Would like to borrow some advice from the Pool of Knowledge here...

How often do you add stabilizer to your gas? I got some today, the cycle store dude told me every other tankful or so. Is this about right?

Any tricks for keeping your bike clean? I live up a half mile of dirt road. Only way I can think to keep it clean is to not ride it- which isn't really in the plan. But should I be lubing the chain more often or anything?

And, as this is my first bike, I'm wondering what other bikes *feel* like. Does a bigger, heavier bike get pushed around in the wind less? I went over a few cleared hills near Lake Champlain and felt like I was in a hurricane! Is cornering harder? Or is it just one of those things that you have to adjust to? (I'm still "adjusting" to Ol' Bessie, my Geezer!)

Thanks for the info, advice, etc-

Wind, mud, potholes, forest rats and other road hazards all add to the excitment of living on 2 wheels. Wind, just grip the tank with your legs/knees and keep your arms and hands a bit loose. It comes with pratice, just don't tense up and freeze solid behind the bars. Potholes, dodge them. If you can't then pull yourself forward and slightly up to take weight off the seat. Your back will thank you. On my Vstrom I just stand up but keep my legs slightly bent. works great. Rain grooves on the road: Stay loose. The bike will dance under you but it really won't fall down. Same with steel deck bridges. Search for different road surfaces for the experience and you won't get caught totally unprepared later on.
Forest rats(deer) and other mobile critters should be a voided. Practice your emergency stops. Remember do not hit anything that can not be eaten in one meal.

I have never added a stabilizer to my bike, but I do ride year round.

Polish the bike and it helps to clean with a water hose easier.

Look on the how to pages and build some wooden stands to get the rear tire off the ground, makes cleaning the chain easy.

My other bike is about 700 pounds, but it handles like a much lighter bike.

They all ride a little different.

Learn and enjoy...

Jerry

You only add stabilizer when the bike is going to be stored for winter.As you live on a dirt road,I would clean and lube chain every 500 miles.The G.Z can be a little unnerving in wind till you get used to it.

If you ride your bike, it's gonna get dirty, if you live up a gravel/dirt road or driveway, even more so, get used to it. Definitely clean and lube your chain more often than someone who rides only on pavement. Kerosene works well to clean your chain if you have some handy and it's definitely a plus to get the tire off the ground when cleaning the chain. There's lots of opinions on what to clean with, do a search and you'll find them. Some like to lube with oil, some with teflon and a variety of other things. Mainly, if you clean your chain with something, and lube it with something, it will last a lot longer than letting it stay dirty and not lubing it. If you don't want to go to the trouble of making stands,or spend the money buying stands you can just put blocking under the kickstand and put a jack on the opposite side to lift the bike up, or you can also drop by somewhere like Harbor Freight and buy a little double roller platform for about $25 that will let you spin the wheel without moving the bike.

blaine is right, you only need to add stabilizer if you won't be riding for a while. Seafoam is a product a lot of people like to add every couple of tankfuls to keep the carb clean and happy.

High winds are very intimidating. The first week I owned my GZ I got caught in 30 mph winds gusting to 45mph and it scared me a lot, I was glad to get home without losing it. At one point I was probably leaning 10 degrees into a side wind just to go straight ahead. Gusts are the worst because you have to react when they hit you and react when they go away. Like WW advised, try not to get tense, that's the worst thing you can do on your bike. I'm not sure about a heavier bike handling the wind better, some folks swear it makes a big difference, but my 8,000 lb F-450 got blown around in strong winds too, it's just not as intimidating when you are sitting inside a cab and you don't feel the wind on your body like you do on a bike, plus in a car it may blow you sideways but you are still sitting verically, it doesn't make you lean when the wind hits you. Personally, I think a heavier bike probably doesn't make as much of a difference physically as it does mentally, people think they are more stable because they are on a bigger heavierbike, so they feel more stable. (I'll probably catch some flak for that statement).

WW's right about the grooved roads and bridges and stuff, just relax, the bike won't drop you, it's just a little unnerving to have the grooves in the road impact your chosen path that much. If you have to ride a lot of those and you don't like the "feel" try replacing your front tire with a tire that has a tread pattern that's not "circular" and you won't get that effect. My Vulcan's front tire doesn't have that "circular" pattern and grooved pavement doesn't mess with me much.

So.....exactly which "stabilizer" brand did they "sell" you ??
Every other tankful is overkill, regardless of the product.
Once every 6 weeks or so is plenty.

I personally don't add anything to my fuel, but I usually use non-ethanol Chevron with Techron when I fill up or until recently I could get Shell in non-ethanol with their fuel cleaner. I have added sea foam to my daughters Honda after it sat for an extended (and undetermined) period at a dealers before she bought it. It was running very rough and the sea foam seemed to help a lot after about 30 minutes of riding.

Depending on how much someone rides, every other tankful, might be every six weeks. In my case I fill up at least two to three times a week.

Just a heads up:STABILIZER is not a carb cleaner.A waste of money if not storing bike.

I think the cycle store dude is confusing fuel stabilizer with fuel system cleaner. Stabilizer keeps fuel from gumming up if it sits for a few months, like Winter storage. Fuel system cleaners help degunk the fuel system (carb) while you ride. One known weak point of the GZ250 is the tendency of the fuel valve and carb to gunk up and have parts like the float valve stick, leading sometimes to the cylinder and airbox filling with fuel. The latter is a mess, and the former is known as hydra-lock, and immobilizes the engine till you get the cylinder clear of fuel. It happened to me once with the GZ right after I bought it. What a mess!

I run a few ounces of fuel system cleaner (I use Chevron Techron) through the bike every few tankfuls. Others here don't bother, and others use a different product. The product I use actually cleaned out the carb well enough after my disaster that I haven't had to take it apart and clean it out. That surprised me. I ran several tankfuls through it, and used about double the dose called for on the bottle. This stuff is available at auto supply stores. Sea Foam is another fuel system cleaner that some people swear by.

If I lived on a dirt road, I'd clean and relube my chain every 300 to 400 miles. They make special brushes that you can get at cycle shops that let you do a passable job without taking the chain off the bike, although taking it off and soaking it in kerosene is the best way really. For me, that's so much trouble that I'd rather use a specialized brush and kerosene and do the best I can, and if I have to replace the chain some number of thousands of miles sooner, so be it. I use chain wax. Others here use some synthetic product which I've been meaning to try, but haven't gotten around to it. Heavy oil is probably the least effective choice, as it doesn't stick to the chain as well as wax or synthetics, and also attracts and holds more abrasive dust.

I don't think weight is the most important factor in determining how susceptible a bike is to wind. I think it's more important how high it sits, and whether it has a lot of plastic (think sportbike) that presents a solid, sail like surface for a crosswind. My Kawasaki Concours weighed somewhere around 700 pounds set up as I had it, and I definitely felt the wind. The Connie is a high bike, and is fully faired, so the wind had a lot of surface to grab. The "naked" Beemer I'm riding now doesn't react much to crosswinds at all, and it's 200 pounds lighter. You do get used to it, and eventually react automatically without tensing up.

Same with irregular road surfaces, as mentioned above. But, if you're already used to riding on dirt, mesh bridges and grooved pavement shouldn't throw you as badly as a pavement-only rider.

Parking lot exercises are good, especially the swerving and quick stops. But, now that you have probably the best book ever written about safe, skillful riding, by all means read and reread that, and take what David Hough says to heart. You might also want to pick up the other two books he wrote: _More Proficient Motorcycling, Mastering the Ride_, and _Street Strategies_. Also, google "Hurt Report", and read the 50 odd summary findings concerning accident causation and countermeasures. It's a very old study, but it's still, as of now, the most comprehensive study on the subject ever done in this country.

Hey, I'm just copying and pasting someone else's comments from another forum about the difference in Sta-bil and Seafoam here if you are interested:


"The thing is, I've read the Sta-bil directions/label and it, like
Gumout, STP treatment and Seafoam also works to clean carbs and the
fuel line of deposits and moisture.
One post I saw was from someone that uses both in the same tank with
an additional fuel additive year round.
In the research I've done, I aslo see that the makers of Sta-bil also
make a fuel line cleaner called HEET.
Taking into account that Sta-bil is in a plastic bottle and Seafoam
is apparently (I haven't been able to find any yet locally, by the
way, but was not in an auto supply store at the time when I got the
Sta-bil) in a metal container I accept that the Seafoam is stronger.
As one poster said, it's strong enough to melt the hand grips on
Craftsman tools. But also over use can wear down the rubber gasketts
of the fuel lines. So, yes, I want to take it slow at this point and
not over due it."


Personally, I never even thought about the possibility that sea foam might damage the seals. Anybody had a problem with that?

I use sea-foam twice a year,and no stronger than directions.If mixed to strong,will destroy rubber parts.

Over here, we can't get carb cleaner or fuel stabilizer, so I use "fuel additive". Note:- there are 2 types - for carb & for FI. I use about 75ml to a tankful of petrol, whenever the bike starts to feel a little rough. I remember the first time I used it - It was like riding a different bike, with a smoother engine.

stabilizer is great if the bike is gonna set for a long time, it just keeps your gas from going stale, now if they have ethanol in the gas where you live and they probably do, the stabilizer's claim it will reverse the effect's of that or something along those lines, dose it really do that, i don't really know if it does i could see adding a little bit in each tank but than again is it going to be good for the bike to constantly add chemicals to the gas??

as burk builds said in his post any thing that comes in a metal bottle could be in there cus it can eat plastic and rubber, that sta bil is what i use and it came in plastic bottle so its probably not all that harmful to rubber or any thing along those lines but i do not know that for sure.

my suggestion is only use the stuff when you need it. it would also get expensive using that all the time. gas is expensive enough. i use high octane gas in my bike witch does help keep your engine clean but high octane gas is not recommended for the gz, some say it will run crappy if you use the high octane so i never tried it.

my theory is to use stabilizer once right before winter when the bike is going to set for a few months and some time during the spring ill put some b5 chem tool in there to clean the fuel system but only after i go threw a 4 or 5 tanks of gas to make sure all the stabilizer is out of the fuel system.

Most of those solvents will damage rubber.....but.....

It is not a problem in a modern fuel system, however, because there are no real rubber parts in there anymore. For the last 40 years or so, all the seals and hoses etc. are synthetic rubber or neoprene or fiber gasket material.

That's why if you are replacing a gas line, you be sure the replacement hose is for GAS use and not vacume or water.

Danny - your bike does not need high octane gas, it was designed for regular and that's what the manufacturer recommends. High octane gas does not keep your engine any cleaner than does regular, and besides wasting money, it is less powerful in your engine..

SC,

I ride year round and never used stabilizer. I have used carb cleaner, but it's hard to know whether you really need it until it's too late. Seems like overall, it doesn't hurt and the carb being pretty susceptible to gunking up, is probably a good idea if you don't ride regularly. If you ride everyday, I wouldn't waste the money.

Re weight and wind. I have the GZ and the Strat (300 vs 850 pounds.) Both have windshields. The Strat is significantly more stable in the wind. (It's more stable period.) We get some high cross-winds out here and it took me a while to get the right mix of over/understeer to "correct" for it, without over - correcting. The gusts can be tiring as you have to be very vigilant and the tension really kind of ruins the ride.

There is a lot of debate on here on big vs small, but I think most that have both will agree that heavier bikes are much more enjoyable to ride at high speeds on multilane highways. The GZ is good up to 50-55 on "back roads" but it can be tiring to ride above that, especially if the road is not smoothly paved. If you have hills the speed issue is compounded. Most of us with two bikes use the GZ for around town and the bigger bike for highway travel. One thing the GZ is superior at is splitting lanes, but I still usually take the Strat on the freeway.

It also lowers your mileage.

Not carb cleaner, but fuel additive .......... I can generally tell when it needs it. I find that when I'm going round traffic roundabouts at low speed & the bike is slightly less responsive/smooth, then it's time for the additive.

i know many many people that swear that high octain is better for your engine. including my automobile mechanic, and many motorcycle riders that also use the high octain in their bikes.

after doing a search on the internet and reading several articles i see that you are correct. unless you have a vehicle with a high preformance engine that has a high compression rate, a engine that is turbo charged or you have a car that knocks you do not need the high octain gas. it says that in most cars except for what i have listd, high octain gasoline will not out preform the regular gas.

that is kind of suprizing to read after being told over and over again that high octain is much better for a vehicle.

People who swear those things are misinformed, mislead, and uneducated about what octane is. That's the assumption people have, that more of a thing has to be better. It's not true with octane rating, higher is not necessarily better. The higher octane gas has additives to retard ignition, necessary in the types of engines you mentioned, and those engine's design would dictate the use of that type of gas. Your engine does not need high octane fuel, and actually doesn't particularly like it, it's of no benefit if everything else is in tune. Like has been said, you are wasting your money, you are getting less power, you are getting less fuel mileage, for nothing, not even an ego boost when you find that out.
If your bike is running well, you use what the manufacturer recommends, Do you think you know better than the Suzuki engineers who designed and made your bike? If it is knocking or pinging or not performing well, you find out what is wrong - something is not up to specs- you don't switch to a higher octane gas to try and solve the problem. That could be like giving aspirin to someone with a high fever secondary to pneumonia. You may get rid of the fever, but you still have pneumonia (ie, problem not solved). There is no benefit to you from anything other than regular unleaded gas. Except maybe a few ounces of Seafoam or Berryman's in the tank every 4-6 fillups to keep the carbs clean so you don't screw with them.

Well NOW you know who you can trust......or who not to trust, as the case may be.

lol, i have had a few turbo charged cars and a few cars with small suped up high preformance engines in my life time. pretty much all my cars were like that. untill i started driving a truck. i supose i just figured it was the same for all types of vehicles.

a lot of my motorcycle friends will only run the high octain gasoline tho, guess ill halve to tell them to look it up as well

Yea, right. Good luck with that.
You will likely run into: Don't confuse me with facts, my mind is made up !!!

Depends on the motorcycle. The Yamaha Strat does recommend at least 91 octane and it will ping climbing hills or accelerating if you use regular. But it's a completely different power plant. One more point for the GZ and thriftiness. The high octane stuff is very pricey in CA.

No bikes, but cars.......... The owner's handbook for my Citroen C3 tells me to use 98 octane. A coupla years ago I bought a Haynes service & repair manual. Under "fuel system" it said that the car would run just fine on 95 octane (European petrol stations serve 95 & 98 octane), so I switched to 95, & it's been running fine, ever since. Seems like even the manufacturers don't know what's o.k. for their vehicles!