Suzuki TDRGV 250

[Alan H]

June onwards ok for me.

[garry55]

bucking the trend - instead of wrapping my exhausts, I've wrapped my induction hoses........

[garry55]

As Tinypic folded and removed all the previous photo's, here's a recap of how it all started...............

A Suzuki TDRGV?

well Suzuki never built one, so I thought, why not?

Having spent a long time looking for a suitable donor bike, I snapped up this ebay bargain.........



........a 2005 Suzuki RMZ250 motocrosser, complete bar it's (4-stroke) motor. Once home, I stripped it down and proceeded to sell-off all the parts that I don't need (most of the bike, actually!) For this project I only need the frame, swing arm, shock and linkages and the front forks. So the wheels (with Talon hubs), the carb and other sundry items have found new homes, which has helped to recoup almost all of the purchase price of the rolling chassis.
My original intention was to fit a parallel-twin motor from an RG250, so as to mimick the original TDR250, but knowing how crap these motors are, I decided to use one of the RGV250 motors I have in stock.

First job was to decide how to fit the RGV motor into the RMZ frame. And this is how to do it........







the RMZ's front down tube and engine cradle were removed and a new, removable cradle constructed around a "mule" RGV250 motor so we could get all the dimensions right. A new upper and lower rear engine mounting bracket was also fabricated.
A pair of 17" Suzuki Goose wheels were fitted - the rear had to have 9mm shaved off the sprocket mounting flanges and the left side bearing recessed by 4mm to get it to fit.
The get the spoke pattern of the front wheel to match the rear, the fork legs had to swap sides, as the RMZ has it's front caliper on the left side, and the Goose on the right.
A new caliper bracket was fabricated and welded in place, supporting a 4 piston Brembo Gold Line caliper which in turn bites on a custom one-off front disc, made for me by ISR.

[garry55]

now a rolling chassis, a (very) long kick stand was added to support it, along with a cut down RMZ front mudguard, a DRZ400 front head lamp unit and fairing and a standard RMZ rear mudguard with an enduro bike tool kit bag attached.

[garry55]

With the mule motor installed, it was sent to have it's exhausts fabricated and fitted...........

[garry55]

power valve motor and throttle cable junction box mounted on the right hand side...........





only the oil pump control cable and the small cable from the junction box to the p/v pulley are original RGV cables - the 4 p/v operating cables, both carb cables and the throttle grip tojunction box cable had to be made from scratch.

[garry55]

with the RGV 250 thermostat housing on the other side..........

[garry55]

where to put the oil tank? And which tank will fit?

A lightly modified Yamaha DT125 oil tank support bracket.........



a few home made fittings to attach it...........



and the DT125 oil tank attached.........





and hidden from view..........

[garry55]

folding foot rest to allow use of the kick start lever and the matching, extended rear brake pedal.......

[garry55]

the re-positioned clutch adjuster and "long" actuator arm that allow the front pipe to tuck in closer to the bike.....



the original adjuster is to the back of the water pump housing.

[garry55]

and the enduro tail pack. All is not what it seems..............



there is a severe shortage of space on a moto cross bike to house all the bits that a road bike needs to function correctly. So, time to get creative...........

[Alan H]

That's going to surprise one or two when it's finished.
Very nice project, and as usual 'mad as a hatter' bike.
Lovely.

[garry55]

Now I'm not a big fan of these modern log burning appliances, but I do approve of their flexible exhaust tubing..................









even if it is to use on the induction side...........

[garry55]

final strip for welding / grinding / filing / powder-coating / polishing / Cerakote-ing / suspension rebuilding / final re-assembling............

[garry55]

swing arm and suspension rocker bearings removed...........



of the 11 removed (2 missing in the photo), 9 were fully seized, 1 moved when forced and the other disintegrated on removal. That's jet washing for you.