Another Yamaha SR250 build. Grand Rapids, MI.

[Nitch]

This humble bike was a $500 craigslist barn find. Just over 3400 original miles. From what I was told, and having a title that confirms, this bike was ridden most of its miles at Northern Michigan University's basic rider course. Passed hands three times since but doesn't seem to have been ridden much. Needed a few parts but cranked and rode fine on some dry-rotting tires. The plan is to turn this bike into a scrambler with a slightly upgraded suspension, exhaust, and electrical. All work will be done out of my garage. I am really hoping to come across some other Japanese motorcycle garage builders here in Grand Rapids. If you are in the area, definitely reach out.

 

[Nitch]

I put a battery, a petcock, POR15 in the badly leaking fuel tank, and an generic seat on it and put about 50 miles on it. Ran beautifully. Opened the carb, pristine condition. Then I stripped the fuel tank. It was held together by a patchwork of RTV, JBWeld, and body filler. With all that gone, you can see the tank wasn't worth using. Its hard to believe that I was riding the bike around with this tank, full of gas, no leaks. That's a real testament to POR15.

 

[Nitch]

Sorting out the tires and tank. After removing the hardware for mounting the old tank I was able to mock this one in place. It looks alright and I think I'm going to go with it. This tank is from a '78 xs650. I haven't seen one used on an SR before and probably because its a bit large. I like it though, I feel like it has clean lines that compliment the frame and I like that its an original yamaha tank. The tires are Bridgestone AX41's front and rear. Its tough finding offroad tires that fit an 18front/16rear combination. I think maybe that's one of the reasons the 18" rear respoke is so common for these builds. If I was doing a cafe racer, I would have been looking for a smaller tank and putting in an order to Jadus for their spoke kit. But I think that 16 rear will be nice for offroad.

 

[Maritime]

It's a nice start. I like the tank and stance looks good too.

 

[porcelanowy]

Hello
Damn, that tank looks good
And any extra fuel is a benefit. SR250 does not burn much fuel, but that fuel tank is tiny.
Good luck. I will be tracking your progress

 

[Nitch]

This weekend was detabbing and welding on the hoop.

 

[jungalist]

Off on a good start it seems, looks like she has all the potential to become a fun little bike. Following

 

[Nitch]

Off on a good start it seems, looks like she has all the potential to become a fun little bike. Following

Thanks man

 

[Nitch]

So you guys can see I have a set of custom shocks on the bike. Here's a couple quick notes on that. Since this was my first build, I did a lot of looking around before ordering these. I wanted the rear of the bike to sit higher and bring in the rake and trail a bit. Stock shocks are 11" in length and I wanted 15". A friend at work handed me a magazine ad for EPM Performance Parts out of New Jersey. They do YSS shocks built to your specs. I told them progressive springs, adjustable preload, black not chrome, no resevoirs, and stock spring rate for my bike considering a 180 lb rider. Three weeks later they sent me a set of 380mm RZ362 TRL. It was $500 total and I haven't got to ride them yet but I hear good things about YSS.


YSS RZ362-TRL
These shocks are nitrogen gas shocks. Adjustable on spring preload, rebound and length.

Explanation partnumber:
R = Rear twin shocks
Z = Topline Nitrogen emulsion gas shock
-
36 = 36MM piston
2 = 12MM shaft
-
T = Threaded spring preload adjustment
R = Rebound adjustment
L = Length adjustment ( length +5mm/-5mm)

RZ362-TRL
- Can be serviced.
- Topline twinshock springs are standard always mat black.
- This shock is always delivered with the correct mountings for your motorcycle.
- The shocks carry a 2 year warranty. In case of a leak, they are serviced.

 

[porcelanowy]

Hello
Holy crap, you've went all in
It looks real neet with that shocks.
I am fighting with my SR250, but 500 dollar option is not an option

 

[Nitch]

Been real busy with work lately but got a few more things done on the bike. Cleaned and painted the tank. Went with POR15 on the inside of the new tank ('78 XS650) and a rattle can paint job. Paint came from Autozone.

 

[Nitch]

Where the bike is now....

 

[Maritime]

Looks great!

 

[Rider52]

Nice job!!!!

 

[Nitch]

I wanted to make a quick post about these fenders. The rear fender is a combination of stock rear and a trimmed down stock front making a two piece rear. The front fender came off a cb400 and was trimmed to bolt to the triple clamp instead of the outer fork tubes. I designed and built the bracket holing the front fender in place.

 

[Nitch]

Finished the seat yesterday. I stitched this together myself from marine vinyl, and foam from hobby lobby. Fiberglass shell, couple of bolts, and some rivets.

 

[Nitch]

As some of you know from earlier posts, the original tank was is rough shape with too many holes to repair. The tank I used for this build came from a '78 XS650 and I like the shape and size of the tank much better. Any of you looking to replicate this mod for your own build there are 3 things you should know before hand.

1. This tank has male forward mounts whereas the male mounts on the SR250 frame are also male. You'll have to remove the ones from the frame and put some female mounts there.
2. The XS650 tank has a petcock on both sides. The original vacuum type petcocks are too big (front to back) because they interfere with the SR250 frame. These cannot be modified in any way that I could see while retaining the function of a valve. I did not want to start welding over or drilling new holes in the tank for a smaller petcock because I'm not completely confident in my abilities as a welder and tanks are not easily replaced. I ordered a non-vac petcock hoping it would be slim enough...it wasn't. The non-vac however, I was able to modify and it still works as a valve. I removed the backplate of the petcock, made my own, and relocated the "fuel out" nipple to the bottom of the petcock by drilling and tapping a new hole. The extra petcock location on the other side of the tank, I covered with flange cut from the original '78 petcock, and sealed with fuel resistant gasket.
3. The XS tank is much larger in all directions than the original SR tank. I mounted my tank as far forward as I could but later discovered that the top top brace of the triple clamp interferes when turning full right or left. Messed up my paint a little. My suggestion, remove a few mil of material from the top brace.

 

[Nitch]

I'm going to call it done for a few months. Maybe this winter I'll redo the exhaust and repaint the frame but I want to spend the rest of the summer riding.

 

[porcelanowy]

Hello
Very very nice and clean motorbike.
And kudos for fast build
Mine flows like cold molasses

What do you think doing with the exhaust?

 

[Nitch]

Hello
Very very nice and clean motorbike.
And kudos for fast build
Mine flows like cold molasses

What do you think doing with the exhaust?

Interesting questing. I am really not sure about this. I feel like stainless would work the best but I don't have the equipment to weld stainless. Furthermore, I am undecided about whether or not I would like the exhaust to remain under the bike or route it up over the crankcase for offroad purposes. Right now its just an open header and quite loud while warming up. But being a 250, its still quiet enough that I don't get pulled over driving around town.