The huge Hells Angel came over, picked me up off the floor a good foot, and muttered, "You think you're an Angel, sonny?" I had wandered along to the Kent show under the apparent misapprehension that it was open to all motorcyclists. My only crime, as far as I could see, was to arrive on a GN250 wearing denim cutoffs over my brother's well worn out leather jacket.
There were patches on the denim, one of which said, Hells Angels Club of Sark. Sark, as you will all know, is a Channels Island tax haven where they lock up tax collectors and any Hells Angel unfortunate enough to drop in on this millionaire's enclave would probably be strung up within seconds. And, anyway, the only vehicles allowed on Sark are horse drawn carriages.
The humour that this patch represented was lost on the ignorant lout and he gave me the impression that he was doing me a great favour when he deposited me into a very muddy pool of stagnant water, that on closer inspection revealed itself to be an open air urinal. His last words were growled out and are too brutal to repeat here. They did convince me that I should leave in a hurry.
This preamble neatly illustrates the major problem of GN250 ownership. Its mild chopperesque silhouette means that anyone from spotty youths to hardened outlaws feel obliged to take the piss. I eventually became so tired of this that I fitted flat bars and a modified tank off a GS125. This so confused everyone that I could go about my everyday business without being subjected to abuse or threats.
The GN250 is nothing so much as an extremely sensible motorcycle ruined by the stupid ideas of marketing men. All Suzuki had to do was copy the style of the GS125 and it would have been perfect. End of sermon, down to basics. My machine came to me as a two year old with 24,800 miles on the clock. It was in perfect running order with a full service history. I have since put 42,300 miles on the clock in the last 18 months.
The engine is a SOHC single cylinder of compact dimensions and extreme simplicity. You can either think of it as a grown up GS125 or a scaled down GN400. No matter, although it only produces 22hp it does not have much by way of mass to haul along, weighing at at around 300lbs with a full tank of petrol. This translates to a top speed of 85mph on the clock (around 80mph in reality), nippy acceleration around town and an average fuel consumption of about 75mpg.
Combine the latter with the fact that very little seems to wear out, and you'd understand that it is an extremely cheap bike to run if you ride it sensibly. Tyres are cheapo Taiwan things that don't seem to wear at all. Engine braking is good, so brakes are seldom needed if you plan ahead. Emergency stops can leave the rider panicking, wondering if the machine will pull up in time, but as I've yet to hit anything they must be adequate.
The only real expense is replacement of chains and sprockets at every other chain change. Chain mileage has varied between 6000 and 13500 miles depending on the quality of the chain, the amount of time taken to oil and adjust it, and the way the machine has been ridden. I used old engine oil as chain lubricant as chain sprays don't last any longer and get sprayed over the back wheel in just the same way as engine oil! Singles need 21 tooth engine sprockets to maximise chain life, not to mention full chain enclosures and Scottoilers....I could get really carried away if I wasn't so damn lazy.
Motorway work is a waste of time. The bike can barely keep up with the slow lane even if it is mercilessly thrashed. I have done it, much to my disgrace, and the poor little Suzuki has complained by returning 55mpg and weaving nastily. A two hour bash up the M1 resulted in a leaking cylinder head gasket and an engine in need of a pint of oil. It doesn't usually use much oil between 750 mile oil changes (my own paranoia rather than the recommended interval).
The engine has a contented growl between 50 and 70mph and the bikes ambles along A and B roads well enough. The best consumption I've achieved on one such mild outing was 89mpg. Suspension is a bit on the soft side, the rear shocks were well gone by the time I got the bike, but general hustling ability is the right side of frightening and I have yet to replace them. No real problems with such a mild power output.
The engine has needed some attention of late, but remained remarkably reliable and robust up to 41000 miles. I think the exhaust valve burnt out because I insisted on running the bike with the original silencer after its innards had disintegrated. Doing the work myself was easy enough and there are plenty of cheap parts in the breakers. I also replaced the camchain and tensioner just to be on the safe side. A camshaft lobe was slightly pitted but it did not look serious enough to demand replacement - valve clearances need adjusting every 4000 miles, at the first sign of the need for frequent adjustments I will replace the camshaft, but not before.
Also, something I did not repair, the gearbox action has become very slack, the bike sometimes jumps out of 2nd and 3rd gears. As fourth has a usable range speed range of 20 to 65mph, I tend to head for that gear as soon as possible. I had been taking off in 2nd gear as the torque of the motor was well able to cope with this, so this might have contributed to the demise of this gear. Primary drive was by gear and the clutch never showed any signs of abuse, although I never do wheelies.
The rotted exhaust was replaced by one from a breaker, as was the rectifier/regulator as soon as the battery started boiling over, although it's still the original item. The lights were so terrible that I tended to avoid riding in the night, although all the switches worked well and have not provoked a moment's concern.
There is no easy way to increase power. No-one makes any kind of performance kits for these bikes, perhaps not surprising given its appearance. A friend's Honda RS250 single is much faster and more chuckable but no so reliable, needing much more maintenance than the GN.
The Suzuki almost acts as if power is a dirty word. There is no discernible power band, it just oozes out subtly as the throttle is wound open. Torque there is not very much of. Into strong headwinds there is a gradual loss of speed until you're down to about sixty, when you need to change down one or two gears to get the bike wound up again. There is hardly any vibration to tell you that the engine is whirring away and it must certainly be the most civilised single around.
At least until you wring its neck in the lower gears - with the throttle held against the stop in second or third, as the revs go into the red vibration starts churning out of the engine until both bars, pegs and petrol tank are tingling not at all nicely. Only very insensitive morons would keep up this kind of mechanical carnage; it's just the machine's polite way of telling you to back off.
The bike is very friendly, easy to ride and keeps your licence safe as it does not encourage rapid riding. I expect so see about 60,000 miles on the clock before I started looking in breakers for a nearly new engine. Biannual touching up of the paint is necessary, whilst chrome and alloy goes off unless polished every other week. For sure, I sometimes envy the owners of race replicas, but for the moment it's the perfect vehicle for my needs. Shame that Suzuki couldn't make it look less silly.
P.R.S.
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I was rather surprised when the GN's chain snapped. I shouldn't have been really, as with 22,500 miles on the clock it might well have been the original one, but the little OHC single had whirred away so reliably for the 7000 miles I'd owned it that any kind of failure came as a shock. It wasn't a fast bike, or even a pretty one, but it had an aura of toughness and durability that impressed.
I was somewhat annoyed to find that as well as mangling the chainguard, it'd left a large hole in the crankcase; I had plenty of time to ponder this as I pushed the Suzuki the four miles home, leaving a trail of oil as evidence of my passing.
A combination of plate, self-taping screws and Araldite covered the hole and the chainguard was thrown away. The gearbox sprocket was missing a tooth and the back wheel sprocket had teeth so hooked the new chain refused to sit on them. A chain and sprocket set didn't exactly break the bank but I could've done without the hassle.
The snapping chain turned out to be the sign that my happy honeymoon with the bike was over! I had expected the new transmission to firm up the gearchange, which had never been precise, often felt so loose that I had to check that the lever hadn't come adrift. Now, back on the road, I found the bike changed gear with all the fluidity of a cement mixer. It took only 40 miles for the box to lock up solid in third gear.
The GN was rideable as a single speed motorcycle, though it couldn't be called fun. Too much clutch slip on take-offs and too much vibration at 50mph. Still, it took me back and forth to work for a week until I was ready to split the motor. This should have been a snap, but the engine mounting bolts had seized in solid and the engine screws snapped off rather than come undone. Eventually, the cause of the carnage was revealed as bits of alloy from the smashed casing that had jammed up the works, smashed gear teeth off and generally ruined what had been a nice reliable engine. An unbelievably expensive bit of chain neglect on my part!
That might've been the end of the story had I not spied, in MCN, a nearby breaker advertising a crashed GN250. Two hundred quid poorer and a bit of hassle later, the Suzuki was back on the road with a gently thrumming motor that promised long life as the speedo of the crashed bike had read a mere 7300 miles. That had convinced me to take a chance on the motor (it couldn't be heard running) and it was only later that I learnt that the breaker, as a matter of course, clocked all the bikes that he had.
I though it was a bit odd that such a new engine should vibrate a lot more than the old one, especially once past 5000 revs, when the pegs and bars tried to shake themselves out of their mountings. A 100 mile canter left me with blurred vision and white fingers. Fuel also showed up the worn state of the engine, coming in at 50mpg instead of nearer 80mpg. After just 600 miles smoke started coming out of the exhaust in two-stroke type quantities.
Engine out time again. Scored and pitted camshaft, a piston that looked like it was oval and a bore with deep marks in it. The main bearings seemed solid enough but the small-end looked on the way out. The old engine had better bits that I could swap over with the exception of the small-end bearing. Using the old gaskets couldn't have helped in the efficacy of the rebuild but I had a running motor that neither smoked heavily nor vibrated harshly. The only clue to its bastard origins was oil consumption at 75mpp!
Its dubious nature meant that for most of the time I only used it for town work, something the GN is set up to cope with, having excellent comfort, low mass and an easy going nature. It could be skated around cages, run up pavements and generally flung through the snarled up mess that passed for moving traffic without expending too much energy. Only on wet roads did the cheap and nasty tyres disrupt things, making it necessary to ride with a foot down in sharp, low speed turns - as the tyres never seemed to wear it looked like I was stuck with them.
The single front disc was also a bit of an antique, with a bit of wet weather lag and not that much by way of stopping power despite the SR weighing only 285lbs and not being able to do more than 80mph, a speed made so uncomfortable by its mild custom riding stance that I rarely ever tried to maintain it for more than a few moments. 70mph cruising was just about acceptable for an hour or two. I suppose the caliper had been rebuilt a couple of times and the pads were not OE, so a new 'un might be a bit better. The rear drum wasn't much cop, either, although it worked in the wet, a bloody great stomp was needed to squeal the tyre.
Even with their lack of power the brakes could twitch the chassis - I suspected that the swinging arm bearings were on the way out but never got around to replacing them, as I wasn't really riding the Suzuki at the kind of speeds that tested the chassis.
After about 4000 miles on the rebuilt engine, the exhaust smoke came back with a vengeance and the motor sounded like it was falling apart. This occurred as I was coming back from work, the three miles it took to reach home were a sufficient distance to turn the engine red hot and make the valves sound like they were taking big chunks out of the piston top. Wearily, I took the motor out and stripped it down. The small-end bearing had let the piston wobble about which had sent bits of alloy flying around the motor, destroying just about every important component in the engine.
Two weeks later a rat GN250 turned up, the motor was intact, ran, but the chassis had been blitzed by a fire, resultant of somewhat doubtful electrics - my own machine had featured non-standard fuse box, rectifier unit and lots of strange bits of wiring, but hadn't given me any trouble. The owner only wanted £50 so I couldn't think of any excuse to refuse to buy it. Much spanner wielding followed until the GN was once again ready for the road.
I didn't expect too much as the speedo had sported 63000 miles, but the engine ran as well as my last rebuild effort and I was quite happy commuting on the bike. Or, I would have been had not it died a death on the way into work on the fourth day. No power, turned out the alternator had a couple of coils burnt out and couldn't cope with my safety conscious riding (the main beam full on in daylight). Luckily, I had a spare alternator and battery......
Having just brought a seized GN for £30 (it had new consumables), my garage is beginning to resemble a breakers den with masses of near useless bits cluttering up the space, but I know as soon as I chuck something out I'll need it. All these bits does mean the GN costs next to nothing to run and I'm stuck with it for the foreseeable future.
The current incarnation has done all of 3700 miles with only the rear lamp incident causing concern. This item is mounted on a huge bracket that looks like a refugee from the fifties. So naff was its engineering that it fell off on one ride home in the dark. The first I knew about it was a screeching of brakes as a car sped out of the darkness to suddenly find a motorcycle under its bumper. Judging by the wild wobble as he shot past he must've missed me by inches. I only got safely home by riding on the pavement for the last half mile. Something that amused an OAP who got in the way no end.
In its favour, the only maintenance chores are an oil change every 2000 miles and valve adjustments every 5000 miles. It's a good idea to change the spark plug then as it can become a reluctant starter, especially in cold, damp weather.
There's nothing really special about the GN250 but they seem pretty reliable beasts for the first 20 to 25000 miles, after that they are cheap to repair when anything goes wrong. You can buy a good runner for well under 500 notes, an old wreck for about £50 or something really immaculate for around £1000. A slick gearbox and lack of vibes or exhaust fumes denotes a low mileage 'un with plenty of life left in it. I like them as hacks but it's not the kind of machine to fall desperately in love with.
Martin Nickolas
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I'd been battling with the Honda CD175 for two years. Everyone I knew told me to give it up but I kept on coaxing it into some sort of working order. Insisting it had character. The CD was older than I was, and many an old fart would stop and tell me how they'd had a bike like this when they were a lad. Until they realised it was not a Triumph as they'd mistakenly assumed.
As the bike began to take its toll on me, and both my enthusiasm for and confidence in biking began to wane, I heard from an old friend who had a wee Suzuki GN250. Off I went to meet him for a swift half and the CD broke down on the way. In my eyes then, the GN was a winner from the start. It had lots of chromed bits (a tube of polish was included in the asking price), it had an electric start (after the CD my right calf will forever be bigger than my left after all that kickstarting), it had indicators that worked, brakes that stopped the bike and an engine that wouldn't seize three times in a month as the lovable CD's had done.
My mate agreed to sell me this dream machine in June - eight months away! I could live with the CD until then...One month later, on Halloween, the CD finally gave up the ghost. So to speak, I went out to drown my sorrows and in a fit of drunkenness phoned my mate to ask him to sell me the GN now. He agreed - once he'd had a test ride on a new Yamaha Diversion he couldn't sell me the little Suzuki fast enough.
Drunken deal duly made all I had to do was collect my new baby. My mate's brother and I went up to Aberdeen two weeks later on his Yamaha XTZ660, with a different hangover, in freezing conditions and then three of us went to a rally on the Tenere and the GN. My mate, being the sensible one out of the three of us (well, he did buy a Diversion - only a small step away from BMW ownership) he was sent for the carry out. It was -6 degrees and we were camping, which was not particularly sensible, in retrospect. The GN started first time, despite the frost on the wee engine. I was impressed - I needed a few whiskies before I could get started.
On the Sunday I rode my pride and joy. As I stalled it for the 40th time big bruv began to worry. I was just not used to the brakes and the clutch working...and it was dark, I was cold, it was raining, I was wet, smelly and still bloody hungover. I sat at 65mph all the way home with the Tenere behind me. He regrets ever saying he would look after me and still gets quite bitter about the whole thing after one too many beers...
Finally home with £900's worth of muddy bike. I washed all the shit off it and stood back. I noticed that it was an H reg once I'd cleaned the numberplate. When I wiped the dials, the mileometer read 10,800 miles. There was a dent in the petrol tank (I won't embarrass my mate by explaining how it got there) which, apparently, can be blown out. Hmmmn. The dent doesn't bother me enough to risk this just yet.
Ginger, as the new love of my life was instantly christened, got new tyres from my father for Christmas. Unfortunately, these were the cheapest ones available and Ginger needed another back tyre after only 7000 miles. I scrubbed in the first set of new tyres in one day, in a 200 mile round trip to Aberdeen in December. It was a nice day, initially at least, by the time I got back to Dundee there were gale force winds and it was very wet and cold and Aberdeen MCC had organised a toy run. So it seemed like a good idea at the time. I could never have done it on the CD175.
Ginger and I have done a lot together. We have ridden through two Scottish winters and one Scottish summer (hard to tell the difference sometimes). We've survived cities, beaches and the Highlands. The GN has totally renewed my confidence in biking - I ride for the joy of it now, taking the long way home even in the rain. I have ridden almost every day for the last year and a half, only not doing so when the snow is above the top of the wheels or when the bike shop had the GN in for a service to get through the MOT. Not a problem, more of a rou- tine.
For the first ten months or so we only commuted between Dundee and St Andrews, also round town with a few trips to Aberdeen and back. Or to the Glens to see my folks (where it snows in April, as Ginger soon found out). Ginger coped admirably for a little town commuter. I met a lad who was quite happy to be my pillion; luckily he was thin enough to fit on the saddle!
Ginger does suffer a bit with pillions but he is only a wee bike and I am only a wee girl, so it's understandable and quite forgivable. The GN sulked when I went for a weekend on the Diversion and didn't start first time when we got back. I can forgive him that but then I could forgive him anything after what the CD did to me.
I have since moved to the Highlands and live at the end of four miles of Forestry Commission quagmire, thinly disguised as a road. Which we navigate every afternoon so that I could go to work in the local pub. And every night Ginger manages to get me home through pot-holes and fiords that scar the mud, and through the drunken stupor that scars my brain - do not try this at home, kids...
The road has taken its toll, however. I have to lube the chain every day and light bulbs last about a month at the most. The suspension, never that great, anyway, was complaining, the forks seals needed replaced because they were completely shagged. The chain and sprockets were new when I got Ginger and had to be replaced 6000 miles later - not good for a GN, I admit.
I do ride the bike to its limits, although I've only pegged him once. And once was quite enough, thank you very much. I've never ever redlined the engine. The attractive chromed bits (that probably double the value of the bike), in particular the front mudguard and the silencer have also rusted through.
Now I'm looking for something else. Ginger is tediously slow and I want to do more touring. My faith in bikes has been renewed but I need to move on. I would love a ZZR600 or a Ducati Monster but my boyfriend thinks I'd kill myself. An XV535 would be nice, seems a natural progression from a GN but I want to try something different - a little confidence may well be a dangerous thing in this case.
As it is, I will be keeping the GN until I leave the Glens and can afford the insurance on something bigger. What has the GN ever done wrong? Nothing really; nothing outstanding either. He does drink gallons of oil, a litre every 600 miles or so which is a bit of a worry. But it's not leaking anywhere and it's not burning it either. The engine was stripped before I bought the bike and nothing was drastically wrong there. Bit of a mystery really, but if it's not broken then I'm not going to (get anyone else to) fix it. The tank holds almost eleven litres of petrol (including reserve) which gives a quite adequate range of around 130 miles. After doing that much in one haul, I had to stop for a fag, anyway.
And I'm off for a fag now. I'm going to make a coffee, give Ginge his daily bath, lube the chain, add some oil and then check my lottery numbers...
Clare Damodaran
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A big day in my life was the passing of the motorcycle test. No more nasty 125's for me. I would've loved an FZR600 but the dosh just wouldn't run to it. Just the insurance would've killed me dead. I had to find something a bit more realistic. My dad's mate had a GN250 for sale. A bit of an old duffer's bike but a lad had to do what a lad had to do. At least it was in reasonable nick - some of the old GN's end up in a dreadful state. 16000 miles, good consumables and an engine that rattled into life without much trauma. £600 notes was about right.
The 1991 machine had a couple of minor blemishes. A few spots of rust on the petrol tank and the exhaust's downpipe. The exhaust had already been replaced so god knows what state the original would be in by now. The GN's definitely made down to a price, though that was never reflected in its new cost - some dealers demanded as much as three grand for them, though there were some reasonable discounts around. It's not a sporting looking bike, the mild attempt at custom styling just making it look a bit silly - they should have used GS125 cycle parts. The motor also looks a little odd with its huge sump and small cylinder - maybe bits were left over from the glory days of the GN400?
Compared to 12hp 125cc learners, performance was actually pretty damn good. No more was there a distinct fading away of motive power come 60mph. The unit only had 20 horses, but they were resolute ponies well able to hold a 70 to 75mph cruising speed. The nature of the thumper torque proven when it would hold such velocities up some rather steep hills. By 80mph, though, it was gasping for breath, wind resistance overwhelming the power, even though I got myself down on the tank - with the high bars it left my elbows flapping about in the air. A stance that amused bored cagers on the motorway. I think that was why they saluted me on their horns, anyway!
It may well've been caused by the way the whole bike shimmied along on its soft suspension. The previous owner had a passing resemblance to an overweight orang-utan, causing the springing to resemble that found in a thirty year old sofa. Even with my lightweight youthful frame on the saddle it sagged badly. Its reaction to speed was to let the bike wallow in about half a yard of carriageway, though it didn't grow any worse as speed increased dramatically. As expected from a modern OHC thumper of this small capacity, its all up weight was minimal, less than 300lbs. This gave me the chance to fight back against the weave, convince the bike to go where I wanted it to.
Occasionally, it showed rank insubordination by choosing a path all of its own. Usually when well banked over, hitting a sudden series of bumps that tried to unhinge the chassis. The tyres were, fortunately, Avons, so there was plenty of grip even in the wet. Once, I fought back manfully against the bike's inclination to rush over to the other side of the road to splatter an oncoming BMW. The bars twitched mightily in my hands, seeming to go heavier the more I fought against them. The BMW driver avoided the collision by running his car off the side of the road! Never did get the chance to say thank you to him.
Usually, at this point in the narrative, the writer admits to fitting some aftermarket shocks and firming up the front forks. No chance of that, mate. I was running the bike on a budget that came wholly from what the SS was willing to hand out. I even tried for a loan for a few bits and pieces but the old dear who viewed my application wasn't amused - to say the least. There wasn't an urgent need for a suspension upgrade, it never became any worse; just a matter of mind over matter, and muscle over recalcitrant machinery.
As a cheap ride the GN had some good points. When the dosh ran low, a mild throttle hand turned in almost 90mpg against the usual 70mpg, thrash it until the valves bounce. Tyre wear never intruded on my peace of mind. And if the rear chain appeared made out of mild steel, it was just a matter of taking links out of it when the adjusters ran out of patience. The tight spots were removed by holding the chain either side with mole-grips and working it back and forth after a soaking in old engine oil. As I was on the dole, an afternoon spent fettling the bike was no great feat - at least it stopped me wandering around putting sugar into the petrol tanks of rich bastards' cars.
It took a mere few days before riding the GN became second nature and its performance limits became just a little bit boring. Just as well that the handling was iffy, at least it kept me from nodding off - something that used to happen on my 30mph moped! Further excitement added by the vibes, never was the engine entirely smooth but it really chimed in with more than 75mph on the clock.
The heaviness of the buzzing illustrated by the mirror falling off, my hands shaking for ten minutes once I leapt off the bike, and the numerous occasions on which the electrics went down. On the latter front I suspected typical Suzuki shenanigans but additional rubber mounting stopped both the front and rear bulbs from blowing. Very thick handlebar grips made no discernible difference to the level of vibration reaching my digits when the engine was pushed flat out. Araldite on the mirror's stem cured that problem but it went so fuzzy that it wasn't really worth having.
It was quite good fun trying to see what was behind me by jerking my head backwards, whilst the front end of the bike was shuffling all over the shop. The GN quite sensitive to handlebar inputs, took a lot of practice before I could look behind without simultaneously running off the road. Whilst never fast enough to cause the plod to go ape, on motorway runs I often experienced the fear that some blind, speeding cager was going to run right over me. The blurred images in the mirror too spectral to be assuring.
Despite an oil change ever 1000 miles - admittedly cheapo recylced stuff from the local auto factor - the engine only lasted for 7500 miles in my rather harsh hands. The motor started knocking, but I put it down to the clutch rather than the main bearings. It was only when it refused to rev beyond three grand that I took its demise seriously. Even then it refused to seize, finally showing its angst by failing to start. The internals were not a pretty sight. I found out afterwards that the previous owner had only done short runs and changed the oil every 5000 miles only because the gearbox refused to work. So blame him rather than my throttle to the stop antics.
The story didn't end there. Two weeks work (for free) in a breakers secured a replacement GN250 engine. Runs no better nor no worse than the original but that doesn't stop me thrashing it everywhere. If dosh's limited, the GN250 has its uses.
Steve Berry