CB450DX
Veteran Member
Went to my mechanic to change the brake hoses and do a few other things. The 2 inferior brake hoses ended up being too long (my fault), and close to 6:30 PM I had the idea to cross them to stretch them.
Well, it was 6:30 PM, they were closing and I just wanted to wash my hands and arms and go home. Worked a lot and learned a lot that day, but I really needed a coffee and a couch.
Mechanic lent me this bike to ride home:
"Put 1 liter of gas in it just to make sure it doesn't leave you stranded and you'll be good, if you like it, it's yours for R$3500" - those were the conditions I guess. R$3500 amounts to about $660 USD.
Client sold it to him, had documents but they dated back to 2012, and he put in new piston and rings and a cleaned head - didn't look at the head, but he did show me the new piston, cylinder looked good too.
Had new oil, new brake pads, new brake oil as well.
Throttle cable was terrible, but worked, clutch cable and lever were 10/10 though, much due to a new cable as well.
Non-working tachometer (but it is spinning normally on the engine, so it's a panel problem)
All the gear numbers work on the panel, but 2 of them are burned.
Clearly had terrible owners who just did whatever to it. 99% of the stuff was original and OEM, but didn't look too good. You can see on the picture how they just welded the footpeg support to the frame. Still, it's a 125, it should be fine.
VERY FUN bike. I was giving her gas, pulling through gears, even reaching fifth and when I looked at the speedometer, I wasn't even going 60kph (~37mph). I loved it.
Made my girlfriend come and see it, great learner bike for her especially since the seat is so close to the ground. I ended up taking her on a few rides on it around the block and I was also pretty amazed at how this little tractor just didn't care about the extra weight. The torque was just there, it ran completely fine even with her on the back - The difference was curiously smaller than the difference I feel on my CB450 (but then again, the CB enjoys higher RPMs and that's not something I usually do with her on the back)
She ended up buying it, along with a friend who also wanted a weekend bike. I of course, checked all the documents online and confirmed she had nothing illegal or related to insurance tied to it.
And now it's my job to restore this. But both my girlfriend and her friend are kinda short on money. And since last week when I moved out of my mom's house, so am I.
So it'll be a slow one. The first thing I'm going to tackle is of course the throttle cable which is very cheap, and then the rest of the stuff will come later.
I already cleaned out most of the plastics from the 18 years of dust, already put in new screws on the cleaned air filter and now I just gotta fine tune the carb, as it starts wayyyyyyyyy too easy while cold and does not like wide open throttle at idle which leads me to think that it's quite lean.
During this teardown, I also found that the wiring harness is a unit made by Zouil, so at least it's a good aftermarket one, same brand as the one I'm using on my CB.
Another fun thing I only found out later, it has.. uh.. Pyrex glass on the front? I guess I could say that?
Yep. It's a plate. A decorated plate.
The rest of the stuff should be pretty easy other than the suspension which I won't bother trying.
Whole front globe is also pretty cheap.
New panels are easy to find from a good brand, can easily find gas tanks or just paint it simple red, or just let it be and put a red gas tank cover.
Sprockets/Chain/etc are also cheap especially since it's just a 125.
I already changed the handlebars to my old CB450 ones, but don't have any pics at the moment.
Will post more. When it happens, if it happens.
Well, it was 6:30 PM, they were closing and I just wanted to wash my hands and arms and go home. Worked a lot and learned a lot that day, but I really needed a coffee and a couch.
Mechanic lent me this bike to ride home:
"Put 1 liter of gas in it just to make sure it doesn't leave you stranded and you'll be good, if you like it, it's yours for R$3500" - those were the conditions I guess. R$3500 amounts to about $660 USD.
Client sold it to him, had documents but they dated back to 2012, and he put in new piston and rings and a cleaned head - didn't look at the head, but he did show me the new piston, cylinder looked good too.
Had new oil, new brake pads, new brake oil as well.
Throttle cable was terrible, but worked, clutch cable and lever were 10/10 though, much due to a new cable as well.
Non-working tachometer (but it is spinning normally on the engine, so it's a panel problem)
All the gear numbers work on the panel, but 2 of them are burned.
Clearly had terrible owners who just did whatever to it. 99% of the stuff was original and OEM, but didn't look too good. You can see on the picture how they just welded the footpeg support to the frame. Still, it's a 125, it should be fine.
VERY FUN bike. I was giving her gas, pulling through gears, even reaching fifth and when I looked at the speedometer, I wasn't even going 60kph (~37mph). I loved it.
Made my girlfriend come and see it, great learner bike for her especially since the seat is so close to the ground. I ended up taking her on a few rides on it around the block and I was also pretty amazed at how this little tractor just didn't care about the extra weight. The torque was just there, it ran completely fine even with her on the back - The difference was curiously smaller than the difference I feel on my CB450 (but then again, the CB enjoys higher RPMs and that's not something I usually do with her on the back)
She ended up buying it, along with a friend who also wanted a weekend bike. I of course, checked all the documents online and confirmed she had nothing illegal or related to insurance tied to it.
And now it's my job to restore this. But both my girlfriend and her friend are kinda short on money. And since last week when I moved out of my mom's house, so am I.
So it'll be a slow one. The first thing I'm going to tackle is of course the throttle cable which is very cheap, and then the rest of the stuff will come later.
I already cleaned out most of the plastics from the 18 years of dust, already put in new screws on the cleaned air filter and now I just gotta fine tune the carb, as it starts wayyyyyyyyy too easy while cold and does not like wide open throttle at idle which leads me to think that it's quite lean.
During this teardown, I also found that the wiring harness is a unit made by Zouil, so at least it's a good aftermarket one, same brand as the one I'm using on my CB.
Another fun thing I only found out later, it has.. uh.. Pyrex glass on the front? I guess I could say that?
Yep. It's a plate. A decorated plate.
The rest of the stuff should be pretty easy other than the suspension which I won't bother trying.
Whole front globe is also pretty cheap.
New panels are easy to find from a good brand, can easily find gas tanks or just paint it simple red, or just let it be and put a red gas tank cover.
Sprockets/Chain/etc are also cheap especially since it's just a 125.
I already changed the handlebars to my old CB450 ones, but don't have any pics at the moment.
Will post more. When it happens, if it happens.
