Well my first post may as well be about my new Ninja - my new toy !!



Make : GPZ 250 R
Year : 1986
Engine : 250cc
Color : Lemon Yellow
New parts : Rims, Tires, Pegs, Grips, Stands, Pegs, Blinkers, Lights and Pipe set up.
Mods : Front Fender chop, Yellow Paint Job, Black Seats and Knee Guards and Back pack Rack.

Wish List : Chrome gear - Pegs, Grips, Caps, Mirrors. Knee guard covers or similar, Swing arm, Front Forks, Engine side cover.

Current Issues : Leaking oil, on inspection - the oil drainage tube and plug were missing - as this oil leak just occurred I hope that the leak was caused by the missing tube and plug.

Edit : OK - replaced the tube and plug, that fixed some of the issues, instead of pouring out of the valve where the pipe should have been - the excess oil just started heading to the air box....

So I got flowers for Administrative Appreciation and then treated to lunch. Of course I could not resist taking pictures of my flowers...A few of my favorite pictures:







I liked how the stems were blury and the background part of the flower is sharp




so for lunch we headed over to the Peabody Institute. For more info on the Institute go here. In short though it is a music school owned by Johns Hopkins....

09-04-18 Pretty Boy Dam


It was a week full of ups and downs and so the only solution for that was a ride. For a while I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to ride today because… I had purchased a seat cover for my Tyke and it was in the process of being installed by Phil. Luckily at 10pm on Friday night he shows me the completed piece! Now the seat looks well and good all on it’s own but really it looks much better on Tyke..

Before: (Port deposit ride)



After:




I am happy with the end result. It would have been perfect if the blue matched but I think it is close enough and it certainly...

Welp, ordered a new front tire today.
Pirelli Sport Demon!
Riding boots might have to wait...

I wanted to change my spark plugs today, but I got sidetracked...

I need to adjust the valves and sync the carbs by end of this weekend!! Grrr...

Ok, so I have some funds coming in from the reserves and I just might be able to take this trip on the last full week of May.

Still have to order the front tire before I go.

My friend who originally said I could stay at her couch might be busy, but guess what? my other friend in cali just got home from Iraq and said I could stay at his place! It's good to have friends all over the country...I'm thankful.

More to follow.

Okay... not as many miles as I would have liked BUT! I did get to take her out while my little monstars were at their grandparents.

I am still having a little trouble on take off and shifting is a little wierd to me but hopefully with more practice and miles, it will be second nature.

David and I took off before his parents on some great country roads. He led while I followed 4 seconds behind. I never noticed how COLD it was riding in 70 degree weather on a bike! I guess I was always blocked by David while I was riding passenger with him!

*Mental Note* I'll need a sweater underneath my perforated leather jacket!

Anyway... I took it nice and easy. I am still new to riding so I wanted to make sure I paced myself and also mentally prepared myself for cars, people, and possible debris.

So... I'm tooting along... enjoying the scenery, my teeth are chattering (gosh, I didn't know how chilly the wind could make me...

THINGS I WANT *IN RANDOM ORDER*

Frame sliders - *Update* 4/5/09_ Intuitive for $60-70 on New Enough (I do believe David is going to get these for me! YEAH!)


Akrapovic full exhaust (do they make this for the 250? Probably not, I'm guessing) OR Yoshi
Dainese suit
New riding boots
Gold decals
Gold rims
Gold levers
Gold rearsets
(Kind of like this gold: )
Seat cowl
Racing body kit, custom painted
LOTS of track days
Clip ons... still undecided but wouldn't pass the opportunity up if it presented itself.
Full-time Sunday babysitter
HID's... undecided on color
Puig windscreen
Carbon fiber... not sure what or where but CF is always pretty.



.... Hmmm, will be continually adding to this list as well as marking out what I've purchased/spent and when. I'm excited to see how...

Holding off the trip to California does not mean I'm stopping with the planning too!

Oh, ideas, ideas, ideas.
I went over to the Adventure Rider forums to get some inspiration and knowledge. I find very little through ginormous amount of useless posts.
The single most inspirational story is still a guy named Wan on his Honda Ruckus traveling all over the States.

Anyways, I've considered hard luggage while checking out this page, http://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/Hard_luggage and thought about buying those JCWhitney cases.
I started thinking though, it's still expensive for me to buy two of those for saddle bags or even three to put one on top.

So, upon going through hundreds of posts at ADV, I wanted to do something that I have not seen on a ninja before.



$15 bucks each at surplus store.
Yea, not as big, can't...

I will have to put this trip on hold it looks like.

12k mile service is just few hundred miles away and I want to do everything right. I'd rather spend the money on maintenance parts then get stuck in the middle of nowhere.

Here's the maintenance schedule:Service Schedule

I replaced the rear tire and it's looking like I'll need to order front tires too as 4600 miles more(socal round trip) will be a bit of stretch.



Kenda K671
200 miles. Have no issues so far. I think it actually grips better than factory Dunlops at half the price. This tire is supposed to last 15k+ miles(?) so I am happy.

Missed a day. Oh well.

I just couldn't wait and went to Helen for a ride.
I posted a thread on Ride Reports section.

My rear tire just got here!
Guess I'll update this later.