hello.
my first post. many of my searches brought me here so i figured i'd start a thread.
(unfortunately i just have this one photo to offer)
https://flic.kr/p/nWkyu9
i bought a 78 cb125 single to fix up for my girlfriend. i wanted a project and figured a small bike would be cheaper and easier to work on. i am quasi intelligent, but an absolute novice when it comes to mechanics, so this is really a learning process for me.
this post is really long so here is the abridged version:
-kill switch doesn't work. will open that eventually
-new battery was dead when i got back after 3 weeks away w/ ignition off. any reasons this might happen? will replace rectifier w/ silicon and clean any electrical/ground connections i can access.
-front disk brake. all parts seem present. how do you adjust? (only manual i found is "shop manual honda 100/125" including 125s. only shows front drum brakes)
it came to me as not starting, but having been working within the past few months. within 6-8 months it had 3 owners, and i had 2 receipts that were pretty vague. it seems like someone would buy it, it stopped working, shop got it working, a month of riding, stopped working, get frustrated, sell.
it seemed to have compression, and the cylinder smelled of fuel, so i checked for spark (grounding the plug) and got nothing. checked the battery, dead and bone dry (also held on with zip ties). picked up a new battery and spark plug, checked for spark, got it! with a few kicks it fired up and idled well. great success. it is a little finicky getting into 1st/neutral, but power seems to be there and otherwise shifts well. clutch is a little lose feeling, but not bad.
i wanted to check/clean the oil filters, as i read that they are very under serviced on these bikes, but i didn't have time/patience to crack the right side engine cover. with a little more investment in the bike, i will, but for now, i just drained and replaced the oil. old oil looked decent, so that's sort of promising.
kill switch doesn't work at all. will have to look into that.
foot pegs/kick stand is missing 2 bolts. heading to hardware store to grab those.
i just did a cross country road trip on a KLR from FL back to LA, and when i returned the battery was dead. ignition was in the off position, and the battery was very new (rode the bike on/off for a few days/week before i left), any ideas on what would be slowly draining a fresh battery? i have plans to pick up a radio shack silicon rectifier as i have read that it's worth replacing whether you go 12v or stay 6v, basically anything better than the original.
headlight has a very DIY on/off/on switch, and its very dim when switched on, blinkers don't work, but brake light seems reasonably strong. i assume there are some corroded connections, regardless of whether there are other issues (i assume there are) so cleaning some contacts is definitely in order. i'd love to clean up and re-wire it as i suspect there are some weird random psuedo-fixes, but that will wait.
front mechanical disk brake. didn't do much but slow the bike a little little bit. i understand this is a weak point as people tend to swap to drum brakes, so i don't expect much. i opened the brake up today and black water dripped out. poured out a small pool of it from the brake assembly cap. everything looks like it is supposed to be there, the idea seems simple, pull cable, cable pulls pads, spring pushes back to zero. wiped away some schmutz and yellow crust, and put it back together. with the three housing bolts tightened down, the brake lever now had zero travel, and the brake was locked up. loosened the bolts and got a little movement in the tire and lever. loosened the bolts more (now barely finger tight) and the lever functions, but the brake is weak (possibly a bit better than it started). so it seems promising that this thing has the potential to stop the tire, but how should this thing be adjusted??
oh, i also tried to adjust the valves, but i couldn't get the dynamo cover off to check the timing. friend has an impact driver, but not sure how to use it... does it turn/ratchet when hit, or do you have to apply rotational force while you hit it?
thanks, sorry for the verbosity!
-will
my first post. many of my searches brought me here so i figured i'd start a thread.
(unfortunately i just have this one photo to offer)
https://flic.kr/p/nWkyu9
i bought a 78 cb125 single to fix up for my girlfriend. i wanted a project and figured a small bike would be cheaper and easier to work on. i am quasi intelligent, but an absolute novice when it comes to mechanics, so this is really a learning process for me.
this post is really long so here is the abridged version:
-kill switch doesn't work. will open that eventually
-new battery was dead when i got back after 3 weeks away w/ ignition off. any reasons this might happen? will replace rectifier w/ silicon and clean any electrical/ground connections i can access.
-front disk brake. all parts seem present. how do you adjust? (only manual i found is "shop manual honda 100/125" including 125s. only shows front drum brakes)
it came to me as not starting, but having been working within the past few months. within 6-8 months it had 3 owners, and i had 2 receipts that were pretty vague. it seems like someone would buy it, it stopped working, shop got it working, a month of riding, stopped working, get frustrated, sell.
it seemed to have compression, and the cylinder smelled of fuel, so i checked for spark (grounding the plug) and got nothing. checked the battery, dead and bone dry (also held on with zip ties). picked up a new battery and spark plug, checked for spark, got it! with a few kicks it fired up and idled well. great success. it is a little finicky getting into 1st/neutral, but power seems to be there and otherwise shifts well. clutch is a little lose feeling, but not bad.
i wanted to check/clean the oil filters, as i read that they are very under serviced on these bikes, but i didn't have time/patience to crack the right side engine cover. with a little more investment in the bike, i will, but for now, i just drained and replaced the oil. old oil looked decent, so that's sort of promising.
kill switch doesn't work at all. will have to look into that.
foot pegs/kick stand is missing 2 bolts. heading to hardware store to grab those.
i just did a cross country road trip on a KLR from FL back to LA, and when i returned the battery was dead. ignition was in the off position, and the battery was very new (rode the bike on/off for a few days/week before i left), any ideas on what would be slowly draining a fresh battery? i have plans to pick up a radio shack silicon rectifier as i have read that it's worth replacing whether you go 12v or stay 6v, basically anything better than the original.
headlight has a very DIY on/off/on switch, and its very dim when switched on, blinkers don't work, but brake light seems reasonably strong. i assume there are some corroded connections, regardless of whether there are other issues (i assume there are) so cleaning some contacts is definitely in order. i'd love to clean up and re-wire it as i suspect there are some weird random psuedo-fixes, but that will wait.
front mechanical disk brake. didn't do much but slow the bike a little little bit. i understand this is a weak point as people tend to swap to drum brakes, so i don't expect much. i opened the brake up today and black water dripped out. poured out a small pool of it from the brake assembly cap. everything looks like it is supposed to be there, the idea seems simple, pull cable, cable pulls pads, spring pushes back to zero. wiped away some schmutz and yellow crust, and put it back together. with the three housing bolts tightened down, the brake lever now had zero travel, and the brake was locked up. loosened the bolts and got a little movement in the tire and lever. loosened the bolts more (now barely finger tight) and the lever functions, but the brake is weak (possibly a bit better than it started). so it seems promising that this thing has the potential to stop the tire, but how should this thing be adjusted??
oh, i also tried to adjust the valves, but i couldn't get the dynamo cover off to check the timing. friend has an impact driver, but not sure how to use it... does it turn/ratchet when hit, or do you have to apply rotational force while you hit it?
thanks, sorry for the verbosity!
-will