The bike called Yamasaki

[ryan_ott]

This is the start of a thread that may be dragged out for awhile but hopefully not.

Yamasaki

The name came from oldgeek and will stick for eternity. This bike was gifted to OG but was sitting unused and it was offered to me, this was an offer I couldn’t turn up so I made the 1300 mi round trip from PA to NC to pick the girl up. In plain form it’s a 1994 Kawasaki 250 with a heart transplant from a 1974 RD250 completed by none other then 190mech with a beautiful set of peace pipes that sound amazing. Maybe he can add some particulars of the original build as I’m not completely aware of when it was built or the specs.

It’s in need of some love as it’s been sitting for awhile but trust me it won’t look the same when I’m done with it. My plans for it are the minimalist approach... strip the plastics, source some 17” spoked wheels for modern rubber, GSXR 600 or 636 front end, clean and paint/powder coat from top to bottom, make a seat pan/cowl, round led headlight, update the points ignition to electronic and source a tank that looks the part. Maybe a few other touches here and there but for the most part that’s the plan. The frame is Kawasaki but I’ll try to keep most other parts Yamaha, why... I have a thing for them.











To be continued...

[birdman]

Hah!! What a cool piece! You always do good work. I can't wait to see what you do with this. How's it run so far?

[ryan_ott]

I haven’t done more then just start it and see that the battery charges. It’s been sitting so the tires are dry rotted and the calipers are sticking so I can’t take it for a spin until those are sorted at a minimum. It really is a cool piece of history and I feel very fortunate to be the new owner but I can’t wait to get it on the road.

[90GTVert]

Just hearing it in person made me want to go out and find an old 2T motorcycle. Unfortunately I'm broke and there aren't tons around. The good news here is that I found another Ninja with a swap on eBay. Saved most of the pics and posted below since it will likely disappear from eBay at some point and in case it gives you any ideas.

www.ebay.com/itm/1973-Yamaha-RD/114138367955?hash=item1a932d47d3:g:F0wAAOSwNlleD2vt

[190mech]

Thought I'd throw in some random bits of the original build;

[aeroxbud]

Good to see it back again.
A lot of ways you could take this build. I always wanted to build a Yamaha R1-Z replica.

[jackrides]

Super trick builds!! Never seen intakes ported into a transfer before. Please tell us about it. (Tell me a story please.)
It's interesting that Aeroxbud set his pipes on the right side for flattracking. That leftside shifter might be a problem though.

[90GTVert]

John will probably have stories/info for you, but to get you started they are usually called Boyesen ports. You can google that and see quite a few examples and discussion. Here are a couple of links :

www.edwinwhite.com/yz250/boyesenboostports.html

Eric Gorr

[ryan_ott]

Pulled her out to get some cleanup started. I picked up a clutch cover gasket to get that sealed up and a carb kit to get it freshened up. Just plan on wire brushing the engine, side covers and pipe. Black for the engine and if the pipes clean up well probably just raw or high temp clear. I’m just going to pick away at little things here and there due to what I’ve got going on at home. No manufacturer will give me specs for wheel width for any spoked wheels I’d like to use so either ditch that idea or just get them and hope I can get them to work.

More to come..

[ryan_ott]

These be made from that quality American steel, the kind that turns orange as soon as you get it to bare metal and wipe it down. 1.5hr on the one pipe with a wire wheel and this is what I have. Not perfect but considering what it did look like, pretty decent. I’ll spent some more time to see if I can get them to their former luster and then find some decent clear. The auto part store stuff is horrible from past experiences so I’m not even going to try that stuff.







photo upload site

[hellish100]

Why would you want to switch to spoked wheels?

I really dig this project. I had an rd350 and rd400. Awesome power plant.

[ryan_ott]

They are stronger and lighter but the original idea was to cafe-ish it. It currently has 16” wheels and alot of the tires I see are scooter tires and specs show that. I haven’t rode it in its current state but I think it could benefit from some extra clearance. I could easily get it going in it’s present state which really only needs consumables: tires, cables, brakes, caliper and master rebuilds and revisit it when the world comes around again...

[hellish100]

It only came with 16s? Weird. I’ve had tremendous luck with Bridgestone BT-45s. I know those come in a 16. I’d worry about finding hubs that would work. Buchanans(sp?) may be able to help with finding spokes once you have some pieces together.

[ryan_ott]

Yeah only 16’s, I’ve seem some posts of people using aftermarket KLR650 supermoto 17’s which would give more rubber options but those are old posts with few details. I’ll find the pics and add here.

[190mech]

I wedged a set of CBR600 wheel assys on an old VF750 Interceptor,the updated 17" tire selection and better brakes made it a waay better bike..You could measure the present hub width,sprocket offset and axle diameter and visit a few used bike shops with a tape measure in hand,heck there may be a database somewhere on the net with that info..

Just did a search on ebay,looks like the 08 and up Ninja250 used 17" wheels,tons for sale quite cheap...