new project SUZUKI DR250SH

[Franz]

I was offered another nice bike during the weekend with legal plate and book, so after a not so long consideration time I decided it to be my No.5 bike.
Bought it from a mechanic of Nut who used to ride it to work sometimes.
Here's some fotos of the little granddaughter of old grandma DR650:

Bike is rideable still but needs some work to be done and some parts to be sourced. Came with a hellish aftermarket exhaust which will be again fitted onto her, 2 sets of different fenders and Supermotard wheels. Back shock needs some new gaskets and fill, engine a complete overhaul as rattling like my lungs and I do not want to risk another dead DR engine 555555555.
So looking forward to this new challenge, but the DT125 must be finished first...................cheers, Franz

 

[Dougal]

Nice one Franz !

At least it keeps you busy and out of trouble.

Do you go looking for these bikes or do people come looking for you to see if you're interested ??

 

[Franz]

Hi Peter, for this bike the guy came to see me and asked if I would be interested. But usually I browse some websites frequently and call some sellers for more beforehand info. Rgds, FR

 

[Franz]

So the time has come to start restoring this little thumper.
Last weekend already stripped down a lot, but I do this step by step, anything stripped is repaired/painted/polished first before I head to the next part.
Amazing how many screw-ups I found already on her, the Supermotard wheels on the fotos had wrong spacers, so the chain was not straight, the rear sprocket was too small and of course chainrollers non-existent so the chain grinded away the chainprotector of the swingarm and went through to the needle bearing of the swingarm. Frontwheel was also not centered, so frontbrake actually never worked as it should have, brake fluid seems to be of an age right after the dinosaurs...........pads where glued & rebuilt rubbish too.
Luckily I got Dave's 'engine eploded' Djebel250 where I could rip off some parts such as the rear shock-absorber (still needed some mods to fit), the offroad wheels (needed to do new spacers to get the wheels in the center of the bike), exhaust (needs some mods) and some other small parts. Will set up the DR250 in offroad trim, meaning will sell the complete Supermotard wheels.

Bike in stripped condition:

Parts done already:

Tank is already outsourced for painting, had new stickers done, just a copy of the DR650 ones as the original DR250SH stickers are awful at best.
Swingarm is also out for aluminium welding.
All bearings & gaskets will be new except for the front forks as these ones have been changed recently and are good to go.

A lot of work still waits:

Well and then the typical Somchai weld that needs to be repaired & welded anew:

Up to now it was very difficult to get parts for this model as only sold in this version for 2 years (90-91), the headlight was totally screwed so my father (bought at Suzuki Austria) sent me a new one, one for the 1992 model and then the right one. Luckily there's now a H3 lamp in there as with the old conventional one, one could have used a candle with similar effects.

Djebel parts have already gone, a local club who has some Djebels bought all of it in one go, so I do not loose any more money on this bike.
Now, intend to work her whenever I have some freetime, today no job on her as it was finishing time for some small glitches on the SRX600.
Need to hurry especially with the engine as once on leave in Europe there's the only chance to get anything I need there.

Will keep you posted, rgds, FR

 

[TonyBKK]

Looks like another fun project!

Always impressed to see how you can take a messed up bike and turn it into something beautiful.

Keep us posted!

:happy1:

 

[Franz]

Sorry guys there will be no more reports on this project as I sold it un-assembled to a nice Thai "DR" guy for not much money as my health currently doesn't permit me any restoration activity during 'off-the-job' times. This hobby will most probably cease to exist for me for good, maybe if I find a really worthwile, old, registered bike where I can spend a years Sat&Sundays I might get weak but only as far as 'might' is concerned.