New guy from New Zealand!
 

G'day all! Thought I'll introduce myself and my trusty GZ here.

My name's Jesse (but everybody just calls me Jez) and I'm from Christchurch, New Zealand. Currently I'm doing a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering. I spent a year studying welding and fabrication, and spent 6 months in the trade. Before that I was working in the family workshop changing oils on trucks and other heavy equipment (so you could say I'm quite hands on :P). I brought my GZ250 in Novemeber, 2013. She's a 03 model, I got her with a little over 7,000 miles on her. Just clocked over 21,000 as of 12/02/2015. Her name is Suzi, and can't ever imagine us parting.. I get a little upset when people tell me to sell her and upgrade.

During the time I've had her she's never missed a beat. I change the oil and filter every 3 - 4 thousand miles and she just keeps humming along. The only breakdown I've had was the clutch cable (which set me back $30.00 and 5 minutes). I've got quite a bit planned for the future of her (including but not limited to Suzishee's 350cc Banshee swap).

I hope to be able to learn from, and share my knowledge with other members here.

Cheers,
Kiwi.

Welcome to the forum. Have you adjusted the valves on your GZ?? This has been over-looked by many GZ owners. If you have not, I highly recommend you do so. It is easy to do and does not take alot of time. It will save you alot of money and heartache in the long run. Enjoy the forum and your GZ.

Welcome to the family!!! ;) :)

Welcome. Always great to have a new member.

Cheers guys!!

gz4me, I have the vavles on this coming weekends to do list :tup:. My friend has just got a Varago 250, so I'm showing him a few basic things. Anything I should look out for while doing them?

Cheers :ride:

Only adjust when the engine is cold. Valve clearance: Intake 0.03-0.08mm(0.001-0.003in), exhaust 0.08-0.13mm(0.003-0.005in). Piston must be at top dead center on the compression stroke prior to making adjustment. Sorry, trying to find the rest of my notes on process. (My wife cleaned up clip board on my work bench.) Will have to search my work area and hopefully find the rest of my notes. If I cannot find the rest, perhaps one of the other members can save us both. Hopefully someone has the information at their finger tips. Wish me luck. Will let you know prior to the week-end. Stupid me! The forum has service manual available for download. Go to troubleshooting. Its right there in plain site. Sure is hell to get old.

Thank you mate.
Been bloody busy this week with course. Over the weekend I'm going to try and find someone with a tig welder and a grinder so I can install my new exhaust (about to upload some pics in the Media section!). Might end up running out of time to set the valves as I could be traveling down south this weekend to pick up a ute to see me over the winter. Winter gets a bit hairy here with black ice, snow and pouring rain. Not ideal riding conditions! Cheers

Get some winter ice radials for the cage. Altimax is a good choice and has great reviews. Hopefully they make your required size.
I discovered winter ice radials years ago and was absolutely amazed at the difference. My little ranger(2 wheel drive) with ice radials was far more driveable than a full size Bronco 4x4 with all season tires in snow, rain and on ice.