got it in around 2010 or so.























In my 18 year old wisdom I started taking the ol girl apart to replace crank seals, lost interest, started chasing women and my career, and sadly the bike sat apart at my fathers house for the last 6 years. I just got the bike over here to the shop tonight, and I really hope to finish what a started those years ago. She is not quite as shiney as she was, but i know a little elbow grease, bloody knuckles, and some tender lovin, she will be whole again.



Here is the frame i picked up to swap the bike onto


The mill already out and waiting for a clean up and crank seals


Oh and i forgot to mention, the bike only has 7500 on the clock


I am glad the weather is warming up because the car will no longer fit in the garage =p


I also had a guy contact me that he had a nice nos tank.. I just dont think i can swing the $350 right now, though its probably worth it.


Anyhow, crank seals, gasket set, tapered neck bearings and s.s. engine bolt set are all on the way. Hopefully more progress soon =)
Cheers
 
Re: And then there were two.. 1976 GT250 Rebuld

Looks like it's going to be a fun project. Same thing happened to me with the title thing, so, ya, I feel your pain. I think it's so cool that people have motorcycles when they were younger, they keep them around for years and years, and then dig them out and get them running again. If you need any small parts, let me know. I may have some left over from a GT 380 build I did a couple of years ago :)
 
Re: And then there were two.. 1976 GT250 Rebuld

interceptor said:
Looks like it's going to be a fun project. Same thing happened to me with the title thing, so, ya, I feel your pain. I think it's so cool that people have motorcycles when they were younger, they keep them around for years and years, and then dig them out and get them running again. If you need any small parts, let me know. I may have some left over from a GT 380 build I did a couple of years ago :)
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Thanks man! I have never understood why they make it so hard to title old bikes. I understand the theft side of things, but you would think they would want the tax money haha. The first street bike I rode legally was my dads GT380. At the time the other guy I rode with had a 250 rebel. Comparably, that made the GT380 a freakin rocketship!
 
Re: And then there were two.. 1976 GT250 Rebuld

I thought the 380 was pretty quick for such a heavy bike. I enjoyed it a lot, but I wanted something different, and thats when I redid my CL360. But I think 2 strokes are great because there are no valves to check ;)
 
Re: And then there were two.. 1976 GT250 Rebuld

Dad and I have always been into vintage snowmobiles, much more so than bikes, so a two stroker bike seemed like a natural fit for the same reasons. No valves, lighter, and faster... seems like a good deal to me haha My dad had a GT550 back in his late highschool days. He bought the GT380 thinking it was a 550 (the seller actually told him it was a 550) and he didn't realize that it was a 380 til he went to pick it up. Made the deal anyways, but in his more "mature" years he decided he wanted electric start instead of kick only, and the bike went down the road to be replaced by a 800 kawi drifter.
 
That looks like a very worthy project. That brings back lots of memories of then I was a teen and cut my street-riding teeth on little two-smokers. There were a surprisingly large number of them in the small town where I grew up.

I like the handlebars on that little darlin'. That's a pretty nice shape for OEM bars.
 
ridesolo said:
That looks like a very worthy project. That brings back lots of memories of then I was a teen and cut my street-riding teeth on little two-smokers. There were a surprisingly large number of them in the small town where I grew up.

I like the handlebars on that little darlin'. That's a pretty nice shape for OEM bars.
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I wasn't around for the era when these were around, but it sounds like the smaller cc 2 smokers had their day for a while.

I like the bars too.. There was a time that I thought they may end up on my café, but I am glad I kept them for this bike now =)
 
Tune-A-Fish said:
Nice unmolested dinger, I would like to get my hands on one of those.
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Make you a deal, ill get it back on the road and sell it to ya for twice what i have in it =) lol Some bikes are ok to be cut up in my humble opinion, but this one is just a bit to nice =)
 
hurco550 said:
Make you a deal, ill get it back on the road and sell it to ya for twice what i have in it =) lol Some bikes are ok to be cut up in my humble opinion, but this one is just a bit to nice =)
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Do you still have all the gunk from the first deal... titles are only a signature away here in TN
 
hurco550 said:
Haha there was no paperwork with the first deal.
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I don't need any... I mean all the parts and the frame you have left when you get done, I can title it if its 10 years old and has no liens filed.
 
well the other one was roached pretty bad, but i can make you a deal on the frame if you are interested. also got a cb500t frame without a title if you are interested haha heck you already got the gauges for it.
 
hurco550 said:
well the other one was roached pretty bad, but i can make you a deal on the frame if you are interested. also got a cb500t frame without a title if you are interested haha heck you already got the gauges for it.
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No use for a CB frame kind of like flies... but the GT frame... let me do some research if I can find a motor that turns I will seriously take that one into consideration.
 
Tune-A-Fish said:
No use for a CB frame kind of like flies... but the GT frame... let me do some research if I can find a motor that turns I will seriously take that one into consideration.
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Let me know. I don't know how far you are but I go to Chattanooga pretty often as well
 
Thanks guys! all of a sudden these are not so hard to get, i looked by my brother for a motor and found a 72 350 basket with a fresh powder coated frame two motors dual leading edge hub and a set of Akronts for $500 but shipping 2000 miles may make it all just a bit much unless i can get an LTL quote for a 6' pallet with sides reasonable.
 
Re: And then there were two.. 1976 GT250 Rebuld

interceptor said:
I thought the 380 was pretty quick for such a heavy bike. I enjoyed it a lot, but I wanted something different, and thats when I redid my CL360. But I think 2 strokes are great because there are no valves to check ;)
Click to expand...

Not a great pic, but here is the first "street legal" bike I rode. I think it was a 74.. My dad bought it to relive his glory days, and I got my temps and rode it more than he did haha

 
Not a whole lot productive has happened. Made an engine stand to aid in the rebuild. I think its heavy duty enough eh? gotta work with whats laying around at times. Its not to bad though.. i did punch some "speed holes" in it.... =)











"give the laziest man the hardest job and he will find the easiest way to do it"
 
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