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Hello folks

New rider, got an afordable city commuter bike. I can't get into heavy repairs as I don't have the facilities or sufficient knowledge, but the small stuff I can do on the street.

The bike is a 2008 GZ250. Got it for fairly cheap but it has a few problems. It was garaged and apparently not ridden enough (has about 5000 miles). A number of hoses are dried out and have to be replaced, this causes a vacuum hose on the fuel splitter to come off I was just told by a mechanic today (engine would only run in PRIME mode). So I have to go through and replace those where I find them.

Front tire is dry rotting, brakes are at the end of their adjustment range. I'm going to order parts online next week after I get a paycheck (any recommendations for a good parts supplier are welcome). Any pitfalls to avoid in choosing brakes or tires?

Drive chain is dry (I read this calls for engine oil lubricant but I wonder if 3 in 1 oil is okay, I thought to apply it with a small brush or rag). Or recommend what you think is best to use please.

I'm a new rider and the handling doesn't feel quite right (I took a basic rider course which was great), I haven't sorted out if this is the bike or me yet, probably some combination of both. It doesn't shimmy up to fifty MPH so far but lower speed turns the front feels a tiny bit unreliable, not sure if this is an adjustment or possibly the front tire that I have to replace (going to avoid highways for now..)

I think the battery is probably original (Yusa? Yasu?) stock, I had to jump start the bike today because of the fuel splitter hose issue. Hopefully when I go to work tonight it gets the bike started but I need reliability and confidence. Probably a good idea and replace the battery? Or how long are those stock batteries usually good for?

My biggest and most expensive problem is one I heard the first time the bike started. I didn't know exactly what it was until I asked a mechanic about it today but it is what I suspected it is, a classic whistle-pop at the head gasket. The mechanic told me that it would cost about $450 (US) to replace. I want to do no lasting harm to the bike so I need to know if I need to keep this thing parked until I get that fixed or if I get it fixed within 4 to 6 weeks it will be okay.

The engine oil looks good and clean but I think I would be more comfortable if I just had the mechanic do all the routine maintenance stuff since the last owner was less than clear on that. :/

Thanks for any help and sorry for a long opening post.

Welcome

The first thing you probably should be doing is change those tires.
You are putting your life at risk if they are that bad.

Battery, just sitting for most of 3 years, could be bad.
Charge it and run it down several times and see if it improves...

Then get a manual for that bike.....

The last owner had the battery on a trickle charger but the age of the battery concerns me. It may [probably?] be at a reduced capacity from where it was when new. I'm not sure what the typical life expectancy of these types of batteries is. Yeah the front tire and the brakes are getting replaced ASAP. It's not bad dry rot but it is clearly affected.

PS: I forgot to add that I have the manual. The bike is missing the set of original tools however. So I will have to build up a little kit for it.

Thanks!

Hi and welcome!

As I read your post I was concerned that it is only a 2008 but sounds like it has tons of issues! I hope you really did get a good price because it sounds like it needs a lot of TLC. Glad to hear you have a manual and are willing to take on some work.

I probably made it sound worse than it is, but not by a lot.

So far I've replaced the front tire and brake disk pads. This week I'll get the rear tire and drum brake pads replaced. The rear tire is actually okay but I decided that I want two new tires for the sake of rider confidence and maintenance history. Also the rear drum brake pads will be replaced at the same time.

A new problem that appeared is that the weld joint between the muffler pipe sections developed a crack resulting in some rather noticeable decibel level increase. I'm wondering if that happened because it was cold weather (temperature differential) on my commuting days or just a lurking hairline fracture that finally gave way. Either way it is something else to address. I really don't care to be one of those loud bikes, especially when I live in a heavily populated residential area and I go to work at two in the morning...

The head gasket will have to wait a bit till I can afford to have the work done.

This experience has been somewhat funny in that I'm a new rider who started during a cold & wet part of the year. I'm quite glad that I at least purchased appropriate gear to cope with that. Other than the gloves that is. I got a set of motorcycle gloves from 6th Gear but they are insufficient when the weather goes below about 36F.

My first week or two I did not have much confidence in my cornering ability and darn near hit a medium wall for it. But with riding nearly every day that aspect has improved tremendously and with new tires my confidence both in equipment and myself is growing quickly. It also helped that I could draw on my Basic Rider course lessons. That was well worth the $350 that I paid for the course.

The battery appears to be a non issue for now but I don't doubt that it is working in a diminished capacity. Otherwise I'm glad I got a commuter bike. It would be nice if was a bigger bike but I don't have much justification for that when 95% of my riding will be in town.

Thanks for the replies!