The 125 conundrum

Being a new rider on a poor little 125, I have to admit that although I know how to maintain a car, I have little in the way of ideas on how to maintain a bike. I'd love to spend an hour of two with someone who can advise me.

The other reason is as said we've got to push our poor little bikes to the limit when on NSL roads.

Fish

If you put your location in your profile there may be someone nearby willing to lend a hand. The basics are very straightforward. I ran Honda and Suzuki 125s and never had any issue with them, but then I do look after my bikes.

My Suzuki GS125 never missed a beat going from 10K to 20K on the clock, the biggest job was steering head bearings which is normal wear and tear. Though the mild steel exhaust did break in half the day before the MOT, that was annoying!

I've had more trouble with big bikes, and the Kawasaki 250 is made very poorly by comparison.

And I suspect many are run by people who don't plan on keeping them long so they don't get looked after as well.

Which is why, as the 4th owner of my 125, I ended getting only £200 less as a trade in, than when I bought it. It had been a bit neglected and I got it properly serviced and did a lot of cosmetic work so it was rust free.

It had 4000 miles on the clock, so the previous owners had each done just over 1000 miles. I doubled that to 8000 miles. So, it goes to show how condition is important.

Being a new rider on a poor little 125, I have to admit that although I know how to maintain a car, I have little in the way of ideas on how to maintain a bike. I'd love to spend an hour of two with someone who can advise me.

The other reason is as said we've got to push our poor little bikes to the limit when on NSL roads.

Fish

I learned basic care and maintenance off you tube videos. There are hundreds of videos showing you the main tasks that will keep your bike in good condition, from how to wash it, treating rust, adjusting the chain, cleaning the brakes, idle speed.

Look up Tamsen Cooper for general maintenance and the Car Cleaning Guru, who also does motorbikes.

I guess a way to look at it is. You can still find 125 Honda's and Yamaha's from the 80's in decent condition for sale. In forty years time how many of the bikes make this year will still be around ? I think a lot of the 125's made today are designed to be cheap and have a finite life they are not seem as any kind of investment and because if the low cost people don't look after them run them into the ground for 3-4 years flog them for a few hundred then either get a bigger bike or another cheap 125.

Interesting topic with some interesting answers!

In my view there's no excuse for poor maintenance. 1) RTFM - it tells you everything you need to know and what to check, how often, how to adjust chain, how to adjust rear brake, clutch, change bulbs etc. etc. etc. The instructions are there so there's no excuse... 2) 125s are hardly technological marvels. The engineering is extremely basic and anyone with half a clue of basic (and I mean BASIC) mechanical knowledge can do most routine jobs. Plus everything's exposed so easy to get at! Most routine maint jobs take anything from 30 sec to 30 min with the manual, very basic toolkit and the appropriate lubricants etc. where appropriate.

There again, if you're not good with tools and one of these folk that for whatever reason couldn't make cheese on toast or change a lightbulb then FFS be careful and don't do anything silly... but it doesn't take much time and brainpower to learn.

For me, starting biking was an epiphany, as not only do I enjoy riding, but I found an interest in doing routine maintenance jobs on the bike. So much so I've used the stuff I've learned from working with the bike and started doing work on the family car. Local dealer wants £160 for an annual service on the Mondeo. Did it myself for 30 quid with an hour's work, and even that was leisurely (30 minutes of which was making sure all the oil was drained). So now I've discovered a new hobby, not only in biking, but being a home mechanic.

As a final point, most 125s these days are Made In China. This indicates the overall manufacturing quality of such bikes and therefore a telling indicator as to why so many 125s have problems. A sweeping statement perhaps, but in my experience all too true.

They get worked very hard. They are routinely revved to high rpm's and held there to do any kind of cruising on bigger roads. My old Yamaha YZF-R was doing 70mph at 9000rpm, and that was the slowest revving 125 I've ever ridden. On chinese 125's it's build quality. On Japs and other reliable models, it's poor maintenance and living a hard life generally speaking.

My ex fried a CBF125, a combination of doing 6000 miles when the service intervals are 2500, and she used the wrong oil (cheap oil not specified for motorcycle use). There was enough oil in there, judging from the way it poured out it had broken down considerably so its protective properties were spent. Scorch damage to bearings needing a new top end, crank, and clutch.

I know someone who used vegetable oil in his forks, and part mixed it with engine oil to save on costs... He thought it blew up as his "skills were beyond the bike and he rode it too hard". There's no telling some people

Its stories like that that make you wonder why some people are allowed the vote or even allowed outside, never mind anywhere near a bike.

Agree regarding the performance though. NSL is the maximum performance for most 125s so they're balls-out at that speed which implies more mechanical wear. That said, as long as the bike is looked after well and maintained fastidiously there should be no unpleasant surprises even with such use.

I rather enjoy the feeling of being "at the limit" whilst still remaining within the speed limit