Eva, the ZXR250 bitsa.

Well, this is my first 'proper' bike.

I used to own a 1989 ZZR250, but I sold it after I failed my Q-Ride course and kind of lost lot interest after a while.

I then got myself a ute, and after the diff killed itself for the second time, I gave up on that, and after about 6 months of twidding my thumbs, I figured it's time I get some form of transport again.

I managed to pick up the Bitsa ZXR250 for $800 from my next door neighbor. It took my a while but I tracked down a bit about the bike.

I believe it's got a ZXR250A unrestricted motor, inside a ZXR250C body, or the engine has been modified in some way as the bike included some paperwork that stated that the engine isn't the original, but lists the engine output a 45hp. It may have been unrestricted? But as far as I can tell there's lots of parts from lots of different models of ZXR250.

She was in pretty good condition only needing a few things for a roadworthy. It needed an air filters, and the fairings to be put back on and some very small minor things here and there, but the good news is the previous owner had just reconditioned the carbies bout a week before I got my hands on her.

$800 got me the bike itself, all of the fairings (but almost no screws), A spare frame, subframe, forks and swing arm, 2 spare tires and spare wheels with a tire, 4 spare brake disks and 2 after market brake disks, a spare chain and a massive box filled with spare (smaller) fairings, fuel pumps, hoses, headlights and parts.

I've only had her for about 3 days and I've already had people ask if I want to part her out, then try and convince me to scarp her because I'll never get parts (ironically these same people want the parts from her.)

Best one I heard was a guy spent about 20 minutes telling me that the bike is junk, then asked me for the carbies and fairings for his ZXR250.






Thing's that I've fixed:
Indicators are now working
throttle control locking in has been reset so the handle doesn't spin
Brake light now comes on after I apply the front brake
Bent the fuel tank bracket so it now fits and can be bolted to the frame.

Things that I broke:
After fixing the indicators and brake lights, the headlight now doesn't work.
Figure out why it isn't sparking. I might have flooded it... then drained the battery.

Things that still need fixing:
Air Filter
All of the fairings need to be reassembled.
about 389349576934 rubber grommets for the fairings.
about 348953469439 screws for the fairings, lights etc.
Small rubber grommets that put pressure on the gauges to keep it in place.

What I plan to do:
Cut up the spare subframe, shorten it.
Smaller, less ugly headlight
Repaint the fairings, or get ones that aren't so damaged.
Basically turn her into a street fighter if i can't get my hands on some good fairings.

There's more work to be done. I'll keep you all posted.

 

The fairings aren't totally wrecked, they're passable, it's mostly on the front fairing, it looks like its been dropped a few times. Do you need good fairings to pass a roadworthy in Queensland?

as for the bolts, Those ones look right. I got most of the rubbers from the local bike wreckers, who pulled them off a 1990 CBR.

The grommets I needed were for attaching the side fairings to the fuel tank, they're slightly bigger and oval shaped compared to the normal fairing grommets.

I bought screws today, but they're too long, I'm going to assemble the bike as much as I can tomorrow and hopefully get 90% of the fairings done, after that I just need to get the battery charged and get her started.

 

Dear 2fiftycc.com

Today was a good day.

After charging the battery, and a few adjustments here and there, we ( a couple mates of mine) managed to get the old girl running. Initially we thought the carbs were in desperate need of a tune, but after we drained the stale fuel out of her and put in some fresh fuel, it's not as bad as we thought.

The clutch seems to be a little iffy. A new problem has arose.

When switching from first to second at high RPM, the motor will continue to rev and slowly start to drop down after the gear has been changed. Could this just be an issue with the clutch cable? or maybe my clutch is dead?

 

The throttle was very snappy when I tested it out earlier today.

I did notice a few other things when I was trying to push start it.

when the bike is in neutral, it is very easy to push, when it's in first, it's next to impossible to push, when it's in first and the clutch is held down, it become very, very hard to move, but it is movable.

It almost feels like the clutch isn't engaging or disengaging very well.

 

I can't. the bike will not select second until it's moving. If I try and select 2nd while in not moving, it goes staight back to neutral

There was a set of bolts at the end of the clutch cable, after a bit of adjusting it seemed to clear most of the problem up.

 

I took her for a run, she's better, but seems a little sticky still, there's a lot of play in the clutch lever.

On a side note, i heard somewhere that I can tighten the adjustment screws on the carbies lightly, and then undo them 1 and a half turns and it 'should' return the carbies back to stock settings. I was wondering if this is true?

 

I've made myself a $5 manometer to try and tune this bad boy.

I managed to find some instructions on how to tune the carbs, but this is for a zxr400, hopefully they're the same

http://www.zxrworld.co.uk/zxr400/balancing.html

But I can't seem to get a screw driver in there to start fiddling with the screws, I'll have another play with it tomorrow when there's more light.

I have adjusted the clutch cable, I haven't managed to ride it afterwards thought, it's got about 1.5mm of slack before it engages. For now I have to put the battery on charge.

 

Oil is brand new, I'll let you guys know how it goes tomorrow when I give her a bit of a test ride.

 

I managed to order an air filter from Unifilter today. Hopefully that comes soon so I can finish off the bike and get her registered.

The battery has spent the past 2 days on charge and now for some reason i can't get her started again.