Project: Bobber

Pretty much the first thing I did upon arriving back from Africa was to get myself a motorbike. I was looking for something cheap, commonly available, & easily modifiable. And seeing as I'm too lazy to get off my learner's bike license, it had to have a 250cc engine. The Suzuki GN250 is pretty much ubiquitous as the learner's bike in NZ, & used ones are available cheaply on Trademe, so I managed to find an '84 GN250 for $1000. It had an old-school drum front brake & spoked wheels, which perfectly suited the look I was after. I was tossing up between a cafe racer & a bobber, & decided the lines of the bike were much more suited to a rat bobber look.

Simple, classic, & downright butt-ugly.

Now obviously, being me, the stock standard look was not going to suffice. So the first thing I did was pull off  all the panels & strip them back to plain metal with a wire wheel, remove all the rust, & prepare to repaint. During this, I was to come across the first of many incidents, eventually culminating in a basic theory of workshop equipment quality: Don't Buy Chinese-Made Tools.

Shiny.

Seriously, just don't.

The next step was to give everything a couple of coats of self-etching primer, followed by 3 coats of matte black paint, applied liberally by rattlecan. The daft mini apehanger handlebars had to go too, as I don't much fancy riding around feeling like I'm in a skinny recliner chair.

Better, but she still has a big-ass ass.

After that, I bobbed, primed & painted the front fender, & wrapped the exhaust in thermal tape. I primed & painted the headlight, & also primed & painted the front forks, wheel, & spokes, to remove some more shiny.

Shorter. Better.

New house, bigger workshop. :)

Lastly, I entirely remodelled the back end. After consulting an LVV certifier & my local VTNZ shop, we agreed that chopping the frame off behind the rear suspension gussets wouldn't need re-certifying, so that went off.  I fabricated a new set of mounts for the rear mudguard, lights & license plate, including a reflector for illuminating the license plate at night. I bought a new LED tail light, & new indicators, & wired them in. I created an entire new seat out of the metal side panel of an old PC, some foam matting, & some black leather. It ain't a touring seat by any measure, but it's comfy enough for riding around town. The rear mudguard & mounts got hit by some more matte black, & I replaced the missing right-side battery cover with some plastic sheeting from the old PC.

Seat minimalism.

Intel Inside. Hopefully it doesn't crash.

New rear end mounts.

Much trimmer.

She's still rough & she ain't the quickest thing on the road, but she's plenty fun to ride, & I can't help but grin whenever I'm out on a sunny day. Given that I wear an open-faced helmet, this results in a higher than average number of swallowed insects. Bumblebees in particular hurt at anything over 40km/h.