Hi everyone, thought id start a thread for my other project. Basically my uncle gave me the bike was I was 13 (I'm 16 now), because it was just sitting in his shed doing nothing. Its a 1978 so it's a mk1, and has a genuine 6,000 miles on the clock. To be honest he shouldve waited till about now to give me it, I kinda fucked it up when I had no clue what I was doing. Here's some pics of its journey whilst I owned it. Bike when I first got it (was learning about bikes by screwing around with it, as you can see I painted the swingarm and some parts of the engine) This next photo was taken I year after I got it, the engine had been out for a pretty novice rebuild and had been painted. A you can see I also messed about with the exhaust, and got some red paint and went over the faded stripe on the tank After this the bike sat for about 6 months, until I decided I wanted it to be a classic style trials bike/dirt bike. This is how far I got. The forks were painted along with other parts, I got a rear wheel from a CLR125 and starting mocking everything up. Then I kinda lost interest (and lacked money) so it sat untouched until about 2 weeks ago. I was on the computer looking at bike pics, and this came up; It got me thinking. I now have a job, and I actually know what I'm doing. I need a bike for when I'm 17 in September, so it's a pretty good summer project. Ive decide that im gonna have influences form the bike above, but mostly it's gonna be a sort of supermoto classic, which I reckon will be pretty cool. More pics to follow
As the bike is going to be a supermoto style, the wheels are gonna be 17" front and rear. The rear rim is going to be that beefy CLR one that is in the last photo in the previous post, and the front is going to be the original front hub laced into a wide 17"rim (which I have). The wheels are going to have black powdercoated rims and hub with polished spokes and nipples. Here's some pics of the front wheel being stripped down Tonight I stripped the engine down. Internally it's staying as is, just with new gaskets and seals. On the outside, it's going to be gloss black with polished cooling fins, which should match the wheels really nicely. 15 minutesd later.... The engine was covered in 34 years worth of baked on dirt, so I set to it with the muc-off and tooth brush And that's it for now. Will do regular updates if anyone's interested?
Finished off painting the engine, this camera is shit but it's come out pretty nice. Gonna get some paint for the cylinder and head tomorrow and also a gasket set and stainless bolts.
The one in the pic you're using for inspiration is well smart. Its very similar to a TL125 that we had around 1979/80...basically based on a similar engine (make sure the oils changed regular and the oil passage ways are clear as the cam ends wear the head) looking forward to the updates
I was originally gonna make this a tl125 replica, A sort of Supermoto TL125 would be cool. After looking at prices and availability of tl125 tanks and seats I think I'm gonna stick with the standard tank and seat. This engine is actually a pushrods, but on inspection the cam is still very worn. There's a flat spot on the top of the lobe, where it should be egg shaped. Hopefully I can fit a new one with fairly little grief Unfortunatly I'm going to have to start spending money soon. I need to get the wheels laced with new stainless spokes and nipple, as well as all the engine gaskets and a new seat. I think I may need to have the cylinder bored out to an oversize and get a new piston, not too sure if it's currently useable. Might stick a pic of it on here. Some good news though, today I got loads of bit sandblasted at work ready to be painted gloss black. Just bits like the fork legs, yokes, hubs and engine mounts. Should be a nice bike when it's finished, it's all getting done properly
this is well good so glad to see an old project like this, would love to get my hands on an old bike like this.. my stepdad recently picked up and old bike from our local pub carpark that has been sat there for over seven years so he thought he would take it hes now stripping it down and rebuilding cant remeber but ive got a feeling its a gs750 its massive ahaa, defo gona keep an eye on this project.. dont give up !! lol
Thanks man, I'm hoping to have it ready for mid September so I can jump right on it on my 17th birthday. Get some pics of the bike your dad found
sounds good, just noticed what bikes uve got.. do you ride motocross?.. sorry to go of topic.. yeah will try to kinda fell out with my parent at the moment and tryin to stay away from mine only really been going back to get clothes, soo tryin to sort it out.. hopefully will be alright get bike to mine and get some pics
Yeah I did ride motocross, just sold my YZ yesterday though :/ Miss it already Hope everything turns out alright with your parents man.
i replied last night but i dont think it worked.. were abouts you from?.. yeah i avent been riding much this season to many distractions only done the od club meeting and enduro, yeah hopefully avent ben stayin there for a few weeks went back the night before last and stayed and my mum kicked of so i got some more clothes and went.. il go back in a few days..
Talk on pm man Got a bit more done today; Painted some more of the frame I'm doing it in sections, because I don't have a lot of time to spend on it, and I'm impatient haha. I'm just using black hammerite, it's coming out ok, nothing amazing but hopfully the detailing on the rims and other parts should still give the bike a high quality look. I also refurbished the speedo, just gave it a bit of paint and a polish. I wanna keep as much of the bike original as possible, i'd rather that than have everything brand new. Apart from that, I've just been cleaning bits up. I love how well these old Hondas were made, this is the original rear sprocket after 6,000 miles. Perfectly useable, and another 20 quid I don't have to spend. Here's a comparison of the old and new rim setup. Left is front wheel, right is rear. The bike is gonna look alot more beefy with the wide 17"s, look how weedy the original front wheel is! Old; New; Finally, I got all the engine casing bolts sorted out to take to the shop and replace with stainless allen key ones. Thanks
Hopefully updates will be very frequent, in a week or so Im gonna have the wheels laced. At the moment I just wanna get the forks reassembled with new seals and put the bars on, as well as the swingarm. That should be a good milestone.
Frame now has the swingarm on, painted of course. The shocks just need a quick polish up- cant believe how good old chrome is compared to the modern shit. And the bars came in the post! As well as quadbike levers (only ones I could use as the font brake is cable operated, and the original levers have switches built in). Also got a pit bike throttle that included grips and a cable. All this lot came to about £35 and will look nice.
