OK, I can put together a flat-pack wardrobe from IKEA, so making a motorbike out of THIS lot can't be TOO hard can it?!
Alright, so HOW did I get into this mess? Well had my bike stolen nearly 5 weeks ago
It was a Horrible Chinese cruiser thing. An AJS-Regal Raptor DD125E, to be precice. And I hated it. But My B/F had convinced me to keep it long enough to get my training & test. and made a few adaptations, like fitting lower bar-risers and narrower bars, and i was JUST starting to think it was ALMOST alright, and had even polished it, when it got nicked. And it hadn't been found so had to look for another 125 so that i could do my rider training,before going on my test.
Well my bf was helping me, and he`s got a cb750 called 'Black Dawg', and I wanted a 'Project' so I thought "I know I'll go for the cb125, and call it the 'pup'"
So we hunted ebay for cb125 and ended up winning one, in the end for £310. Well it looked a little scruffy with the paint work the old owner did on it but that was an easy fix...
So we went to collect. b/f checked it over and he said that it was a cb125t with cb125tdc body work,as it had twin shocks.... But all was reveiled when we got it home.
As I was after learning mechanics, what ever bike I was going to end up with, was going to be rebuilt. Completely, 'no expense spared', Ha-Ha! B/F's started wincing at the price for having forks re-chromed and having new locks and exhausts!
Bill, excluding THIS heap, has just topped £900, and we haven't got half the bushes & bearings to make a rolling chassis yet, let alone looked at the engine! (see next post for the bill to date!)
YES! It WOULD, have been cheaper to go buy a three year old CBR125..... BUT I guess I wouldn't have learned so much, and by the time we're finished, I SHOULD have pretty much a brand-new bike..... well, once the B/F has been convinced to get them shiney bits for me! He-He!
'The Heap' as it I now call it, as thats what it is, the heap in the pic at the top! As it arived on our drive.
Anyway I got started stripping it the very next day.
Now, that BAD paint-Job started with LOTS of BAD filler!
Battery Box 'Botched' with a bit of tin-plate.
Broken Clutch Cable, 'fixed' with.... well YOUR guess is as good as ANY-ONES!
ONLY the b/f noticed that it wasnt the cb125t but the cb125tdc had the mono shock linkage and part of the frame removed,and twin shocks drilled into the frame and swingarm.....i wasnt pleased.......
Frame after being stripped, the twin-shock mounts bolts through holes drilled in teh seat rail of the frame and the end-plate of the swing-arm! B/F's an engineer, and HE missed that the way it had been hid!
Frame from another bike, notice the horezontal rail between the engine loops with the bracket on for the shock-absorber. It was completely MISSING from this frame!
So we 'scrapped' it. Time to do something different.
So off hunting again................ won another cb125 that was in too good a conditon to strip and make project pup...
It had a dead engine, but otherwise was in wonderful original condition.... So the B/F claimed it as 'HIS' project, and has muttered about head-gaskets, wrapped it in a Duvet Cover, and suggested it might make a 'useful' little bike for following Newbies on IF he ever goes back Instructing again.... I suspect he'll sell it though. He found two more, before we were done, and he keeps pointing to bits of the REALLY ratty one that came as the 'Donor' and saying exitedly "Number FIVE-EEZ-ALIVE!"
But, at LEAST it gives us something to look at to see how stuff SHOULD be, this time!
So then we found and won project pup..... for grand sum of £410, but when we got there, chap knocked £50 off the win-price, as soon as my B/F mentioned the head race bearings were clonking!
B/f JUST managed to grab a few pics of it when we first got it home, but had FOOLISHLY bought me my own socket set......
"Ok i had a little help from Tef as the screws had been rouneded off"
So, day two..... it looked like this:-
One demolished Honda Super-Dream! all in a days work, for an ardent Biker-Chick, hugh!
