Suzuki GN250 update

The Doctor trundled it home, and decided that as a town scoot and
shopping trolley it knocked spots of the MZ TS150 which she refuses
point-blank to ride.

Spent much of this morning cleaning it (it hasn't been cleaned for what
looks like years), adjusting the chain, topping up the oil (recently
changed but a bit low), adjusting the clutch, lubing the clutch cable,
and fixing the typical Suzuki floppy gear lever.

You know the scene - pinch bolt down up so tight it's pinched the slot
completely closed, and it still wobbles on the shaft. Solution: remove
it, open up the slot, then use a cutting disc on the Black & Decker to
enlarge the slot, so it can be pinched up more, replace lever, job done.

Why does this ailment seem to affect Suzukis more than any other bike?

The exhaust is not long for this world, but I have a reserve waiting in
the wings, so no worries there. Battery's newish, and it's charging
fine.

Removed the dead rear shox and threw them in the bin. Replaced with a
nice shiny pair of pattern shocks that have been knocking around the
garage for a couple of years. Transferred rack and ShiteOldTopBox from
MZ.

The engine just ticks over like a watch. Sweet. It's got three days' tax
and one week's MoT left on it, so I'd better get that sorted.

One oddity - a couple of times pressing the starter button just produced
a loud click from the solenoid and nowt from the starter motor.
Re-pressing the button brought one click per press, and then all of a
sudden the starter churned and away it went.

Odd. I assume this means current is getting from ignition switch to
starter button to solenoid, but then solenoid isn't sending current down
fat cable to starter motor. Sounds like a dirty contact or just possibly
a faulty solenoid, but if it's clicking it's working, surely?

Anyway, it's not much, but it's not quite old and shite enough to be
classed a ShiteOldBike, and for ukp250 I feel quite pleased. The MZ goes
on Ebay tomorrow evening (timed so the auction times out at about 6.30pm
which means there should be lots of bidders at home in front of their
pooters.....)

 

If it`s clicking, that does not always mean it`s working. There is the
possibility that the internal contacts are buggered as well. Not very
common, but possible.
Dirty/worn brush or dirty comm on the starter motor? It may have come to
rest in that *exact* spot where the brush is not making a decent contact.
Again, fairly uncommon but possible.

The most likely suspect would be the clips on either end of the main cable,
either coming from the battery to the solenoid or from solenoid to starter.
Either they`re dirty and not making a decent contact (clean with wire brush)
, or with them usually only being crimped onto the cable, oxidization gets a
chance to do it`s usual stuff within (clean and re-crimp)

 

message

A few years ago I would have said dodgy build quality, however, even
though I was dissappointed at the inital poor quality of the fasteners
on my GSXR1000 I must admit that in general the quality has been pretty
good, the fur has not pregressed and the rest of the bike is holding up
pretty good considering it's now going into it's third winter.

It could that the contacts in the solenoid are getting tired and when
they are drawing a large current they are heating up and bending
slightly. As Champ said it may also be the earth.

 

Yeah, this is what I figure.

 

Don't park it so close to the Ducati then

--
Tim two#21, YGL#3 & BOTAFOT#84

Due to the limitations of current email, the lip movements may be
out of synchronisation as you move your finger under the text while reading.

tim dot ukrm at dsl dot pipex dot com

 

Nah, don't think so. It's right as rain now.

 

Gunsons Speedplate.

--
Platypus - Faster Than Champ
VN800 Drifter, R80RT
DIAABTCOD#2 GPOTHUF#19
BOTAFOS#6 BOTAFOT#89 FTB#11
BOB#1 SBS#35 ANORAK#18 TWA#15