My old Suzuki PE250

[cdahl383]

I may have the opportunity to buy my old 1978 Suzuki PE250 back this weekend.  I bought it years ago in 2008 and tore it down to the frame and partially restored it with the help of my buddy.  We went through the bike and replaced a lot of stuff, painted up the frame, pipe, and cleaned up the plastics.  It really ripped!  Had a lot of fun with it for a couple years, riding it up north and on some ORV trails.  A couple years later my wife was pregnant with our oldest, and the bike just sat around.  Needless to say I had no time to ride it and needed the money for baby stuff, so I sold it to my buddy's friend.  

Fast forward to now, our kids are older, my wife is back to work again, and we just recently moved out to the country where we have some acreage and more storage capacity.  I've been looking for an older enduro type bike for a while but haven't come across anything great yet.  I checked out a couple bikes but what some guys consider "great condition" isn't the same as my definition.  Missing/broken levers, engines ticking loudly, leaks, missing parts, etc.  Kind of frustrating.

Talked to my buddy a couple weeks ago, he said his friend still has my old PE250!  Apparently he's had it the whole time and barely rode it.  He redid the top end, put some new shocks on it, and added the headlight/taillight which it never had before.  The unfortunate part is he painted all the plastics including the tank a lime green color!  So I'll have to see if I can paint them the original yellow color again or if I need to order new plastics.  But I was told it runs great.  He only wants $600 so I figure if it only needs some cosmetic things I can handle that and it shouldn't cost too much either.

Anyway I'm pretty excited, I hope it works out.  I almost picked up a nice PE250 earlier this week, but another guy snagged it before I could get over to look at it.  I haven't had a dirtbike in almost ten years, so it'd be neat to have one again, let alone my old one I had years ago!  Here's a few pics...hopefully it works out!  

[Turboloader]

On 10/2/2019 at 10:54 AM, cdahl383 said:

I may have the opportunity to buy my old 1978 Suzuki PE250 back this weekend.  I bought it years ago in 2008 and tore it down to the frame and partially restored it with the help of my buddy.  We went through the bike and replaced a lot of stuff, painted up the frame, pipe, and cleaned up the plastics.  It really ripped!  Had a lot of fun with it for a couple years, riding it up north and on some ORV trails.  A couple years later my wife was pregnant with our oldest, and the bike just sat around.  Needless to say I had no time to ride it and needed the money for baby stuff, so I sold it to my buddy's friend.  

Fast forward to now, our kids are older, my wife is back to work again, and we just recently moved out to the country where we have some acreage and more storage capacity.  I've been looking for an older enduro type bike for a while but haven't come across anything great yet.  I checked out a couple bikes but what some guys consider "great condition" isn't the same as my definition.  Missing/broken levers, engines ticking loudly, leaks, missing parts, etc.  Kind of frustrating.

Talked to my buddy a couple weeks ago, he said his friend still has my old PE250!  Apparently he's had it the whole time and barely rode it.  He redid the top end, put some new shocks on it, and added the headlight/taillight which it never had before.  The unfortunate part is he painted all the plastics including the tank a lime green color!  So I'll have to see if I can paint them the original yellow color again or if I need to order new plastics.  But I was told it runs great.  He only wants $600 so I figure if it only needs some cosmetic things I can handle that and it shouldn't cost too much either.

Anyway I'm pretty excited, I hope it works out.  I almost picked up a nice PE250 earlier this week, but another guy snagged it before I could get over to look at it.  I haven't had a dirtbike in almost ten years, so it'd be neat to have one again, let alone my old one I had years ago!  Here's a few pics...hopefully it works out!  

Bro, find a plastic safe paint stripper and bring all the pieces back to the original hue. Have all plastics buffed to original shine, and presto you are back in business. These plastics were not ment to be painted. Like all off road vehicles, its ment to be replaced everytime its torn off.....Good luck on receiving your old scoot. Reunited and it feels so good!!

 

[BigDaddy22]

Buy it back.

I've been fortunate enough to have found 2 of my bikes from the 1970's.

My Rickman Montesa here:

and my CZ here:

Buy that PE back before you regret it...

[Turboloader]

18 hours ago, BigDaddy22 said:

Buy it back.

I've been fortunate enough to have found 2 of my bikes from the 1970's.

My Rickman Montesa here:

and my CZ here:

Buy that PE back before you regret it...

Haaa, nice....

[cdahl383]

Well I texted the guy that has it over the weekend.  He got back to me and said he's definitely interested in selling it.  So I just need to work out a time to go look at it.  Might be able to check it out later this week.  He only wants $600, so even if it needs some work I'd be alright.  I'd like to try and restore it back to how they looked completely stock in 1978.  Kind of like this photo here...

 

[cdahl383]

I've been looking around at other bikes too though.  There is a 1975 Yamaha DT400 for sale at a shop near me right now, another bike I like.  It needs some work, but it runs and has a clean title.  They started off kind of high but now they want to off load it before winter to make room for winter stuff they'll be working on.  The lady I talked to on Saturday said she'd let it go for $800.  My guess is if I don't get over there this week it'll be gone as that's a great price for that bike.  

Problem is, I have no clue as to the history of it.  It might run, but the clutch might slip, clutch basket could be shot, might need crank seals and a top end, etc.  Outside of the other known parts I know it needs.  Both tires are dry rotted bad so it needs two new tires.  It'd basically have to be completely gone through.  But even so, if you dumped $1200 into it you'd still be alright as they are worth decent money now when restored.  

My old Suzuki though was my bike years ago, has a cool story, and I know what's been done to it.  In fact, I already found the old list of crap that I replaced years ago, and then the new guy replaced some stuff too and redid the top end on the engine.  So really all it needs is some cosmetic work and it'll be cool.  That's probably the route I'll go, but that Yamaha was cool.  I sat on it and it felt really nice.  Would put out some good power too being a 400cc two stroke!

 

[Piney Woods]

Different bikes for different uses, The Suzy will perform much much better in real dirt. I say go Suzy!

[cdahl383]

15 hours ago, Piney Woods said:

Different bikes for different uses, The Suzy will perform much much better in real dirt. I say go Suzy!

I'm partial to the Suzuki too since it was my bike years ago.  I think either one will need a little work to get it back to 100%.  But I know the history of my old bike whereas I'd be taking a chance on the old Yamaha.  That PE250 really ripped too, it was a fast bike!  Hope it works out today!

[Turboloader]

On 10/7/2019 at 11:30 AM, cdahl383 said:

I've been looking around at other bikes too though.  There is a 1975 Yamaha DT400 for sale at a shop near me right now, another bike I like.  It needs some work, but it runs and has a clean title.  They started off kind of high but now they want to off load it before winter to make room for winter stuff they'll be working on.  The lady I talked to on Saturday said she'd let it go for $800.  My guess is if I don't get over there this week it'll be gone as that's a great price for that bike.  

Problem is, I have no clue as to the history of it.  It might run, but the clutch might slip, clutch basket could be shot, might need crank seals and a top end, etc.  Outside of the other known parts I know it needs.  Both tires are dry rotted bad so it needs two new tires.  It'd basically have to be completely gone through.  But even so, if you dumped $1200 into it you'd still be alright as they are worth decent money now when restored.  

My old Suzuki though was my bike years ago, has a cool story, and I know what's been done to it.  In fact, I already found the old list of crap that I replaced years ago, and then the new guy replaced some stuff too and redid the top end on the engine.  So really all it needs is some cosmetic work and it'll be cool.  That's probably the route I'll go, but that Yamaha was cool.  I sat on it and it felt really nice.  Would put out some good power too being a 400cc two stroke!

 

Pssssttt, Dude there is a Harley right next to the thumpette, a Harley.....

 

[cdahl383]

Picked up my old bike today!  Got it home in the garage now.  Sold it almost 10 years ago and now got it back again!  So happy!

The previous owner painted it green and put some stickers on it, so I’ll have to address that soon.  Plan on going back to yellow and black like stock.

It needs a new front tire, the front brake is dragging bad, pipe needs to be tightened up, but overall it’s pretty solid.

The guy put a new clutch basket in it, new clutch plates, new rear shocks, and got a headlight and taillight for it.  Has a harness to hook it all up but not hooked up right now.

Started up on the third kick.  The guy said he hadn’t started it in over a year.  Didn’t ride it at all due to the front brake hanging up.  He said it wouldn’t go into first or neutral, but later at home I fiddled with the shifter and got it to shift.  Lifted the rear of the bike up and it spun freely.  Clicked it down again into first, rear tire wouldn’t move.  So it might actually be fine.

Definitely needs some work, but it’s all there and it runs.  By next summer it should be in good shape!  Just so happy to have it back!

[BigDaddy22]

You can try Citristrip paint remover on a small test section that isn't to obvious to see if it attacks the plastic. I've used it on fiberglass with great results. Doesn't stink up the place either. Home-Desperate carries it.

[cdahl383]

1 hour ago, BigDaddy22 said:

You can try Citristrip paint remover on a small test section that isn't to obvious to see if it attacks the plastic. I've used it on fiberglass with great results. Doesn't stink up the place either. Home-Desperate carries it.

Cool, I'll check into that, thanks!  Definitely need to do something to get the paint off soon.  Would like to get started on it this weekend.

[smirmeister]

Very cool project! Love the older enduro bikes and their aircooled glory. Try brake fluid on the plastics, I did a fuel tank like that with no ill effects. Best bet is to submerge but that can get pricey, draping paper towel or a clotch and saturating it will work as well.

 

 

[cdahl383]

41 minutes ago, smirmeister said:

Very cool project! Love the older enduro bikes and their aircooled glory. Try brake fluid on the plastics, I did a fuel tank like that with no ill effects. Best bet is to submerge but that can get pricey, draping paper towel or a clotch and saturating it will work as well.

 

 

Cool!  Thanks for the tip!  I’ll give that a try!

[Turboloader]

Do not, I repeat, do not use carburetor or fuel injector cleaner! I did it 30 years ago and watched a full fuel tank melt right before my eyes, it wasn't a pretty sight, good thing I put out my ciggy earlier!

[Turboloader]

20 hours ago, smirmeister said:

Very cool project! Love the older enduro bikes and their aircooled glory. Try brake fluid on the plastics, I did a fuel tank like that with no ill effects. Best bet is to submerge but that can get pricey, draping paper towel or a clotch and saturating it will work as well.Yeup, if that fails, find another tank, Ebay is a good point to start at.

 

 

 

[cdahl383]

Well I really lucked out!  Was out in the garage last night looking over the bike and decided to see how badly the paint was stuck on everything.  I started peeling the paint off the tank and it just lifted right off in big elastic sheets, like a balloon.  I think the guy just plasti-dipped it rather than spray painted it.  I took the tank off and got all the green plasti-dip off by hand, didn't have to use a scraper or any chemicals, totally lucked out!  

Then I got started on the rear fender and did as much as I could that was visible.  He did the underside of it too, so I'll have to work on that next.  Might just take it off to work on it.  

After I got all the plasti-dip off I put tons of Mother's Back to Black plastic restorer on the tank, seat, and rear fender to help bring some shine back to them.  It came out pretty good.  Not a show bike, but looks pretty damn good for being nearly 40 years old!

The side plastics were spray painted, and they're in pretty rough shape.  They have a couple cracks, some pretty deep scratches and gouges, and in one spot there is a small hole worn away.  So I think I may just replace those with new ones.  

The previous owner still has the original fender at his house up in the rafters of his garage, so he's going to get that to me at some point soon.  I'll put that back on then as the current aftermarket one is green but underneath it's red.  

I also tried cleaning off a section of the rims and the forks and they shined up pretty good.  I'm going to really work on them this weekend and get them nice and clean and shiny again.  

I looked up some parts at Suzuki.com and at Bikebandit.com and have a list of stuff I want to order soon.  Mainly I want to get a new front tire on there and some black grips as the white ones don't look very good to me.  

Anyway, here's a few pics of the progress.  

[cdahl383]

Another update...

Got the bike out today and drove it around on my property.  Previous owner said it wouldn’t go into first or neutral.  Guess what, it shifts down into first and neutral just fine!

Front brake was hung up.  Turns out the cable was goofed up down by the wheel.  Fixed that, then adjusted the cable, brake works fine now!  Another win!

Got my aluminum polish out and polished the forks, brake and clutch levers, and a couple other things.  Wiped down the rear swing arm.  Came out pretty good!

The bike starts and idles good, and it takes off fine, but lacks power and smokes excessively.  The previous owner said it has a new top end and carb was rebuilt, but I’m wondering if he had the wrong premix ratio.  The fuel is also very old.  Going to put some fresh gas in it this weekend and see how it runs with that.

Having fun with this bike!  So nice to ride it again after all those years!  ?

[cdahl383]

Here’s a couple pics of the levers I polished up.  They were all grungy before.  They look much better now!

 

[rodent]

On 10/8/2019 at 3:30 AM, cdahl383 said:

I've been looking around at other bikes too though.  There is a 1975 Yamaha DT400 for sale at a shop near me right now, another bike I like.  It needs some work, but it runs and has a clean title.  They started off kind of high but now they want to off load it before winter to make room for winter stuff they'll be working on.  The lady I talked to on Saturday said she'd let it go for $800.  My guess is if I don't get over there this week it'll be gone as that's a great price for that bike.  

Problem is, I have no clue as to the history of it.  It might run, but the clutch might slip, clutch basket could be shot, might need crank seals and a top end, etc.  Outside of the other known parts I know it needs.  Both tires are dry rotted bad so it needs two new tires.  It'd basically have to be completely gone through.  But even so, if you dumped $1200 into it you'd still be alright as they are worth decent money now when restored.  

My old Suzuki though was my bike years ago, has a cool story, and I know what's been done to it.  In fact, I already found the old list of crap that I replaced years ago, and then the new guy replaced some stuff too and redid the top end on the engine.  So really all it needs is some cosmetic work and it'll be cool.  That's probably the route I'll go, but that Yamaha was cool.  I sat on it and it felt really nice.  Would put out some good power too being a 400cc two stroke!

 

For $800 I'd be all over that like white on rice ?