Project: First Bike Ever

I've decided to start a thread show casing the work I'm doing on my 2009 WR250X. First things first, I need to give a huge thanks and shoutout to my new friend and fellow board member MotoKirby. I bought this bike and didn't know what a rear sprocket was. I know very very little about motorcycles and mechanics, but I am happy to say I have figured out what a rear sprocket is, haha. MotoKirby offered to lend his expertise, labor, shop, and tools to help me service the bike and get the bike back to a riding style that suites my needs, and I could not have done any of this without him.

The first thing we did was change the oil. I used Amsoil 10w-40. I used about 1.6 quarts. I think that was slightly to much but O' well.

Next we decided to tackle removing the rear handbrake kit.

BEFORE:


AFTER:



This is also for sale. PM me if you are interested.


Next thing we decided to do was change the back tire. I got Avon Distanzia 150/60R17 in the rear, and 120/70HR17 in the front.
BEFORE:


AFTER:






We also cleaned the air filter with air filter cleaner. Then we put it infront of a fan to dry and once it was dry we covered in air filter oil. Then we put it back infront of the fan, and then wiped off the excess oil.


So all in alll here is what has been done since I bought the bike.

1)Stickers removed off the plastics
2) 50 Stunt Pegs Removed
3) Oil Changed
4) Air Filter Cleaned
5) Chain Lubricated
6) Rear tire changed
7) Rear handbrake kit removed (whole new rear brake bracket and caliper put on)

I think that's everything. Stay tuned because more is on the way!

id like to call dibbs on the handbrake if no one else has yet

see wasn't that bad wad it? For the oil just make sure the level is between the lines on the sight glass when the bike is vertical (not on the side stand). If its too full take some oil out, I suggest just undoing the filter cover and letting what's there drain out, running the bike briefly, then seeing where the level is. Too much oil is as bad as not enough almost.

skierd wrote:

see wasn't that bad wad it? For the oil just make sure the level is between the lines on the sight glass when the bike is vertical (not on the side stand). If its too full take some oil out, I suggest just undoing the filter cover and letting what's there drain out, running the bike briefly, then seeing where the level is. Too much oil is as bad as not enough almost.

Changing the oil and air filter wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Why do you say to much oil is such a bad thing? I've heard of people using more oil than the maximum before and they didn't have any problems.

Motokid and I did some more work on the bike. Thanks again Motokid!! Ok, here's some pictures and descriptions of what we did.

The first thing we did was change the front tire.

BEFORE:


AFTER:


Next we cut the chain and took off the ridiculously large 53 tooth sprocket. We put on a 47 tooth steel sprocket that I bought from sprocketcenter.com

BEFORE:


AFTER:


We also put on some rear view mirrors. I bought the mirrors for like $35 for the pair at a local motorcycle shop. I really like the rear view mirrors when I'm riding.

BEFORE:


AFTER:


We also added some distilled water into where you put coolant because my coolant level was below the minimum line.

Well, that's all for now. Stay tuned for more.

Im thinking about getting those turn signals. Do you have a shot to see them from the back?

Mikechicago wrote:

Im thinking about getting those turn signals. Do you have a shot to see them from the back?

This is the best picture I have. I accidently kicked off the other turn signal getting on the bike, haha

how many set of mirrors did you buy?
the way you mounted them.... looks easy to break them

btomp2008 wrote:

Mikechicago wrote:

Im thinking about getting those turn signals. Do you have a shot to see them from the back?

This is the best picture I have. I accidently kicked off the other turn signal getting on the bike, haha

I have some stock parts laying around if you need any. Also if you want to get rid of the old rear brake setup or the stunt pegs im your huckleberry

bobbytohn wrote:

how many set of mirrors did you buy?
the way you mounted them.... looks easy to break them

just bought one set. I put em on upside down because I like the way it looked. I see great out of them like that as well. IDK why you say they look easy to break...haven't had an issue with them so far or any near break experiences or anything like that

edit: already sold those stunt pegs and rear handbrake kit

btomp2008 wrote:

bobbytohn wrote:

how many set of mirrors did you buy?
the way you mounted them.... looks easy to break them

just bought one set. I put em on upside down because I like the way it looked. I see great out of them like that as well. IDK why you say they look easy to break...haven't had an issue with them so far or any near break experiences or anything like that

edit: already sold those stunt pegs and rear handbrake kit

i think they will break if you lay her down or drop her!!

bobbytohn wrote:

btomp2008 wrote:

bobbytohn wrote:

how many set of mirrors did you buy?
the way you mounted them.... looks easy to break them

just bought one set. I put em on upside down because I like the way it looked. I see great out of them like that as well. IDK why you say they look easy to break...haven't had an issue with them so far or any near break experiences or anything like that

edit: already sold those stunt pegs and rear handbrake kit

i think they will break if you lay her down or drop her!!

O, haha, yea i'm sure they will. i'm just hoping it doesnt happen

btomp2008 wrote:

bobbytohn wrote:

btomp2008 wrote:

bobbytohn wrote:

how many set of mirrors did you buy?
the way you mounted them.... looks easy to break them

just bought one set. I put em on upside down because I like the way it looked. I see great out of them like that as well. IDK why you say they look easy to break...haven't had an issue with them so far or any near break experiences or anything like that

edit: already sold those stunt pegs and rear handbrake kit

i think they will break if you lay her down or drop her!!

O, haha, yea i'm sure they will. i'm just hoping it doesnt happen

yea.. not tryin to sound like a dick haha just saying....
i know i would break them in a day haha uh check out my tread and how i mounted mine

Just decided to do a flat black on my bike. I like it better than the stock gloss. I just sanded and buffed the plastics. Here are some pics!

Also got a blue billet lower chain guard



Sugar Free Red Bull Mod!

Put on some front and rear LED blinkers. They were $30 for the pair and not worth it. Already having a lot of problems with the plastic part of them breaking and on one blinker the part that covers the lights fell off.

FRONT


REAR: Also put a spacer so my exhaust wasn't touching my brake light

Those plastics look great. What grit/grits sandpaper did you use? Can you tell us a little more about the procedure?

xaman wrote:

Those plastics look great. What grit/grits sandpaper did you use? Can you tell us a little more about the procedure?

thanks man. I've been trying a lot of stuff, but here's what i've done
I started with 600 wet sandpaper and sanded down the whole thing by hand with that
next I went to 800 and did the whole thing with that
then I did the whole thing with 1000
next I took a buffer and buffed the whole thing

After all that it looked good, but not great. there were still a few spots that looked kind of grayish. The spots were grey because I took a sander to get out some major scratches. I hit the grayish spots with a sand sponge (wasn't sure what grit but it was not fine at all haha) and that made them look worse and just scratched up the spots some more haha

i'm currently sanding down by hand with wet sander paper 1500 and 2000 grit
i'm just trying to work out those grey spots and blend everything together. i'm thinking because of using that sanding sponge that I mentioned earlier I might still have a few scratches on certain spots, but that doesn't bother me as long as the whole bike is flat black.

i'll post some more pictures of the completely finished product.

If I could do it all over again I wouldn't have even worried about the big scratches (took a power sander to those like I mentioned and it just made this gray color which is more annoying than the scratches were haha). If I was going to do it again I would have just started with 600 wet sand paper and worked my up to 2000.

edit: talked to a guy that works at a body shop and he suggested i work my way up to 5000 grit so i'm going to do that and i'll post more pictures of the finished product.

Thanks for the procedure. I'm wearing blue right now but keep considering black, and your flat black looks killer. Be sure to post follow up pics.