New Biker, New EX250-F, and a video!

[johncrist1988]

Hey there everyone!

My name is John and I'm both a new biker and a new EX250-F owner. I'm 27 and biking is something I've wanted to do for a while. My primary motivation for getting my EX250-F dealt with the fact that my job is 6 miles away and I can save a lot in gas and insurance by using a bike as my daily driver. Secondarily, it's just been a dream of mine to master bike riding at some point in my life. I'll always be a student, but what better time than now in my life to start riding.

I did post a YouTube video detailing my first little bit of ownership. I purchased the bike used for $700 from a friend of mine who upgraded to a '15 650 ABS. I took my permit test (I work at the MVD here in Avondale, AZ) and brought the bike in for and possible inspections and for title transfer and registration, and because I could. I had been practicing a whole day prior (which wasn't 100% smart) and felt confident about taking it to and from work.

Unfortunately, on the way home I took a turn at an intersection a little too hard and put the bike down at around 20mph. The damage wasn't major but enough that I lost the left side fairing, chipped up my upper fairing and windscreen, gauge cluster and lost a turn signal and headlight glass.

In the video I start working on the bike and getting her patched up. My MSF is scheduled for next weekend and I'm looking forward to it!

Link to original page on YouTube.

[csmith12]

Welcome John!

[cadd]

Sorry to hear you went down. Went in too hot and hit the front brakes?

[johncrist1988]

Originally Posted by cadd

Sorry to hear you went down. Went in too hot and hit the front brakes?

Exactly, I freaked and pulled the front brake, wobbled out and went down. I feel like I went down pretty soft, all things considered.

[cadd]

Originally Posted by johncrist1988

Exactly, I freaked and pulled the front brake, wobbled out and went down. I feel like I went down pretty soft, all things considered.

At least it's an old bike. So no worries...and you'll learn a lot while wrenching on it.

You'll have a lot of fun at the MSF. Enjoy!

[johncrist1988]

Originally Posted by cadd

At least it's an old bike. So no worries...and you'll learn a lot while wrenching on it.

Absolutely. There's a lot I want to do to it right off the bat as just general maintenance things (or at least I feel are general maintenance things).

- Flush the cooling system (doing that tomorrow)
- New tires (bought the Kenda K671s front and back, now I just need to find a place to get them mounted when they come in)
- New brake pads, rotors are smooth so now worries there
- Clean the carb
- Soak the chain for a night to clean it, then lube it up
- Valve adjustment
- Cam chain maintenance, although I don't know exactly what that entails yet.


Long term I'm looking at finishing the upper fairing repair and repainting it a baby blue. I'd love to look into finding an analogue to digital converter for the speedometer and designing an interface for an Android tablet to run a full digital setup.

[johncrist1988]

I posted here about a click I'm hearing, with an attached video. Not sure what it is, but it's what's mostly leading me to want to look at a timing chain adjustment in my prior post.

[allanoue]

Welcome John

Originally Posted by johncrist1988

[YOUTUBEhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPdiX_5Ls6I[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE ]zPdiX_5Ls6I[/YOUTUBE]
quote me to see how to post vid

[johncrist1988]

Thanks! Hopefully now I'll stop breaking things :P

[cadd]

Originally Posted by johncrist1988

Absolutely. There's a lot I want to do to it right off the bat as just general maintenance things (or at least I feel are general maintenance things).

- Flush the cooling system (doing that tomorrow)
- New tires (bought the Kenda K671s front and back, now I just need to find a place to get them mounted when they come in)
- New brake pads, rotors are smooth so now worries there
- Clean the carb
- Soak the chain for a night to clean it, then lube it up
- Valve adjustment
- Cam chain maintenance, although I don't know exactly what that entails yet.


Long term I'm looking at finishing the upper fairing repair and repainting it a baby blue. I'd love to look into finding an analogue to digital converter for the speedometer and designing an interface for an Android tablet to run a full digital setup.

Coolant is easy (at least for the 08 & up bikes. I've never had a pregen). But for the 08 bikes, there's a drain plug on the left side of the bike by the shifter. You just loosen that plug and coolant will come rushing out (and I'm not kidding when I say rushing out). After that, just empty the plastic reservoir on the right side of the bike. Then fill up the radiator with new coolant. I just go for the normal green stuff. I mix it 50/50 with distilled water (not tap water). Just make sure whatever coolant you get, it is compatible with aluminum radiators.

Brake pads are pretty easy as well. There's a DIY somewhere on this site. And I'm sure you can find some youtube vids as well. If you're going to work on the pads, I think you may actually need to take off the rear wheel (it was for the 300). Once you get the wheels off, just carry them into the shop with the new tires. Much less expensive that way when you mount new tires (vs riding the bike in).

For the chain, make sure you clean it with something that's O-ring safe. I'm pretty sure all motorcycle specific chain cleaners are O-ring safe. But it can be costly. What I use is kerosene. It is O-ring safe and works better than most aerosol motorcycle specific chain cleaner in my opinion. The crap just melts right off with kerosene. Just make sure you're not smoking or near any flames when using it.

Valves - I've never attempted. But looks complicated. Shims involved. I'm just not as patient! But good luck! There's a DIY written up as well if you do some searching on the site.

Carbs - I don't know about the pregens. But the 08 bikes are a bitch to work on just because it's frustrating taking them off the bike with the stock airbox in place. But there are plenty of DIYs on carbs as well.

Enjoyu getting to know your bike! Take your time. Have fun wrenching!

[Snake]

Hello and welcome.

[snot]

Welcome.

[Suki2003]

Welcome.

I dont think anyone mentioned it yet,

That extra cable in the video you are confused about: it's a extra clutch cable the previous owner must have added incase the current clutch cable breaks while riding.
you would disconnect the broken line on the bike and attach the 2 ends on the extra cable up to the lever and transmission down below.
Hope that all makes sense!

[KJohnson21]

[cbinker]

[johncrist1988]

Originally Posted by Suki2003

Welcome.

I dont think anyone mentioned it yet,

That extra cable in the video you are confused about: it's a extra clutch cable the previous owner must have added incase the current clutch cable breaks while riding.
you would disconnect the broken line on the bike and attach the 2 ends on the extra cable up to the lever and transmission down below.
Hope that all makes sense!

Oh sweet, thank you I had no idea, though that makes perfect sense.

[RitzykicksHQ]

welcomeee