Source: Bike Bound

A Two-Stroke Bullet from Vintage Sykles… 

In 1971, Suzuki introduced the GT250 Hustler to their GT (Grand Touring) series of two-strokes. The company had taken a slightly different tack with its street bikes, favoring reliability and comfort over the outright performance of more temperamental competitors. In fact, the rubber-mounted Ram Air hood did as much to keep noise down as provide cooling, especially since the 250 had no middle cylinder like its larger GT siblings.

Still, the perfectly square 54mm x 54mm 250cc parallel-twin could push the GT250 to well over 90 mph, and the bike could cruise comfortably at 70 mph for 100 miles at a time. Period reviewers loved the bike, noting its nimble handling, great brakes, and stellar commuting ability.

“A commuter special with incredible ability on the open road.” –Cycle World, 1973

This GT250 comes to us from our old friend Pete Sykes of Vintage Sykles. Pete raced flat track in Pennsylvania’s District 6 back in the 1970s before a tragic accident took him away from the sport. Fortunately he found his way back to two wheels after many decades, and now he builds custom bikes and bespoke aluminum parts as a side business. We featured his ATK 605 street tracker around this time last year.

Canyon Runner: ATK 605 Street Tracker

Sometimes certain motorcycles have a way of finding their way back to previous owners. So it was this GT. Pete had sold it to a friend years ago, only for the bike to return to his shop last year “battered and bruised and left for dead.” Well, this GT250 landed at the right doorstep, and Pete set out to resurrect the 250 two-stroker into the machine you see here, “The Silver Bullet.”

Pete gives us the full details on the build below. He fabricated the aluminum tail section with integrated oil reservoir along with the inner rear fender, side panels, and other bits — custom aluminum being a specialty of his. Pete painted the bike himself, rewired it, and rebuilt the engine with the addition of a Newtronic ignition and Higgspeed chambers, giving it some serious punch.

“The Silver Bullet lives up to its name as long as you can hang on once it hits its powerband.”

Good on Pete for bringing this forlorn two-stroker back to life for someone to enjoy for many years to come. Below, the man himself gives us the full story on the build in his own words.

The Silver Bullet: In the Builder’s Words… 

This little two stroke came to my shop battered and bruised and left for dead. It was worthy of a rebuild since two-strokes are becoming extinct in our motorcycle community. I’d sold it to a friend years ago and somehow it made its way back into my life. My wife, Lisa, says I become attached to my builds and she is definitely right. I couldn’t help but to feel sorry for this 250 and I made a connection instantly with it. Through the build process I never had a vision for it; I let it tell me what it wanted and this became the end result.

I started by washing it and stripping it down to its frame. I replaced the frame with a used uncut same model year frame, took the tabs off, and gave it a fresh coat of epoxy paint. I then decided to keep certain parts of the bike and discard the rest.

I kept the motor, hubs, brakes, front forks, triple trees, foot pegs, brake pedal and linkage, as well as a stock shifter. Each of these components were put aside and then I took inventory of what I needed. The stock parts I hunted down and bought are as follows: chain guard, wheels and spokes, chain and sprockets, side and center stands. The rest of the parts were either going have to be made or found as custom components.

The front forks were taken apart and given new oil, springs, and seals, as well as the fork tubes were refurbished. Triple trees were stripped of their factory paint, given epoxy paint, and a new Allballs bearing upgrade. Rear shocks are old Red Wing flat track shocks. I ordered new black rims and chrome spokes, refurbished the stock hubs, and came up with the roller.

I moved onto stripping down the motor and giving it a Newtronic electronic ignition, pistons and rings, new seals and clutch pack. I used the stock carburetors, rebuilt both of them, and installed Sigma Stage 5 jet kits. I didn’t have the stock air box and went with some some curved intake pods and stuffed them with air filter material to slow down the airflow.

I found the parts to rebuild the oil injection system, which on these bikes you need to keep due to it running oil to the cranks. I reassembled the motor with new gaskets. Parts for these old GT250’s are still available but take time to hunt down. I used Protaper handlebars and picked out new switches, levers, and a master cylinder as well as a new throttle and cables.

The tank is an RD-style unit and the seat I fabricated out of aluminum and used Cheeky Seats for my upholstery, who also helped me with the design and colors of the leather. The aluminum seat also has a small aluminum tank welded to it underneath the tail with the fill cap coming out the top for the two-stroke oil that goes to the injection system.

I went with slanted aluminum side plates which worked well with the seat. I fabricated an aluminum inner fender and used the stock battery box. The front fender is just a plain steel one and is mounted to a modified fork brace.

I’m not much of a painter but I do my best. I tried to make the silver on the tank match the aluminum tail and side plates. To do this I scuffed up the silver paint before I sprayed the 2k clear over it. I went with a silver, white, and red color scheme, which looks clean and suited for this bike in my opinion. The headlight is a dual-sport style one which I modified to match the rest of the aluminum on the bike. The bike has number 3 on it, which is the customer’s favorite number.

The bike didn’t have much of an electrical system left. As I said earlier, I went with a Newtronic CDL ignition, which works well and was easy to install. One word of caution is to pay attention to not keeping power to your coils as you wire the bike because it will fry the switching unit. The bike was fitted with its new 12-volt gel battery, modern day rectifier, and push button switches on the handlebars. I built the wiring harness from scratch and didn’t let any smoke out while putting it together.

Last but not least the bike was topped out with a polished set of expansion chambers from Higgspeed. These pipes are very very nice and were bolt-on, which for a builder doesn’t happen often. They also allowed the used of the stock side-stand and center-stand. Along with all that, they give that deep sound of a vintage two-stroker.

All in all the Silver Bullet lives up to its name as long as you can hang on once it hits its powerband. At 65 I don’t think I’ll be cranking the throttle on anything like this cause I don’t want to scream “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” — there will be plenty of time for that without a two-stroke bullet.

 

I am a motorcycle enthusiast through and through. I am blessed to be one. Everyday I get up I have the dreams of current and future bike builds in my back pocket. With the support from my wife and friends I hope to be building bikes for a long time. I hope to see the bike again each year for checkups, and hope it keeps its two-stroke charm for years to come. Thank yo to all of you who took the time to look at this bike.

Build Process

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Pete Sykes
Vintage Sykles
Worcester Pa.

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