Hey everyone. I've been building Triumph and Harley choppers for years but once in a while get to pick up something different to build. I've done an XR600 Street Tracker, a CB360 brat and a couple CT70 125's. My buddies and I head to Portland in Feb every year for The One Show. We always bring small fun bikes to ride. Most of the time that's our tricked out CT70's but this year I wanted to bring an extra bike for when one of us inevitably breaks down.
Picked up this 1975 CB125S the other day.
They said that when it runs, it runs well. I don't know but it has good compression, in pretty good shape, has a title and came with a new wiring harness. Easy buy for me. Starting to think about what I wanted from this bike electrically and I think to keep things cheap for now I'll just stick with the 6V system. I borrowed the wiring diagram that NRCB125 made in the wiring thread and just chopped it up until I had clean bars, a single switch, no horn, signals or light switches.
Next I did my favorite thing in a build and tore that sucker apart. I like getting to see the bones and it helps me imagine the lines that I want from the build. The headlight ears are definitely not going back on. Not sure if I'll use the stock headlight or not. Will be cutting up the front fender and putting a front fender from an old triumph on the back. I ordered to new side covers since this is suppose to be a cheap and fast build, I'll just utilize the electronics where they're at. One thing I've learned from working on old small hondas is that they like the original airbox and exhaust that reaches the rear axle.
Time for the seat hoop. I used the bandsaw to cut off the frame a little behind the shock mounts. Squared them up then used some 7/8" DOM to bend a hoop. Looking good enough, I welded it on. I think that instead of making a seat pan completely from scratch, I'm going to cut off the front portion of the original pan where it bumps up and over the rear gas tank mount. From there, I'll cut out the rest of the seat pan from some 18 Gauge and combine the two.
Stay tuned. I know it's not the most interesting build but I'll post progress picks as I get stuff done.
Picked up this 1975 CB125S the other day.
They said that when it runs, it runs well. I don't know but it has good compression, in pretty good shape, has a title and came with a new wiring harness. Easy buy for me. Starting to think about what I wanted from this bike electrically and I think to keep things cheap for now I'll just stick with the 6V system. I borrowed the wiring diagram that NRCB125 made in the wiring thread and just chopped it up until I had clean bars, a single switch, no horn, signals or light switches.
Next I did my favorite thing in a build and tore that sucker apart. I like getting to see the bones and it helps me imagine the lines that I want from the build. The headlight ears are definitely not going back on. Not sure if I'll use the stock headlight or not. Will be cutting up the front fender and putting a front fender from an old triumph on the back. I ordered to new side covers since this is suppose to be a cheap and fast build, I'll just utilize the electronics where they're at. One thing I've learned from working on old small hondas is that they like the original airbox and exhaust that reaches the rear axle.
Time for the seat hoop. I used the bandsaw to cut off the frame a little behind the shock mounts. Squared them up then used some 7/8" DOM to bend a hoop. Looking good enough, I welded it on. I think that instead of making a seat pan completely from scratch, I'm going to cut off the front portion of the original pan where it bumps up and over the rear gas tank mount. From there, I'll cut out the rest of the seat pan from some 18 Gauge and combine the two.
Stay tuned. I know it's not the most interesting build but I'll post progress picks as I get stuff done.
