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Message started by engineer on 10/01/11 at 16:54:26

Title: Bought a new toy
Post by engineer on 10/01/11 at 16:54:26

Probably not the best place to talk about this but I picked up a little Honda CB125S with only 2000 miles on it. I got it cheap and naturally it didn't run but all the pieces were there. The problem was a dirty carb, mostly the float valve.

It runs great and I ran it around the back lawn and it shifts fine. But I have to run it with the choke on. It has a shorty exhaust and the air cleaner is still soaking. Luckily I do have a stock exhaust to go with it but that will have to wait until I get a new gasket for it and find the time to put it on.

Do you think the increased air flow, almost unrestricted, could be enough to require the choke to be on all the time?

Also does anyone know of a good forum for small displacement vintage Hondas? This is the best forum I have ever seen for any vehicle.

Haven't had my LS40 out since I broke a couple bones, I don't feel comfortable supporting its weight yet when I come to a stop. So until then I am having fun playing with this Honda, it weighs only a little over 200 lbs.

Title: Re: Bought a new toy
Post by Serowbot on 10/01/11 at 17:15:49

This is the perfect place to talk about it...

Yes,.. no filter and shorty exhaust will make you that lean... I'd try opening up the idle mix, and going up two steps on the main...
Clean all the passages while you're in there...

Neat find!... ;)...

Title: Re: Bought a new toy
Post by Boule’tard on 10/01/11 at 17:45:36

Congratulations, it looks like you're in good company, with verslagen scoring that CB500. Post pics! :)

I had a 1973 CB175 for a short while, but it was too trashed and I was too young/impatient/bad a mechanic to make anything of it.

Title: Re: Bought a new toy
Post by verslagen1 on 10/01/11 at 18:00:05

not much talk of singles where I'm at.

if you can't get a new jet real quick, short term would be the equivalent of the white spacer mod, there should be grooves in the needle, go up a couple (raise the needle)

other bikes are therapy.

Title: Re: Bought a new toy
Post by Gyrobob on 10/02/11 at 05:40:22

2C2E252E272E22384B0 wrote:

This bike is a great foundation for a cafe racer. It really lends itself to that lean, open-frame look. Plus, from what I have read, when it is really stripped down (and maybe hopped up a bit), the performance is good enough to actually keep up with traffic. The stock CB125 is about as energetic as a moped.

At 6'3" and 210, I might be an excess mass problem for one of these, but as a spiffy project, it would be fun.

Here are some examples:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48210641@N07/5283248127/

http://www.chopcult.com/OLDSCHOOLGARAGE/albums/4327/52750

http://www.caferacer.net/hcostello_cb125.html

http://www.2ndlight.com/fusetalk/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=78528

Title: Re: Bought a new toy
Post by verslagen1 on 10/02/11 at 09:04:19

3rd one's a gem...
Look at the pod filter, now that's how it should be done boys. Velocity tube and the foam filter.
http://www.caferacer.net/images/hcostelloCB125_2.jpg

Title: Re: Bought a new toy
Post by engineer on 10/02/11 at 12:54:14

Thanks for all the comments, tips, the links, pictures, etc. That red frame in the picture looks good. It would be tempting to make it into a cafe racer but since I have all the stock parts, some in a box, I was thinking of returning it to stock. The last owner gave it a dirt bike look but fortunately kept everything he took off.

I think I will adjust the carb for now. It is easy to reach and take apart so I'll make it richer and leave the shorty pipe on it becasue is sounds good, at least until the neighbors complain.

The left and right engine covers were originally painted with a silver paint. I wonder what people are using on those cafe racers, are they polishing them or re-painting them?

Title: Re: Bought a new toy
Post by skatnbnc on 10/05/11 at 20:46:51

Speaking of littler bikes, I was at the DQ last week and saw a guy ride up with his daughter on back of a black bike. His bike looked soooo familiar that I had to ask if it was a Suzuki Savage.
He said no, it was a Suzuki 250 but he called it something else too, likeC40, but not that.

I didnt get too close a look at it (my parents were waiting for me to get back in the car to leave), but it looked the same size as the 650, just a smaller jug.
I didnt even know there WAS a smaller model than the 650, and there he was, a pretty hefty dude with a 11 year old girl on the back too!

Does anyone know if this 250 is still being made? This was the first one I had ever seen or heard of.

Title: Re: Bought a new toy
Post by verslagen1 on 10/05/11 at 20:50:55

gz250 maurader

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRymSJrdT_1aYHqxxtoYnu9pPcm61T3vW-Rf3Ily5WrG7SidH6

650cc = 40 ci
250cc = 15 ci

Title: Re: Bought a new toy
Post by skatnbnc on 10/06/11 at 19:05:43

Yes, that was it - only thing he changed was the pipe.

I'm still impressed he was two up on that thing.

Thanks V-man! :)

Title: Re: Bought a new toy
Post by WD on 10/09/11 at 08:21:12

If you can find Cafe Racer Magazine where you live, there are a couple shops listed that have everything you could ever want for small displacement Hondas. Stock or modified. They stockpiled lots of the NOS stuff from Honda's US warehouses. And the prices aren't too bad.

We've got a CL100 (scrambler a.k.a. dual sport) from 1971 and can still get a lot of parts from the local dealership. same for my 1963 CL72 (250 scrambler).

Nice find. Baby bikes are a lot of fun to play around with.

Title: Re: Bought a new toy
Post by engineer on 10/09/11 at 13:33:38

That 250 Honda Scrambler was the first Japanese bike that really caught my attention. I was cruising main street one day and a guy was doing the same on his new Honda 250. It was then that I realized the world of motorcycles was changing. It looked good and sounded better.

Title: Re: Bought a new toy
Post by WD on 10/09/11 at 19:09:12

One of my all time favorites was the $200 CB350F I rode for year in college. Couldn't kill it and it would flat out spank my CB500 twin. Had a 400F 4 into 1 pipe with a cherry bomb glasspack. Rotten tires (but the tubes held air just fine), funky brakes, sticky clutch... Bike ran great. Used it on fire roads, main roads, back roads, went off the edge of the old Lewiston (Idaho) grade through a huge patch of poison ivy and down a scree field...

Gas tank lost a fight with a ball peen hammer at some point, looked like the outside of a beat up golf ball.