2001 Honda Cityfly clr125 Restoration

[Ben_Jammin420]

Hi everyone, i'm new to this but wanted to share my latest project.  I was asked to clean up a CLR125 which initially I thought would be as easy as removing old dirt and polishing the metal... but I was very wrong - the closer I looked, the more rust I could see along with flaking paint and several other untidy bits... 

 

So I decided to do a full strip down, clean, repaint, and rebuild...for the first time ever...with no manual or much knowledge on how to do it.  And thought I would share it with others who may want to do the same.  

 

Here's a few before pics (doesn't look so bad from this distance!)..

 

Edited December 31, 2022 by Ben_Jammin420

[Ben_Jammin420]

A few more pics of what I was about to undertake - bearing in mind I started this project almost a year ago in March 2022!  But before that I should say that I've just (4 days ago) finished stripping, painting, restoring all the parts and started the rebuild - here's a couple before and after pics of finished parts:

 

 

Since starting this project i've taken 1000's of pictures and many videos...I wont post them all lol... but enough to hopefully help anyone wanting to do the same sort of thing as i've done here...

 

[Ben_Jammin420]

Wasn't sure where to start...so I chose the mirrors - undamaged but the chrome was marked and rusted.

 

 

Started with a general clean (i think window cleaner?!) then went on to the tinfoil and water technique I found online...seemed to work very well

 

 

 

Few light scratches left by the foil so I then used Autosol metal polish, twice I think (been a while since I started all this so going by the pictures I took sorry) and attached back to the bike for overall reference of the difference...

 

 

After removing again, more polishing/cleaning etc I wrapped them in bubble wrap

 

 

And literally opened them up while writing this post, I actually forgot how good they came out...

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 1, 2023 by Ben_Jammin420

[Ben_Jammin420]

Next, the front mudguard...

 

 

This required the removal of 4 bolts, one required a spanner, another a screwdriver and the other two were hex bolts - which I've come to find out is standard!?

 

 

And it's off

 

 

 

Used some household cleaning spray to start, results were instantly better

 

 

Then some Autoglym bumper and trim

 

 

 

The underside done the same way:

 

 

 

Wrapped and stored, not yet at that stage of the rebuild - hopefully will be soon!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 1, 2023 by Ben_Jammin420

[Ben_Jammin420]

Then removed the rear foot peg hangers and rear luggage rack

 

 

Rubber and plastic parts cleaned and stored, metal parts will be stripped and painted (shown later), nuts/bolts to be cleaned and polished

[Ben_Jammin420]

A few more of before condition:

 

[Ben_Jammin420]

Headlamp, dirty and scratched - quick clean with anti-bac and light polish

 

Small crack in the headlamp surround

 

 

Was OK but not the result I was looking for...  I think it was around this point where I decided to dismantle the entire bike and make this a full strip and rebuild..

 

 

Removed the surround with 3 screws - 

 

 

[Ben_Jammin420]

Front indicators and front support frame

 

[Ben_Jammin420]

I then disconnected all the front wiring to allow me to remove the clocks, handlebars and other frontal pieces - Plenty of pictures taken although I now wish I had labelled the wires as and when disconnecting as the pictures are proving slightly difficult to see where everything feeds from/to...

 

 

Removed the speedo unit..

 

 

Throttle cable and handle bar attachment

 

 

 

 

And finally the front mounting frame piece..

 

[Ben_Jammin420]

Handlebar switches and levers next...

 

 

Front brake and cable

 

 

Front wheel removed

 

 

 

[Ben_Jammin420]

Some parts already removed were then stripped down, prepped and re-painted - I was going to wait until i'd posted the full strip down before posting these, however, changed my mind and wanted to show off how they are looking now - ready to be put back on when required...

 

Rear foot hangers - One mostly sanded ready for de-greasing, then primer & paint...

 

 

 

Front disc

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Fiddlesticks]

Looking very good!

[bud]

Nice work.

[Ben_Jammin420]

On 07/01/2023 at 23:01, Fiddlesticks said:

Looking very good!

 

Cheers Fiddlesticks!  Apart from a couple of friends the only people to see any of this resto are those of you following the thread so any and all feedback welcome and much appreciated!  

[Ben_Jammin420]

Finished headlamp, surround, backing and mounting frame:

 

 

 

 

I've not yet re-attached them although I think this may be the next step for the rebuild (will have to check the dismantling pictures just to be sure lol) - The headlamp casing, surround and other bits were simply cleaned and polished - nothing major required as these are all plastic parts with a chrome finish - the headlamp itself was cleaned with de-greaser and then glass cleaner,, worked a treat...

 

The front frame = clock/headlamp mounting piece was stripped down, sanded, cleaned, primed then painted - really like how this came out...

 

 

 

[Ben_Jammin420]

Next I removed the speedo gear and securing bracket

 

 

Sanded, primed then painted

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bud]

Coming along nicely

[Fozzie]

Looking good. I tried to buy a Cityfly while I was in London as it was a quirky looking thing. I'm also a big fan of the XR 125. The CG engine is absolutely bomb proof, but on the odd occasion they fail, really easy to take apart and fix. 

 

What type of paint are you using on the metal parts? I've been trying a few different types recently as the stone chip stuff doesn't take to some cleaning products too nicely, and I'm trying to find a decent all in one type paint that doesn't need lacquer. 

[Ben_Jammin420]

On 16/01/2023 at 14:23, Fozzie said:

Looking good. I tried to buy a Cityfly while I was in London as it was a quirky looking thing. I'm also a big fan of the XR 125. The CG engine is absolutely bomb proof, but on the odd occasion they fail, really easy to take apart and fix. 

 

What type of paint are you using on the metal parts? I've been trying a few different types recently as the stone chip stuff doesn't take to some cleaning products too nicely, and I'm trying to find a decent all in one type paint that doesn't need lacquer. 

 

Thanks for your comment Fozzie, I was given this project by my half-brothers Dad - he had seen a miniature steam train carriage which I restored and asked me to "clean" this bike up for him - Not sure if he knew how bad it was and that I intended to completely dismantle the thing lol... but hey, it's a nice easy machine to work on and to be honest, as I was so thorough with pictures and steps taken to dismantle it's actually going back together very smoothly (almost easier than taking it apart as all the parts are nearly like new)

 

So the paint, i've used Jenolite anti-rust spray paint (and alot of it)... As said before this is the first time i've done this so everything is still a bit of a learning curve.  

 

The most important bit I believe was that I sanded each part down to bare metal, I then thoroughly cleaned and dried each part before applying Etch primer, 2-4 coats with light sanding inbetween, then applied the colour coats, again 2-4 coats with allowing good drying time in between, then 2/3 layers of clear coat.  All parts were painted in a homemade painting cabinet with heater.

 

I learnt from YouTube the most important part of the process is the sanding (edges and corners specifically) and cleaning all areas 2-3 times with methanol spirits or similar.

 

All the painted parts still have paint attached so hopefully I've done the right thing - will update you if everything start to flake off!

 

More pics of dismantle/rebuild to follow soon.

Edited January 17, 2023 by Ben_Jammin420

[Ben_Jammin420]

Next I cleaned up the front wheel, removed the rust with tinfoil and water technique followed with alot of polishing with metal polish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ben_Jammin420]

So, im currently struggling with something on this rebuild and wondered (hoping) someone has any advice/ideas on what I can do...

 

When I removed the rear sprocket from the wheel the rubber part of the bushes were deteriorated (pictured below) so i've managed to get some new ones... however, how do I get the old ones out of the wheel hub??  There does not appear to be any access from the rear to punch them out so I assume they need to be pulled out but are in there extremely tightly.

 

 

Any help very much appreciated!

[Ben_Jammin420]

Anyway, back to the strip down - next removed the handlebar mounts, didn't take these to bare metal as no obvious rust showing so just sanded enough to apply new paint, again thoroughly cleaned before painting.

 

 

Front forks - these looked OK from a distance but up close... they were in a poor state, flaking paint, rust spots and generally very untidy...

 

 

Masked the SHOWA stickers however the HONDA lettering almost fell off so will need replacing..

 

 

Same restore process again - results were great despite the missing HONDA decals:

 

 

Wrapped and stored until a couple of days ago:

 

 

 

 

Edited January 18, 2023 by Ben_Jammin420

[Guest]

14 minutes ago, Ben_Jammin420 said:

Anyway, back to the strip down - next removed the handlebar mounts, didn't take these to bare metal as no obvious rust showing so just sanded enough to apply new paint, again thoroughly cleaned before painting.

 

 

Front forks - these looked OK from a distance but up close... they were in a poor state, flaking paint, rust spots and generally very untidy...

 

 

Masked the SHOWA stickers however the HONDA lettering almost fell off so will need replacing..

 

 

Same restore process again - results were great despite the missing HONDA decals:

 

 

Wrapped and stored until a couple of days ago:

 

 

 

 

If you haven’t already, probo worth pulling the forks apart and renewing the fork oil, bushes etc. 

[Ben_Jammin420]

On 18/01/2023 at 22:51, goat said:

If you haven’t already, probo worth pulling the forks apart and renewing the fork oil, bushes etc. 

 

Cheers goat, I'll look into doing this before re-installing them if you think its neccessary - is there anyway to tell if all is OK with taking them apart? or is this just something that should be done on a rebuild?

 

Edited January 19, 2023 by Ben_Jammin420

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Ben_Jammin420 said:

 

Cheers Goat, I'll look into doing this before re-installing them if you think its neccessary - is there anyway to tell if all is OK with taking them apart? or is this just something that should be done on a rebuild?

 

Don't think you can tell without looking. The fork oil at least seems to get overlooked as something that needs periodically changing. I changed it on an old sv650, and the oil that came out was horrible. As for bushes or other parts I tend to think, if I've got something apart I might as well change anything that might need doing whilst I'm there, but that's probably me being unnecessary. Someone with better knowledge than me will probably be along to correct me.