julianl

Nice, I love a good bike rescue. I had a couple of bikes off 'freegle' back when it was called 'freecycle'. Went from this: To this: Then got a dynohub and internal gear hub upgrade to this:

Thanks guys, it was a LOT of fun. My riding buddy and I both used to do a lot of cycling, so see 125s as fast bicycles you don't need to pedal. He had only just passed his CBT and bought a bike, so there was no point me taking a bigger bike anyway as he could only ride a 125. To be honest my 125 is probably the most comfortable bike I own anyway with the upright position, soft suspension, and big saddle so I didn't have a problem with it at all, and may use it again for a long tour, especially now I have a proper rack for it. Plus this wasn't a high speed point to point journey. Having said that we did manage 320 miles in one day. I don't think it would have mattered which bike you were riding on most of the little Hebridean roads anyway.

I meant to post an update once I got back, but it slipped my mind... The route. New luggage for the trip. Bike loaded up for a test ride. Scottish highlands, between showers. Waiting for the ferry, about to board. Bike strapped down. Didn't budge and inch on any of the crossings, and it was nasty on the way back to Oban. Shawbost Norse mill on Lewis. Loads more photos here, including quite a bit of the prep before leaving. https://imgur.com/gallery/7SyMCAa

I haven't got round to this project yet, but I have recently collected a load of data to help me choose the right parts of other CG125 models. Here's the data I have collected in case anyone else if looking for it too. https://drive.google.com/file/d/16HZHYtPbF3AqlCv_eNuEvpKmVSV26omL/view?usp=sharing

That is a good looking bike, well done! You can upload the video to YouTube and then post the link here.

Update 17 - July 2018 I wasn't happy that the two carbs had different idle screws. I'm sure it would have worked fine, but I would prefer them to be identical. I have a body that's the same as one of the good ones, but it's got a stuck float valve seat. I have a replacement seat, and the old one should just pop out, but it's stuck solid. I get to the point where I've marred the brass so badly, that there's no option not to change it, so I just go to town on it with the pliers after soaking it with penetrating oil. I could see there was some scale build up around the seat, and assume that's what's holding it in there. I try to scrape as much of it off as I can, and spray a load more penetrating oil down there. After about an hour of messing with it, I get it out. I decide to clean up the other carb whilst I'm at it. The slide is jammed on this, so strip as much as I can off the carb body to get it to fit in my tiny ultrasonic cleaner. Hmmm, I may need a bigger boat. Perfect! I did about 10 minutes on one side and then flipped the carb over and did another 10 on the other. After this, the slide came free. You can see the varnish in the bore. Most of this wiped clean with some carb cleaner now I could get to it. I start moving the new parts over from the 'slightly different carb' to the matching carb. It was the idle mixture screw that was different. They are now the same on both carbs. Once I finished up on the carbs, I turned my attention to the tank. I had bought a new 'lock' set for it, as well as cap. I was a little paranoid about scratching the tank, so used lots of painter's tape. Installed. Ignore the white marks around the tank badge, it's polishing compound. I started to polish the tank, and then thought better of it. Best let the lacquer cure longer and polish it just before I put it on the road. Time to fit the 'chrome' stripe at the bottom of the tank. Tape removed. Same again on the other side. I was initially looking to get the back back on the road pretty quickly, so didn't want to do a full restoration. That's why I didn't paint the yokes. I started to put it all back together. That's where I ran into another problem. The top bolt in the forks goes through the top of the top yoke. The fork doesn't pass though the top yoke. The headlight bracket and the upper fork cover have to be installed at the same time as the fork, they can't be added after the fork is installed. This made pushing the fork throuth the bottom yoke and up into the top yoke almost impossible. I then came up with the idea of getting an extra long fork top bolt and using it to pull the fork up inside the yoke from the top. Bolt and small waste section of mountain bike steerer tube as a shim. I use the long bolt without the shim first and pull the fork up as far as I can. Then I remove the bolt and add the shim and repeat. Once that has moved the fork as far as it can, the stock fork top bolt is long enough to engage with the threads on the top of the fork and seat the fork fully. Simple! Here it is with the stock bolt in place. Both forks back in place. I've left the bottom yoke loose until I get the mud guard back on and the wheel in place so I don't clamp the forks before they are aligned.

Thank you, much appreciated!

Cheers guys, the info is much appreciated.

Anyone taken their bike to the Outer Hebrides? Did they strap it down? I'm worried on the two long legs (Ullapool to Stornoway, and Castlebay to Oban) it's going to fall over. I only have a side stand, no center stand. Thanks

Update 16 - July 2018 Lots of carb work this update, but first, one more coat of petrol resistant lacquer on the tank. This is the third coat. I got a second set of carbs, and a couple of rebuild kits. Hopefully I will have enough to build two working carbs. Much better condition. Disassembly and clean. The wooden dowl is for knocking the emulsion tubes out. Neither are threaded, but one end of the ide emulsion tube looks like it's slitted to accept a flat blade screw driver - this will just snap the end of the tube off, it needs to be pressed out. Damaged butterfly, need to swap that with one of the others. Rebuild kit from Japan (via CMSNL). I'm used to the price of rebuild kits for my CG125 engined XR125L or Kawasaki GPZ500S, so the price of these were unexpected. Going back together. New needle. First carb almost rebuilt. This is where I discovered I have two very similar but different carbs. Arse. I only discovered the above, then I installed the new mixture screw spring and tried to install the mixture screw. The new screw wouldn't fit, and I couldn't fit the old one as it didn't fit the new spring, and... I couldn't get the new spring out as it was the wrong size spring for this carb. It took me the best part of two hours to fish the newer and incorrect size spring out of the carb body. It was only when I had the new and old next to each other that I realised the difference. Lesson learnt. Back to this one to harvest parts. Back to the other good one and started to install the parts from the rebuild kit. New float bowl (no holes). Second carb back together, no holey float bowl, no damaged butterfly, and new carb rebuild parts installed (jets, etc) Both carbs bagged up ready for reinstallation at a later stage of the rebuild. But.... I revisit the decision to mix two slightly different carb revisions at a later date.

Good idea with the wax, I will do that before I fill it up. Much appreciated, thank you

Yeah, pretty much No I don't but I would really like one. I just don't have the space. I'd doing most of the work at a friends garage as there's barely room to stand in my garage. Thanks. Progress is slow at the moment, I didn't really do much over winter, but plan to get the bike on the road (hopefully) before the end of summer this year. First time using it, and I haven't tested it yet, so hopefully the answer is 'enough'. With hindsight, I probably would have left the top of the filler neck bare metal, so I guess we'll see the first time I fill it up. It's certainly had long enough to dry and harden.

Update 15 - July 2018 'New' fork covers off eBay (good condition second hand ones). No dents in these ones! Scuffed up the surface with wet and dry, then primered. I didn't want the front end all the same colour, so I went with black for these. I gave the tank a final light wet sand, getting ready to apply lacquer. First coat of lacquer. I used a petrol resistant lacquer. Second coat of lacquer.

Thanks, and I guess that's a positive side of the holes in the float bowls - only one carb was in that bad condition.

The main UK green laning group is called GLASS. They can explain the system better than I can https://glass-uk.org/where-can-i-drive-home-grid-articles.html But the basics are as follows. If it's a public right of way, the same rules apply as on a normal road (MoT, tax, insurance, helmet, etc). You're not allowed on footpaths, bridleways, or restricted byways. You specifically want something called a B.O.A.T - Byway Open (to) All Traffic. These are usually signed as just 'byway'. However, you have to be careful as a byway can still have restrictions, called TROs (Traffic Regulation Order). This could restrict your access to specific times of year or cause temporary closure for maintenance for example. An Ordinance Survey map is usually a good way to find them (especially the online versions), but once word of caution - in rare cases the OS can get it wrong, so your local council is the authoritative source for rights of way. My local council has an online map where you can search by type, which I use to check a new route, and make sure there's not a new TRO on a familiar route. Another important thing to remember is that of 'image'. A lot of the public has a poor view of green laners, and especially motorbike riders, so I am always on full alert and as polite as possible. I give way to walkers if a passing place is too tight, and I always turn the engine off if I meet a horse rider (if they are coming towards me) or give them as much room as possible and keep revs as low as possible when over taking (only after I'm sure the rider has seen me, and ideally beckoned me round). If enough members of the public complain, the councils reaction is to usually turn a BOAT into a restricted byway meaning we can't use it anymore. So I treat every ride as if I'm being watched.

I bought this little XR125L a few years ago to give green laning a try. I bought it non-running and had to fit a new cylinder and piston, which meant I had to do a lot of road riding to break the engine in before I got anywhere near taking it off road. After cleaning the mud off. I plan on getting some intermediate tyres, but the second set of wheel I bought have loose spokes, so I need to do some wheel truing and spoke tensioning before I can use them (but they did come with a part worn pair of Pirelli MT60 tyres).

I'd love to see your bike and compare notes. I'm working on a 1970 CB350K3 at the moment (see my thread in this sub-forum).

Update 14 - July 2018 Reassembling the switch gear. This was a PITA getting the circlip back on for the kill switch. All back together and painted. Switch still work too. Bonus. Installed the new plastic lever too. The headlight bucket is looking good, so it's time for the lacquer stage. Then it's back to wet sanding the tank, again... Lacquer on the side covers too. Filling... Sanding... Filling... More filling... Even more filling... Headlight bucket is looking good. Nice. More filling... And even more. Really thin coats now, I think I've nearing the end. Mostly sanded off. Another coat of primer. More sanding. I think it's ready for a base coat. Base coat! Finally, I've lost count of the number of hours work on this tank so far, but it's a lot. Easily the same as all the other work combined. Tools of the trade. This is all the stuff I've been using for the tank. Etch primer, zinc primer, thinners, base coat, spray gun, body filler, knifing putty, tack cloths, etc, etc... Wet sanding the first base coat. And letting it dry. It was another full day again, mostly working on the tank. I fitted all the other little jobs in around the tank.

I'd do it by hand too, if the pillar drill can't reach. If it was a smaller hole I'd suggest using either a pin vice in the drill chuck to extend the reach, or getting a longer drill bit. Here I am drilling a snapped stud out of an alloy cylinder head (hateful Vauxhall POS). If you can get a second person to act as a spotter to get a look at the drill from another angle and make sure you're going in straight it can help.

Yeah, totally agree it's morally and legally wrong. I'm just so surprised that there are so many for sale on eBay. Surely the sellers must know, or do they just not care?

Ah ok, that makes sense. Thank you

Here's the one with the tampered serial number:

Update 13 - June 2018 New headlight. It's a generic repro based off the headlight for a CB750. Headlight idiot light. Drilled a hole for it and test fitted it. Nice. Scuff it up for painting. Give the inside a coat of paint first to help stop rust. Whilst I'm waiting for that to dry, time to paint the side covers. I'm not sure if I'm going to have enough top coat for the tank, so I paint the underside black to save paint. Whilst I'm waiting for all that to dry, I turn my attention back to the switch gear. Then get back to the headlight bucket and paint it with etch primer. Let it dry and go over with base coat.

Cool, thanks for the confirmation this will work. When you say casing, is that just the flywheel cover? If the wikipedia page is to be believed, I would need a cover from after 1993. Does that sound about right?

Found another: Even for off-road use, it's still a public highway, just not a sealed surface, so the usual rules of the road apply. So it would have to be used exclusively on private property to be legally operated independently of the DVLA. Re the seller covering the serial number up, I gave the seller the benefit of the doubt and asked them if they had edited the image or covered the serial up in some way. They said that they had bought the engine from a scappy and that the scrappy had removed the serial number. Sounds like BS to me. I can't think of any reason a scrappy would remove a serial number from an engine before selling it, unless the scrappy knew it was stolen. Thanks all, this is quite eye opening. I'm amazed this is so rampant. No wonder bike crime is high if it's so easy to sell on the parts that have been deliberately modified to hide their identity.