Moab Girl

[ThrottleGirl]

Greetings all,

I'm a long-distance motorcycle enthusiast and new to bike building. I'm a fairly skilled and experienced rider, own a motorcycle events company and usually ride about 12-15,000 miles annually. I came off a V-Rod Muscle but being 5'2 and 110 pounds I switched to the smaller (and more powerful) Ducati Diavel. I just made a little bobber out of a Honda Rebel and surprised myself with how well it turned out. Now I'd like to make a scramber-type build using the Ninja 250. This intimidates me very much!

Hopefully I can post pictures of the donor bike tomorrow as I'm looking to buy it this evening. If anyone is interested in the cosmetic fairings and such, let me know as I'll be selling those (very) cheap.

Thanks for having me!

[dcj13]

Welcome, Samantha!

Looking forward to seeing pics of your scrambler project.

[ThrottleGirl]

THANKS! Newbie question, but I'm not sure why my profile picture doesn't show up with my name on the left?

[Triple Jim]

Hi Samantha. The photo on the left would be your avatar photo. The profile photo is the one that you see when you go to your user profile page.

[DEFY]

Welcome!!!

[ThrottleGirl]

Thanks - got my avatar and profile set up .

[taz]

Welcome

[ThrottleGirl]

So it's official - this is sitting in my driveway!

[ThrottleGirl]

It's not in my garage because it came with a custom petcock. Apparently, petcock by clamp doesn't work so well and it's leaking gas. It's a far cry from the 'perfect' bike I was told it was, but a bit of carb work can be done and it only has 11,000 miles on it so I think it still has a good, strong engine.

[psych0hans]

Welcome aboard! Looking forward to seeing your creations.

[CaliGrrl]

Welcome! That's a pretty bike.

[ThrottleGirl]

Yeah, I have to admit I'm feeling a bit bad about my plans to take off the cosmetics after seeing the beautiful Prince/Tom Cruise mash-up on this bike. It has a great nostalgic feel that makes me miss shoulder pads and Aqua Net. Not in a bad way, either .

[Snake]

Hello and welcome!

[snot]

Welcome

[Triple Jim]

It's a nice looking pregen. You probably know, but if it's leaking gasoline, not only is the petcock leaking, but at least one carburetor float valve is also leaking. Neither is expensive or difficult to fix.

[ThrottleGirl]

Yes, actually, the carbs are in pretty bad shape. The guy I bought it from picked it up to flip, had it a month, took the carbs off but didn't bother with the jets, said the boot on the base shrank while it was off so doesn't seal, petcock was basically destroyed. I'm trying to find a basic carb kit for the o-rings and seals but the ones I've found seem questionable (doesn't list what comes with it or the reviews say parts were missing, etc). Any tips there would be great. I've searched in the pregen section for that and for dual sport tires but haven't come up with anything yet. I'm fairly new to forums, so could be my lacking.

[Triple Jim]

Ducatiman here on the board is known for professional carb rebuilds at reasonable prices, in case you don't want to do it yourself.

A friend of mine teaches with the Cornerspeed school, and he runs one of the many Bridgestone Trailwing dualsport tires on his little 150cc supermoto bike. I've chased him around the supermoto track at VIR and the tires do not limit his speed. sorry I don't know which Trailwings though.

[Alex]

Jim's right on. @ducatiman might have some advice and recommendations for a carb kit.

[ThrottleGirl]

Thanks, guys! My husband is actually looking forward to getting into the carbs and bringing them back to life. I find the bikes, research the parts, locate the best prices, do the design on the builds and he does the actual 'work', lol. I'll check with Ducatiman on kits he might recommend. Besides, he has a great name (my other bike is a Ducati Diavel). And that lead on tires is a huge tip, thanks much - that's the first mod to see how the bike sits so I know how to modify the seat and bars for ergonomics as I'm so small. Really nice to hear there might be options that can take a decent corner without creating a weird tank-slap sensation.

[Triple Jim]

I've never had my 250 feel anything buy completely stable in corners, even when scraping the peg feelers. I have Bridgestone BT45s on mine.

[ducatiman]

basic carb kit includes 2 float valves , 16 stainless buttonhead hex screws, 2 float bowl orings, 2 pilot screw orings ...enough for 1 carbset (*both* carbs)

$28 *shipped* USPS CONUS

Let me know if you plan on splitting the carbset, I'll supply vent and fuel rail orings too. $32 shipped (all in stock, btw)

[ThrottleGirl]

Fantastic! I'll get Ron (husband) to sign up on here so he can see that and order, thanks so much ducatiman - that looks ideal. TripleJim - those look like good tires for the road and a bit of dirt, do you have them in the stock size or did you bump them up a size?

[Triple Jim]

The Bridgestone BT45s are road tires, so I wouldn't recommend them for any serious offroad use. I did stay with stock sizes, as I believe that going larger is likely to have negative effects on the handling.

Check out the various Trail Wing choices, while you're looking at dual sport tires. They're available for mostly dirt, mostly pavement, and inbetween, as I remember. The ones I chased on the supermoto track had fairly large, square tread blocks, so on pavement they don't squirm around much, and in dirt they still have some of the effects of knobbies.

[ThrottleGirl]

Excellent comment, that's the kind of tread I'd like as I'll be about 2/3rds pavement, 1/3 dirt. And by dirt, I mean very simple, fairly flat, well-packed dirt roads. Nothing gnarly, I'm getting too beat up for those .

[Triple Jim]

I just looked at the Trail Wing line, and it may not be possible to get front and rear in stock sizes for our 16" wheels.

[ThrottleGirl]

I haven't gotten too far into researching if I can bump up a size without having to switch out rims, but I'm pretty sure I can in the back. I just like keeping it consistent and would rather avoid switching out the front rim size...kind of paranoid on that mod. I'm draining the gas now and am baffled by this box hanging down on the left. I can't find it in the schematics for the fuel system, is it something for emissions?

[ThrottleGirl]

Ah, found it - canister for the vapors, I think. Okay, now back to solving the mystery of finding the proper dual sport tires!

[Triple Jim]

That's either a California thing, or my pregen had it removed by someone else before I bought it.

[ThrottleGirl]

That's what we were thinking, too. Any idea if there is a code in the VIN for the California models? I'm wondering if we can take it off without issues as I'm not sure what kind of space I'll need as I build.

[ThrottleGirl]

...or it might be the flux capacitor... .

[Triple Jim]

I'm not familiar with the thing, but someone who is will be along.

[ThrottleGirl]

Originally Posted by ducatiman

basic carb kit includes 2 float valves , 16 stainless buttonhead hex screws, 2 float bowl orings, 2 pilot screw orings ...enough for 1 carbset (*both* carbs)

$28 *shipped* USPS CONUS

Let me know if you plan on splitting the carbset, I'll supply vent and fuel rail orings too. $32 shipped (all in stock, btw)

Ducatiman - by chance do you have a set that included the ideal screw, spring and form-fitted gasket (that is more of a rectangle)?

[ducatiman]

the idle screw is cleanable, spring reusable. The round oring can be easily held in place within the bowl gland by using grease. After a few heat cycles and compression...its formed. I routinely use these very parts within my service procedures without issue.

[ThrottleGirl]

Gotcha. Personal preference to replace those parts for sure. I tend to do new parts when I'm opening up a carb on a used bike if for nothing else other than the false sense of security it grants me .

[ThrottleGirl]

Originally Posted by Triple Jim

I just looked at the Trail Wing line, and it may not be possible to get front and rear in stock sizes for our 16" wheels.

I've had a bit harder time confirming the stock tire sizes than I'd like to admit, but are these correct?
front: 100/80x16
rear: 130/80x16

If so, would these dual sport tires fit? I'd really like to avoid changing wheels if possible.
http://http://www.motosport.com/shin...705-tire-combo

[Triple Jim]

Yes, according to the Kawasaki manual, those are the original sizes. You link has too much "http" stuff, but I trimmed it. I don't see any 16" rim choices for the Shinko 705s.

http://www.motosport.com/shinko-dual...705-tire-combo

If 80 aspect ratio tires aren't available, going to 90 doesn't hurt things, but as I said, I'd avoid going bigger than 100 and 130 because I like the quick handling of the Ninja 250. Others may have experience with larger sizes and be able to provide some information.

[ThrottleGirl]

Thanks, Triple Jim. Forums are still new for me so I learn how to operate as I go, I'll remove my http before adding to the link area next time. I see what confused me, the OEM specs that came up for those tires are on my bike, not on the tires. 16's aren't easy to find enduros to fit, that's for sure. Making me work for it!

[Triple Jim]

Here are a couple pages that talk about tires and sizes:

https://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/Do_120...on_the_rear%3F
https://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/Do_tal...stock_sizes%3F

In case you haven't found the index page for the tech tips: https://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/Ninja250_Howto

[ThrottleGirl]

Both very interesting reads. Thanks. I'm only 5'2 so can't play with the height very much, it was nice to see estimated increases/decreases.

[Triple Jim]

Originally Posted by ThrottleGirl

I'm only 5'2 so can't play with the height very much, it was nice to see estimated increases/decreases.

You're certainly welcome. My daughter is about that height, and on the 250 with a 130/90-16 rear BT45, a 100/90-16 front BT45 and the stiffer front and rear springs, she certainly doesn't want to go any higher. She doesn't want to go much lower either, because she tends to scrape the peg feelers even while hanging off, when she rides tight curves.