The MotorBike Forum

there is a 2004 cg 125 advertised on fleabay It looks ok but the owner says there is a knocking noise coming from the clutch side any ideas on this one :?: could it be expensive

Hi all, new to the game and the forum, picked up a Suzuki GSX 550 ES yesterday for a small sum. Looking to rebuild it to my standards, I will have lots of questions in the next few months from you experts :)
Will load up some before pictures when I get back home.

If anyone wants to help I'm based in Manchester (north), I never say no to a helping hand

Afternoon all,

Having read quite a few project reports on this forum I would like to add my own.
Will be posting the refurb on VJMC Kawasaki technical forum too.

Now that's out of the way here is a potted history of the bike.

Kawasaki Z500 B2 (Firecracker Red) bought new from Bob Fortune M/C Darlington for £1256.00

Out of the crate and rode home on trade plates by me.

First registered August 1st 1980 JAJ601W

Used For general transport and occasional blasts around Croft circuit till my...

I have a 1983 Honda CG125. It's just had it's MOT and I've done about 300 miles with no issues in the last 4 weeks. Yesterday it just cut out - I thought perhaps it needed to go onto reserve but it usually splutters for a while beforehand and this didn't happen. I switched to reserve and it started - filled up with petrol 2 miles later. All was well until it just cut out when I stopped at a roundabout - I then had trouble starting it again (kick start). Had to fiddle around with the choke but...

I've got a 1999 Suzuki bandit 600 gsf and when I put the fuel petcock on reserve my bike starts sputtering and losing power, could this be caused from water in the tank as it only happens when using reserves? It still idles fine but when I set off and revs are applied the exhaust makes a belching sound and I have to accelerate really slowly or the engine gets no power. Could do with advice on where to start looking for a solution.

Hi all,

Very new to bikes, this is my first and so far I love it. It's in a bit of a sorry state but piece by piece have been restoring it with many plans to come. Anyway long story short -

Bought bike 2 weeks ago. Lights worked at time. Booked bike in for MOT on Wednesday, one of the failures was 'brake lights not working'. Bloke says he couldn't get any lights on, regardless of what ignition location. Poo-poo'd it till I got home hoping for the best, but low and behold no lighting. Checked...

Would anyone on here be interested in a honda cb350 project its a great base for a classic. Im new to the forum and will be posting my progress on my current projects later on

So should my ninja be a write off iv been told that I would be able to buy the bike back for just a couple of hundred quid which I would do but I'd probably look to get something different to use on the road and maybe do the ninja up a tad/alot.......what should I do any advice/ideas would be nice.

Only thing i will say is I'll not be getting rid of the fairing as I need a fairing

So, this was the bike as i got my hands on it. (albeit, with the engine removed)

Fuel tank

Front wheel/brakes

49cc engine + Rear light + A big pile of bits!

Rear Wheel

Dodgy bars:

The bike was slowly rebuilt up to look fairly original with some improvements, before I really got stuck into it after a small fire on an aborted trip last year.

Before the fire it was looking like this:

The wiring was cooked, and I made a small loom to get it running again,...

I asked for advice on the newbie section and all it seems to have caused is a debate about, Different countries and ppl from them places....

Do any of these questions get proper decent helpful replies??? Any way eres a update on my lexmoto, xtrs.
I've now completed all other jobs: new drive chain, rear tyre, and also emptied and cleaned the fuel tank, so unless I get any worthy tips/replies on what to check and do next, I'll just go off my novice ideas, But would like to hear any helpful...

I found a 2005 CBR 125R RS5 for sale quite near by for £810. It looked a bit cooler than other bikes in the budget, and after a quick HPI it came up as a CAT C in 2006! So I told the owner the bad news, beat him down on price, and we agreed on £650 with a full tank of fuel and new tyres.

I drove it home, broke the gear selector being ham footed, had to limp on a bit in 1st gear, then pull over and ask a nice man called Dave for an allan key so I could re-fit it (a bit tighter this time..)

It...

Anybody got one of these. Can we have a chat about them?

So I have this 1991 Suzuki and the problem is, that it only runs on 2 out of 4 cylinders. Either 1 and 4 or 2 and 3.
Yesterday it was firing on 1 and 4. Then I changed spark plug in 2, and now it's firing on 2 and 3 but not 1 and 4.

(6 months ago the problem was, that it was running on 3 cylinders (1,2,3) but when I rode the bike in high revs the 4th Cylinder kicked in.)

Hi i have a Honda XBR500f 86 rear wheel bearing are seized could anyone tell me the best method of getting them out

Hi all,
New to this forum, this time around. Seem to have lost my original login. I've had this bike for about 3 years, intending to get it going again, but with work it has just stood under cover all that time.
Starting to get time now and have just got hold of a centre stand, but minus the spring. Does anyone know what length of spring I need for the stand?
I hope I don't become too much of a nuisance over the next few months.
Regards
Gordon

Hey this may sound dim but here goes. On scramblers and cafe racers is the battery exposed to the elements or are they covered with some kind of protection? I've seen a few cafe builds taking all the body work off, just wondering if it is exposed how does the battery cope with rain??

Need to clean up rear tokico caliper on 04 z1000. Does anyone know the colour reference or a product to touchup/repaint in gold as original?

many thanks

Started stripping my GSX1100 ET chassis yesterday and test fitted the swingarm today. Reliant on help from my mates at moment as my left wrist is still very sore. Rested one piece fibreglass body kit on the frame.

Hi all,

New on here, I found this forum looking for help with a little KH125 I am trying to fix up for the missses to pass her test on. i have been on with this little thing for quite a while and I still cannot seem to get a spark at the plug from it.

As far as I am aware, the battery is only needed for the lights etc, & the motor runs straight from the magneto.

I have tried,

New plug/points/condenser/ignition coil

At one point I found that there was no charge coming from the source coil...

Anybody got any experience with this stuff?

I did try some home plating a lot of years back with Vinegar and Epsom salts with poor results. So I drop off all my parts to the platers.

Having read a few bit and bobs on the net I am now going to see what results i can get for little to no layout.

Yes I know you can get a plating kit but would like to try a few experiments with what I have already.

I used to use 1.5V AA batteries (HP7 in my day) a large margarine tub and solid copper wire, had some zinc plates of unknown purity. What I...

As the title suggests, I'm part way through a resto/project on my old CG125. It's been sat in the garage for quite some time after I previously had it made road worthy..however it had since broken again and needed a top end rebuild.

I'll post what I've done so far when I have some extra time, but for the moment here is the starting images.

First, let's get this garage tidy and give you a look at the starting point!!

Cheers

:popcorn:

Hi all!

This is my first post here, pleased to meet you all.

I'm after a bit of advice. I'm a bit of an amateur mechanic and have come into an old Yamaha XJ650 that has spent some years out in the weather here in Wellington, New Zealand.

As a result, the engine and rear drum brake housing are pretty extensively oxidised. I understand this will never be returned to it's former glory, but I'm wondering if anyone has encountered this before and how you went about remedying the problem to make...

Hey everyone,

I'm new here and happy to join what seems to be a lively and friendly community.
I currently have a Honda CG ES model 2008 which I have ridden for a few years now. I wanted initially to turn it into a Cafe racer style motorbike, but I realised that my model has the square frame which rises high at the back, rather than the tubular kind that seem to lend themselves to the cafe racer look.
I'm still pretty keen on the idea of making my bike more my own, changing a few things on it...

Thought id start a project post on my ZX6R.

I brought her as a (Badly) started streetfighter. I'll keep this post updated with pics and issues :)

If anyone has any information on these bikes or streetfighters in general feel free to share.

So far ive changed the front wheel bearings and steering head bearings.
Set up the suspension back to standard (the front forks had completely different settings) and the rear compression was set to hard as F***
Re-routed the ramair
New chain and sprokets...

I've been working on a TS50x bought as a project for my 16 year old son at the beginning of August. We haven't done a nut and bolt restoration but any parts that required work have either been refurbished or replaced with new or good secondhand.
The bike was originally yellow, with blue frame and seat and gold rims, but a previous owner had sprayed all the panels and tank black.
I've managed to return all the panels to their original yellow using plastic safe paint remover and have stripped...

Just a few pictures of my z440 ltd which I'm changing into a scrambler

Finally got rid of my little steering divet totally changed the low speed handling.
Old ones (pic) were worn,rusted and wet :shock:

Hi guys, newbie here seeking advice from more experienced people.

Just did my CBT yesterday and took a trip up to London today excited to buy a Honda CBF125. A total bargain. Maybe even too good to be true... 2011 bike with 4000 miles on the clock, 12 months MOT with two small advisories, no visible rust, white, £925. Sweet.

Took it for a quick test drive around the block and it seemed to be great to me. Obviously I've been riding motorbikes for one day, so I didn't know to check all the...

Saw this yesterday parked outside a pub on the outskirts of Cov.
Looks like it’s in regular use.
Strangely I quite liked it.
323388B7-E3C5-4678-9E76-BD640362254E.jpeg

Hi I need a bit of help I've just been given an old recked cg125 1986 model that I want to restore I'm looking for a cylinder head and I've located one (second hand) but the seller is saying it's off a 6 volt bike and mines a 12 volt what difference if any is there ? Thanks in advance

I got a frame a couple of weeks ago but I'm not too sure as to who manufactured it, I was thinking possibly Matchless/AJS because there’s a tank bracket/fitting which is pretty typical of them but I’m not certain. It's a bolt on hardtail section and the front frame doesn’t split into two. From what I can decipher the numbers on the downtube, which would be directly under the saddle, read 23 then directly below that is 82/18462. The frame is fairly small, probably capable of fitting a 250 or so...

Hi all,
Thanks for looking, I’ve recently bought a 1992 gs 125 hoping to get it back running. Was sold as intermittent starter and previous owner could only get to start on full choke, but so far it has started for a second or two then died and not started again.
I have been racking my brains with what I believe it could be but I’m no mechanic so hoping for some wisdom from you wise peoples 👍
So far I have done the following:

Cleaned carb removed all jets and checked float and all look brand...

What a fantastic day with Richard Board on the Dynabike dyno at Moto Works, Sittingbourne. Previous highest rwbhp was 113 with 36mm EFE carbs and pod filters. I had convinced myself that previous popping and flames out of the V_H were caused by dodgy wiring and ignition. Think I sorted that, so I begged Richard to lend me his RS 36 flatslides and pod filters. Different bike. Still, er, interesting at low revs, but above 5000 it was fuelling perfectly. Best run was 118rwbhp, the best ever. Then...

Hi new to the forum. I have an old XJ600 with a damaged frame so am thinking of chopping it and building a bobber. Been doing some research on the style of fuel tank and would like to know if anyone has experience of fitting different tanks, it would appear that the XJ650 Maxim has the same frame and fittings. Also if anyone knows of a frame for an XJ600 1997-8 era with a V5 or complete bike but basket case in the south east for sale. Thanks in advance for any help on this.

Has anyone on here bought any of the widely available non OE ignition switches and had any problems? The reason I ask is that I've had several supplied for my sons 1989 TS50X and they've all had the same fault, in that with the key in position C they don't illuminate the oil or neutral lamps. On checking with a meter using the wiring diagram they have no continuity between the orange and red wire terminals in position C or IGN meaning the oil lamp will never illuminate.

hi all....ive got a bike with straight thru pipes and there way too loud...
the problem i have is there both bent about 3 inch from the end..so ill have problems fitting a baffle in..
so what i was thinking is making baffles with 22mm copper pipe....and bending them to fit around the bend...
that way i might get a baffle 7inch long....
anybody think of a better idea...is copper pipe ok to use...
if i was in america it wouldnt be a problem cos ive seen baffles over there which are flexible made...

Hey guys,

I've just got a £400 Honda CD250U as a fixer-upper, and I'm pretty happy with it so far, although it's now got a weird noise that seems to be getting worse. It sounds like a wire or something metallic tapping on the underneath of the fuel tank intermittently mostly when accelerating, although I can't see loose wire, and it's not regular enough to be something loose. It's like a cross between a tapping, scraping and clicking if that makes any sense? Also can hear it if I take a speed...

Hi there.

I’m looking to learn about motorbike maintenance, building and mechanics. Just wondered if anyone had advice on where I could do this in the Greater London area without my having to pay huge amounts to do a course?

There is YouTube and self teaching methods of course, but ideally I’d like to work together with someone else / with other people.

Wondering if anyone might need or like an apprentice or an extra pair of hands in their garage on an ad hoc basis?

Really keen. Make...

hi all...i need to make a wheel spacer for a project im doing....
i was thinking of using aluminium tube and cutting using a mitre block....
looking online at tubing and they all state outside diameter...i want 25mm id so thats confusing me...
if i find a tube with 28mm od and a 3mm wall with that give me the 25mm id i need...
or should i find an engineering shop to make them for me....
cheers all

My 16 year old son is looking to get a scooter, but since he'll probably want to upgrade as soon as he's 17 I've advised getting a cheap second-hand one. A work colleague has an old Y reg Gilera Runner that has 1600 miles on the clock, and has been sat in his garage unused for 15 years. I offered to pick it up and take it to a garage, and if it can be got running and MOTd affordably, to give him £100 for it, if it can't then I'll just scrap it.

What kind of work would likely be needed it on...

If anyone can help i would be grateful for any 1986 honda cbx750f parts. Specialy tank and fairing. Many thanks

Me old chap just acquired this , CBR 400rr nc23 tri arm, been sitting in a garage for about 10 years I think ,he couldn’t get a spark turned out to be kill switch needed taking apart and cleaning and petrol tap was leaking done now and runs sweet .
Cracking little bike will clean up nice ... I’m going to have to borrow it once he’s finished it :D