Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater
I haven't made any decisions, but I was curious to sit down and do
the math (and thought others might be interested) on getting a 250
again. Obviously the bike itself costs about $3500 out the door, which
is more or less negotiable. I'm not so worried about that at the
moment, but rather at the cost of the upgrades I would want to do.
| Item | Approx. cost |
|---|---|
| Hyperlites (LED taillight augmentation) | $80 |
| Rear shock | $350 |
| Front fork springs | $90 |
| Front fork cartridge emulators | $160 |
| Seat rebuild | $60ish |
| Bike computer | $20ish |
| Stainless steel front brake line | $60ish |
| BT-45 tires | $200ish |
So, grand total, that looks like about $1000 more or less. None of these things has to happen right away, although the suspension and brake lines would be first on the list. Tires and hyperlites would come up a close second. The seat rebuild and bike computer are kind of fluff items, but I really liked them on the previous 250, and I'll definitely do them again. Besides, they're the cheapest things on the list (although fairly labor intensive).
After the drop last night, I put the Z away and didn't even look at it again. I figured I'd probably had enough. I'll take a look at it this morning (I'm writing this at 4:45 in the morning after cat allergies woke me up -- the same allergic reaction which indirectly caused me to drop the Z), and see if I can't finish up the seat. It needs a bit more shaving to fit me, and then some shaping to look nice (it's still got weird lumpy parts on the edges, since I've been concentrating entirely on the parts that contact me).
I got some hardware to install on the Z (a pair of strap retaining fittings called footman's loops), but now I'm not sure I want to put them on. There's a real question in my mind as to whether or not I'll even keep the bike another month. It would be silly to drill any more holes if I'm just going to sell it. I guess I'll see what I think after finishing the seat, since the hardware I got is pretty specific to taking longer trips. Don't have any of those planned right now.
I emailed the guy who was working on racks for the Ninja 250 years ago, to see if he ever went anywhere with them. He mailed back a week ago to say that he hadn't, but he could build me one if I wanted. That's pretty interesting, since it looked like a good modification, and one I'd use a lot if I got another Ninja 250.
Posted at 04:59 permanent link category: /motorcycle
Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater