GB 250 Clubman

Part 3

    One of the amazing things about this line of Honda bikes is the fact that the CBX250 engine was used in subsequent incarnations of the bike but in much reduced horsepower terms. The GB250 had one or two changes in its life, for instance, a 2 into 1 exhaust system, changes to the front disk, seat and other minor amendments. The Honda Twister which was built until 2008 is a direct descendant of these original CBX250 bikes!

    With that in mind I thought that perhaps it was possible to use bits of that more modern bike....but when I found the picture of the style of it now, no way! check out the picture of the Twister, and from 2009 it becomes a 300cc model ! Same, or similar engine, but with much reduced horsepower, 20bhp on average, down from over 30 of the original 1983 engine.

    Some more bits off a 1983 model have arrived, such as the correct alloy GB indicators, a chrome grab rail, an original version, in great condition with only minor blemishes. This will rechrome at a later date if necessary but for now looks just fine and fits in with the "patina" of the bike. The seat was removed and the rail offered up, perfect, so I fitted it only to find that the original GB indicators would not fit correctly as the indicator bodies fouled the rail. Strange....only then did it dawn on me that the rear mudguard, again not original, was the culprit as it sat too high on the bike frame. With the indicators bolting the through the guard they were too high in comparison with the rail which bolts to the top subframe. By using some thin spacers I could get the mudguard to sit slightly lower and therefore the indicators would fit just below the rail. See part two pics for the result.

    Whilst the seat was off it was an ideal time to check how it had been made, it was a stainless steel base knocked up by the previous owner/s and was only 3/4 length of a normal seat. This meant that the seat cover would not fit....so their solution was to fold the rear of the cover, complete with the Honda logo on, under the rear of the seat!!

    For the time being I thought I would just use it as it was, check out the pics in the first part of the saga. However, having fitted the rail, sorted the indicator problem and then tried to refit the seat I discovered that the rail now fouled the seat base/sides!

    Apparently the original seat must sit higher, it was then I discovered the seat mounts on the side rails.... this new seat base was bolted straight though the cross frame member and therefore sits lower on the frame itself. Without the original seat base it seemed the only way around this was to modify this stainless seat base with a couple of semi circular cuts into the sides. see seat pic, just above the rear wheel where the chrome rail turns inwards. This then allowed the seat to fit in its original location and clear the rail without it looking too "wrong" !

    Many variations of seats seem to crop up on the GB250 so it didn't take to much working out to decide I might as well have a seat assembled to resemble a cafe racer and similar to the GB500TT. Preston Car trim have a "subsidiary" called Bootleg Bike Seats ( http://www.bootlegbikeseats.com ) and Roy is the man to see there. He has done quite a few seats now for the club members and everyone sings his praises, and rightly so. Between us a plan hatched to make a rear stop, for the seat, in hard foam and cover it in leather in the same three leaf way as the GB500TT. Although the seat hump is not as long as the 500TT version is still looks the part. The end result was the seat in the pic, after some modification/redesign, yet to be tried on a long distance run though! Does it need a logo on the back of the hump like the GB500TT ? not sure yet..........

    The side panels that came with the bike, see pic, were covered in something loosely called paint and some "stickers" of no particular value and as such were not up to much, on top of that they were completely the wrong shape! Length, width, shape all wrong and bent top to bottom, to boot!

    The correct side panels have two lugs on each of them which locate on the frame rail into rubber mounts, these lugs were also in place on the metal panels....glued on! see pic

    The panels should also have locating screws but the metal panel just had a bolt inserted. The "new" panels came via a company called Windbell Motorcycles in Canada, and one Skype call later they were mine for the princely sum of $50 Canadian......the sting was the shipping, about the same again to the UK ! The correct screws are chrome flat head bolts.M6, with shoulders on them to hold the panel off from the frame so that it does not bend/crack. See pic bolt. Dave Silver Spares found the correct part in some far off place and shipped a pair to me to complete the job.

    Also in the raft of bits that arrived was a toolbox and a main stand, both of which were missing off the bike as received. The toolbox I could have lived without but the mainstand is a must for even just the maintenance of the chain. I know that a paddock stand can be used for the back end of a bike maintenance but what a pain! For an easy life, mainstand all the time for me!

    The next raft of changes to the bike include the "new" secondhand panels from Canada, once silver, then black and now to be re-sprayed black again once they have been rubbed down and repaired as necessary.

    The decals for the side panels are being done by Sunrise Graphics ( http://www.sunrisegraphics.co.uk/ ) and the first draft, stuck to one of the old side panels to check for size etc. and can be seen in the pic...

    John at Sunrise has kindly agreed to "have a few goes" in the quest for a suitable graphic. The decals on the original bikes differ through the years but the first ones had a laurel wreath, TT style, with the designation GB250 Clubman in the centre. Most pictures on the internet are not very clear so John is working a bit in the dark, we also decided to substitute TT for the word Clubman as these little bikes really were the 400/500 TT forerunners. So the decal will be a one off version for this bike. The next version should be larger and with more detailing around the "TT" plus the top of the laurel wreath should be open.

In the meantime, some riding is in order, just to ensure the bike is roadworthy you understand! and , of course, to test the seat..........

Part 1

Part 2

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