Bought a Japanese 125cc this time round.... :D

Transmission breaker
Don
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Following on from selling off the dreaded chinese 125, I have been looking for a while for an old Japanese 125 to use what I learnt and have a nicer bike! I was falling over cheap YBR and CBF types which just looked too dull. I was not keen on spending much more than £500 because, well, no real reason, it just seemed a small enough amount to spend on a weekend rebuild project :D

I found a 2005 CBR 125R RS5 for sale quite near by for £810. It looked a bit cooler than other bikes in the budget, and after a quick HPI it came up as a CAT C in 2006! So I told the owner the bad news, beat him down on price, and we agreed on £650 with a full tank of fuel and new tyres.

I drove it home, broke the gear selector being ham footed, had to limp on a bit in 1st gear, then pull over and ask a nice man called Dave for an allan key so I could re-fit it (a bit tighter this time..)

It was otherwise a nice (if not slightly nervy) 30+ mile ride home avoiding motorways trying to get used to the bike, the weather, and the fact the clocks were almost bouncing out of the cockpit on any bump or jolt.

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Made it back, parked it up, and have since been starting to pull it to bits where needed, and will update you with progress as I go.

Plan is to service it, find any broken bits, fix/replace them, clean it up, upgrade a few bits to make it look smart, and then ride the thing a lot :D
 
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Transmission breaker
Don
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Pics as it was when I got it in the garage and started to pull the front to bits.

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So, it looks pretty dirty, which is fair easy to sort, with a bit of elbow grease. Will slowly work my way around each part as I find it, and clean what I can.

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Panels off, and there are a few missing tabs and cracks I will have to deal with somehow.

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The offending wobbling clocks - There is a plastic push tab missing, its a meant to be a push pin in the rubber receiving hole on the frame. It looks like someone else has been in here before, plastic weld to the housing for the speedo, and the tab itself would suggest the accident in 2005 would likely be a front ender of some sort. The other mounts have seen better days, as some of the ring of plastic that should hold in the rubber mounts is a bit worse for wear. I suspect the wobbling has put them under quite a bit of strain, so I may do some work in this area, depending on how the push tab replacement goes.

The lights in the unit are all rubber mounted, push fit T10 type. So I shall LED these asap to get the clocks a bit brighter and using a bit less power.

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These were mostly held in with tape, as such are covered in tape residue, along with the clocks and windscreen.

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Closer look at the panels and lights. The lights have a couple of missing tabs, but they were rock solid when riding, so I think I can get away with just giving them some new bulbs and a tidy up. I have a T10 LED bulb on order, and a couple of BA20D options for the headlights in my parts drawers. Will have a play when it's back together to work what is best.

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General "look how dirty it is" photos. Anyone know a nice easy way to clean the rad? I was going to spray it with a degreaser, or mild cleaning fluid, and go at it with a toothbrush? Bad idea?

I will see what I can do with the exhaust manifold/downpipe. I have painted them before on the Chinese bike, then wrapped them. I think I may try something similar here with that experience seemingly working ok, at least in the short term. However, polishing may work better and will possibly look nicer too.

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A very dirty lower panel!

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Engine and drive-train look in reasonable nick, apart from the chain! Sprockets are supposedly new, so I think I will just what a new chain on rather thank try to clean up the old one. However, it may just be a bit neglected. It is certainly too loose at the moment. Will play it by ear.

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Indicators are all ok, apart from one dodgy rear, with the usual tape "fix". I will see if It can be made to look a bit nicer in the short term, but I suspect moving to LED will be both cheaper, easier, and perhaps help a little bit with weight and power usage.

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A dirty front wheel! Brakes look in good nick at first glance, not checked the pads but they seemed to be working fine on the ride home.

More work to do stripping it, and I have all the service parts here next. So I think I will pull the tank and have a go at cleaning up the insides a bit whilst I am doing the air-filter/oil/sparkplug.
 
Caporegime
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Yes! Love it, and a race replica too, so you know you'll be the talk of the local Mcdonalds :D


You ever considered a 2 stroke? I still want an Aprilia RS125.
 
Transmission breaker
Don
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Yes! Love it, and a race replica too, so you know you'll be the talk of the local Mcdonalds :D


You ever considered a 2 stroke? I still want an Aprilia RS125.

Oh, I know, I have my tracksuit ready!!


I'm surprised you rode it with that chain!

Yes, it does look quite bad now I look at it again! I don't think it was ever lubed.

Ok, so the wobbly clocks!

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This is where the tab from the back of the clocks should fit into the frame. I found a nice looking bolt that fits well enough.I plan to shrink wrap the bolt once its built up again, so it is tighter, but it will help with the location planning at the moment as its not quite fully tight.

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The plan is something like this - Sand the nub back a bit to make it flat, then make a hole big enough to wedge the bolt in there, and finally epoxy it into place.

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Drilling some holes.. The backside of this hole is only a cross of plastic, so could not make a nice deep hole and fill with epoxy easily. In the end I gave up with the drill, and just got the soldering iron hot, and melted my way through! (I removed the main clocks at this point to avoid accidental melting!)

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Clocks removed!

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Made my repository, and wedged the bolt in, and it fitted snugly enough.

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In with Epoxy and starting to dry. I tested the location at this point, and was happy, so forged on.

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A bit more epoxy, and added a nice stainless washer. mainly so that I can add an o-ring plus a couple of washers to the assembly later if I want to adjust the clock's angle.

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Left to dry for a few hours, then test fitted! Sorted :D No more wobbly clocks! I can even add a nut if I fancy securing it further, but I think the bolt shrink-wrapped in black will do the job nicely.
 
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Transmission breaker
Don
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Put a T10 LED into the Rev counter to compare. I think I prefer the whiter light, will get them all changed over shortly, excluding the Main Beam, and Indicator lights, as they are coloured, and bright enough already :)

CBR125Rclocks11.jpg


I think some more cleaning tonight, along with the service. Then that chain is crying out for attention!
 
Transmission breaker
Don
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I do like that, but if i buy another bike before the Kitchen is done, my Wife will actually kill me :D

I have been playing about with fixing broken plastics with a thing called "Whitemorph". Its a plastic that you can form and mold above 62 degrees. Then it sets to a hard plastic.

I will get some pics up later. So far, two panels are repaired. They will need painting, but I will test them as they are for durability first.
 
Man of Honour
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I do like that, but if i buy another bike before the Kitchen is done, my Wife will actually kill me :D

I have been playing about with fixing broken plastics with a thing called "Whitemorph". Its a plastic that you can form and mold above 62 degrees. Then it sets to a hard plastic.

I will get some pics up later. So far, two panels are repaired. They will need painting, but I will test them as they are for durability first.
Interesting let me know how it works, got my blackbird to sell this year and I'd like to sort the cracked nose cone first.
 
Transmission breaker
Don
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Right.. Lots more work done.

I have been using some stuff called "Whitemorph" to try and rebuild the fairings where they are broken. It looks like this:
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It melts to look like this in hot water.
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it can then be moulded by hand, and it sets slowly over about 10 minutes as it cools.
It sets as a hard non brittle plastic, and looks like it will survive pretty well as fairing material. It can also be painted, I am told. So once it is proven to hold, i will be giving the repaired parts a quick coat of paint where required.

I had a number of broken bits to tackle, here is process:
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There are the side fairings that go between the top and bottom fairing sections. They are held in by the bolts at the top and bottom, but also are offered up with push tabs.

Only one of them is left, as you can see. So i melted up some whitemorph, and applied it to the leftover base panel

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It starts out almost totally clear in hot water, and starts to cloud over slightly like above as it cools. I work hard when its hot to get it as tight and fully squished into all air gaps to ensure a decent grip.

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Just a bit of shaping by hand to get it as close as possible to the original fitting whilst its cooling.

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Once set, prize it out of the mount, and test that it fits the hole it needs to hit. You can see how well it moulds to the plastics here

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These are nicely fitting in, and a little shaping with a file to round them off a bit to make them fit just right..

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Both bits done and glued, and the panel is ready to refit.

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Sorted!

I did a few panels with similar methods. Some needed shaping again after setting, but most were pretty much straight forward.

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I then added in some whitemorph to fill some gaps in a fairing edge to see how well it does this job. I also managed to morph it behind some cracks on seams/corners on the insides of the panels to stop them cracking further, and falling to bits.

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You can see how closely i can get to the original shapes with this stuff in that photo.

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That last part was the largest part I made with whitemorph. A tab for the bottom fairings to join the mid parts was totally missing, and now it's rock solid!

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Another totally missing tab that I rebuilt, worked perfectly again!


I then decided to change up a bit, and do some work on the HORRIBLE looking chain:

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Looking MUCH better after some elbow grease, and wire brushing.



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Starting to look a bit cleaner, and much less rattly than it was before :D


I also ordered a fairing bolt kit, as this one seems to be made up of just about every different bolt type know to mankind. Should neaten up the overall look a bit, and make maintenance a little easier going forward.

Plug and air filter are done, not dropped the oil yet, might get that done tonight hopefully. I even found a loose allen key and screwdriver under the seat!

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They might account for some of the extra rattles!
 
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