Hello
 

Hi folks, I'm 71 years young and make my home in Missouri. I'm presently going through my second childhood. I've owned several bikes over the years but hadn't ridden for about 20 years. Then my granddaughter that lives with us talked me into buying her a bike. I found a nice little XR100 and bought it for her. Of course I had to take it for a test ride (or 2 or 3.) before handing her the keys. Anyway after about ten seconds on it my love of bikes was rekindled. Shortly after that I pulled my old Yamaha DT 360 out of the barn where it had been sitting for decades and started restoring it. That project is coming along good and hope to have it going sometime this spring. In the meantime a nice looking GZ 250 popped up on the internet for an incredibliy low price. I went to look at it today, it has no battery, an oil leak of unknown origin, very rusty front rim, and wouldn't start...so of course I bought it. Hauled it home in a cold rain, parked it under a roof, dried it off and here I am.

Welcome to the forum. Hope the oil leak doesn't turn into anything major. It is a fun street bike that won't get one into trouble. May you have it up and running soon.

It runs!
 

Charged an old battery up and still wouldn't crank. Found a fuse blown in the starter relay. Replaced that and it still wouldn't start. Quick shot of ether in the intake and she fired up instantly, died, but restarted without ether. Smoked like an old 2 stroke for about 30 seconds and then cleared up completely. Must have some leaky valve guides. Took it for a very short trip down the road and back, until my fingers went numb from the cold. It ran ok, but could use a tune up. Gonna pick up an oil filter and o-rings tomorrow and change the oil, probably get a new plug too. Haven't looked at what's in there yet but need a spare anyway. Didn't run it long enough to be certain where oil leak is coming from but pretty confident it's the left header gasket. I need to clean it up real good and then take it for another spin to find out for sure. But will wait til a warmer day. All in all, bike looks sound and very happy with it so far.

PS:left header pipe interfers with lifting bike on my the stand. Have to rig up something that allows the pipe to clear. Any good ideas on that?