Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

Hi guys

I'm in the process of buying RG's old ZZR250 as a runabout. It needs a bit of a tidyup, but it has about $1500 that I'm umming and aahing about spending on it.

Should I:

(a) do the minimum I need to get it into my name and only fix things when they're absolutely desparate, or
(b) accept the fact that it's my daily ride and spend a few bucks, knowing full-well that I'll get my money's worth out of it

I don't want to drop a lot of money on a bike that'll never be worth anything, but at the same time I'm a little torn as the clutch, suspension and a few other bits could use a little love and with those done it would be a pretty reliable little bike that I reckon I'll get a solid couple of years out of.

Depends on how much you need to spend to get it road worthy on top of the asking price

Decision has been made to purchase... just a decision as to whether I do the other stuff or put up with it as-is. It'll be going into my name regardless...

Putting tyres on it tonight

make an overall assesment of it, i.e. is the clutch only in need of an adjustment or have you done that and if you take the side and basked off you'll be saying "yep, rooted". Either way new fibre plates don't cost too much to get anyhow...

Front forks, will flushing the fluid make enough of a difference or do you think the springs are utterly shot? would upping the preload with $1.20 in 20 cent peices aside make enough of a difference?

Rear shock, shot to shit or what? you can get second hand bits on ebay for well under a hundred from a wreckers, just dont get into a bidding war for them .

Doing a dodgy bros minimal repair like outlined above shouldnt cost too much.

Hey.. If your happy to part with the $$, its a good cause. Why not fix what’s desperate to get u moving, then work on one project/part at a time. Be smart where you get your parts and do as much as you can on your own.. and see where it takes you…

$1500 just ride the bike into the ground as a daily ride

The Crunch will come as far as interest rates and inflation are concerned just spend what is necessary to make the bike safe and you happy

mate id get it rideable now.... so that u can commute on it.... then just keep ur eyes open for good bits on ebay or wrecker that may do it up slightly... then maybe if u find enuf bits and pieces over time, u may end up rebuilding it to a level where u can sell it at a profit.. maybe??

if u find cheap parts (zzr250's are pretty common) and do the work urself... it could turn out pretty cheap...

Bit of information came to light yesterday, the problem actually doesn't seem to be the rear shock - there's actually a huge amount of play in the swingarm so I assume there's a bush that can be replaced in there?

Front forks have been serviced in the last 12 months or so and the bike has done minimal k's in that time... I've heard word about shimming them up with 20c pieces and running a little bit of extra fluid.

Cluch is pretty desparate, I got a quote this morning for $350 to do clutch, oil, filter & labour.... a bit of an 'ouch' expense but I guess you gotta do what you gotta do. And for that money it's not worth my stuffing around to do it.

Swing arm bearings may need a bit of a tighten. At worst replacement. I got bearings for the XJ900 for about $11 each at a bearing shop. For a bike like this get yourself a Haynes manual and do as much as you can yourself.

Sounds like you answered your own question with option b "knowing i'll get my moneys worth"

Well to be honest, if you do it yourself, the cost of the clutch plates themselves plus the oil and filter will probably be well under half the cost of getting a grease monkey to do it for you. Oh and r.e. swingarm bearings, i coulda sworn they were press in bronze bearings, best to get this figured out, if its a pressed in bronze one, it'll be "fun" doing it yourself at the least. I'd look into it, but most likely get someone else to do the swingarm bearings for me. That is if it was me doing this

Cool cool. I have a service manual already, as I had a GPX250 (x2!) previously... so I'll ahve a bit of a dig and see if I can find the thing.

Will sit on it for a few weeks, just paid for tyres so my wallet is not opening for any more bike expenses until mid-month.