Hey From Australia, 1980 CB250T First time project

[sully1987]

Hey everyone,

Bought a 1980 CB250T a month ago and have finally started to do some modifications to it.

Have never owned a motorbike before and certainly have no mechanical or fabrication background, but am looking forward to giving it a go and hopefully ending up with a bike that not only I can ride but be proud of as well.

So far I have the bike which when i bought it the front brake was soft and it had some issues accelerating smoothly, It was also pretty rusty and not the prettiest bike to look at, appears to have been sitting out in the weather a bit, but apart from those two issues everything else seemed to work perfectly, electric start every time.

I have bled and re filled the front disc brake with oil and it is woking fine now which i am stoked about as I have never done it before haha

I also pulled the carbys off and gave them a clean but they are in pretty bad shape externally but look great on the inside, getting them back on has been a bit of an issue might have to take off the whole rear section and airbox and try again just want it working ok before i pull it apart and convert it to a brat style cafe racer. Taking my inspiration from the cb500 builds that Brady Young did over at seaweed and Gravel

Bought a new tank for it too of a cx500 but its much bigger than the original so will have to do some mods to get it to fit, looks ok with it sitting on there will post some pictures later with it the only issue is that it encroaches on the seat pan a bit but wont be much of an issue would have been nice to have the option to give the girlfriend a ride occasionally but it will mostly be for me so a smaller seat wont be an issue.

Looking forward to the challenge ahead and I hope you guys will be able to give me some great advice along the way

Thanks

Matt

 

[spotty]

hi matt, a tip for getting reluctant carbs back on can be to use a tie down strap wrapped round the cylinder head and back of the carbs.
as you slowly tighten the strap with its rachet it will gently pull the carbs into the rubbers
its better (and easier) than trying to belt the carbs back on and far less likely to do damage

re the seat and tank, as you're going to 'brat' the bike anyway sort out mounting the tank THEN make your new seat pan/frame loop rather than trying to both at once

is the bike registered? if so, then cool, go ahead and change shit but if it's not, then leave it stock, get it rego'd then play with it
the rego branch will take a dim view of modifications - especially to the frame - so you'd be much better off doing any changes once its all legal. and if the cops ask, all you've done is change the seat 'honest officer'

good luck, spotty

 

[sully1987]

Hey thanks for the reply, I eventually worked it out and after a few 44c days in a row and the girlfriends hair dryer i loosened the airbox boots up enough to slip them back and then forward into the manifolds so pretty stoked on that. Its already registered on seasonal so thats good, not sure if ill end up chopping much of the frame and now that ive sat down and thought about it may not even use the cx500 tank haha so indecisive but we'll see what happens will keep you posted when i start making some progress. The funds are holding me up at the moment but hope to rectify that soon