Motorcycle and Scooter appreciation

Figured 20 years is long enough…happy new year, little engine.

1 Attachment

A little bit of advice wanted lads...
I swapped the end can on the TU250GB and it's effectively straight piped now... just an empty open can on the end with a little baffle in it...

Should I be able to get away without changing the jet in the carb or would it be best to change it? I'm not looking for peak performance, just to have it running well so I can sell it...

1 Attachment

If you’re selling it? The £40 for a pattern Chinese can will be way less hassle than stripping the carb to find parts broken or disintegrating. A jet is only £4, but it’s the hours involved that kills it.

Edit: also don’t tell me how much you want for it. I have a mate who would gush for something like that.

Oh I have the original exhaust still here and there's nothing wrong with it but I just fancied making it a bit spicier... I need to clean the carb and give it a service really, I'm being lazy even asking the question...

I'd be delighted to see it go to a forumenger or mate of though... I was expecting to sell it for somewhere around €3,000-3,500 and it wouldn't be a big inconvenience for me to bring it to UK in the van on a work trip so consider delivery included!

Not a common bike those but I always liked them. I would have had and FTR223 personally though.
I am sure they are all imports in the UK aren't they? Much like all the good JDM stuff did you guys get many of these sent to Ireland or were they sold domestically?

Is that from a 250CR?

Yea I’d definitely make it as original as possible to sell. Carbs are fickle - DR350’s TM33 pumper no longer has the accelerator pump, because it decided to fall off in my hand - that was less than 12 months from new. The old carb on the GN125 I had showed awful wear and damage inside when I opened it to clean. I wished I hadn’t opened it by the time I replaced all the internals.

It’s a Honda RS125 NF4 motor.

Fair enough. That barrel/port design must have been common for some time.
Full race bike then, you got the whole thing? Even had the drillium treatment.

Yeah I'm pretty sure they were all imports... wildly popular in Taiwan actually!

I need to sell it to buy a bigger bike as I hadn't realised that for Category A license in Ireland I have to do my test on a bike that's 600cc+/ 55kW (67bhp)+/180kg+ or I only get a restricted license...

I had already been planning to upgrade to a XL600V Transalp which fits the weight and size criteria but '89/'90 bikes are only 55bhp so I still won't be able to use it for my test but at least I'll be used to riding a big bike and I can borrow the Kawasaki ER-6N I rode during my lessons from my instructor for the test...

1 Attachment

a mate who would gush for something like that.

https://youtu.be/DPmkILhKXi4

ER-6N

I quite liked these to ride.

Also if you've been doing your lessons on it, then it makes sense to do your test on it too imo.

Yeah I only rode it for a few hours during the IBT training but it was pretty easy to ride and I can use the same one for pre-test and test so it makes sense unless I just go and buy something like that which I don't particularly want otherwise I guess?

They're superficially similar to CR125s but there are next to no common parts. Porting, compression and everything is much wilder, no variable exhaust valve. Yeah, got the rest - it's my old race bike from YEARS ago. I ran out of money for racing in my very early 20s and it's followed me around various apartments (and continents!) over the years. The NF4 (pre-1995 bikes) are much trickier to get parts for but I've finally figured out a rod kit and piston for it so hopefully can go ahead and get it going. Just got the frame back from the weldor as it needed the footrest hangar welded up. I cracked one years ago lobbing it at the Mallory esses and it finally fell off altogether....

Today I picked up my first motorcycle for the road. A 1978 CB550k.

I found an old advert on Facebook marketplace, naff photos, no details in the ad. I thought it would be worth sending a quick message with a lowball offer (the ad was 16 weeks old) - now here we are.

The condition is beautiful. It has 11 former keepers, and 37k on the clocks, which I think might be a lot for a bike? who knows.

The plan is to service it, change a few bits such as the massive indicators, and huge caravan-esque rear light, get a smaller metal numberplate, and I might change the seat for something a little more low-profile. I want it to look more minimal, whilst still appearing totally OEM. And any modification I make will be 100% reversible.

The bike is now tucked up safely in my back garden (fits through the house)
I'll work on it over the next couple of months - aiming to have my license by March.

1 Attachment

Without knowing how much you paid it's hard to say if you got a bargain but it looks great. I wouldn't mess with the lights myself.

Great starter bike and it looks well loved.

Love that

Gorgeous - they were fond of postioning the calipers in front of the forks in the 70's - happy to help if I can.

Agreed - handsome bikes and it does look like some care has been lavished on it.

Looks lovely, the archetypal motorcycle. The modifications you've got planned sound perfect.

Lovely bike! That's less than 1k miles a year, no wonder it looks so good!

Looks great!

Classic Octane is a youtube channel that might come in handy if you don’t know it already.
Very much 70s Honda central, and has a few videos in quite a bit of detail covering engine strip downs, wiring etc.

Was speaking to a mechanic I know about my Matchless and we got onto the mikuni carb I fitted to it and how I have other jets for it but hadn't tried them yet, he reckoned on an engine like mine (350 single so similar to yours) that the engine will suck in the petrol it needs largely regardless of the needle size. YMMV of course.

Thanks for the kind comments.

I've been round the houses in my mind trying to figure out how I want the CB to look. Brat, Cafe, Tracker, Bobber etc. In the meantime, I've sort of fallen in love with the originality of the bike. I don't think I'd like to chop it up or mess around with it too much for the time being.

I do however have a better idea of the modifications I'd like to make. Excuse the lack of photoshop skills.

2 Attachments

Brake hose delete will make it interesting