mylittletony
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Dec 18, 2014 10:42:56 GMT
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As I find myself reading more on here than contributing and inspired by Xbolox’s tat thread I thought I should redress the balance. I only recently returned to old cars having had a few years of commuting dullness, but I filled the void with 2 wheeled goodness (or junk if you’re my wife) I thought I’d document/summarise that here… Vehicle number 1: I bought my XS650 about 3 years ago, with a view to bobbing it. First job was to MOT it which meant a new rear tyre and removing the leaking, rusty, scraped exhausts. Bought some universal cans off ebay which were crazy loud. MOT man mentioned he struggled to get the front end square but it was a pass, advisory for loud exhausts Next to go was the large seat, grab rail and rear light, homemade seat using folded steel from a PC case scavenged from work. Getting there: Then lower the suspension. First can of worms opened… Should have spotted it sooner, but this bike had been down the road. The forks were not from an XS650… Cue replacement set of forks, new stanchions, new top yoke, all to find that the bottom yoke was bent/twisted. Bought a replacement, also twisted – ARGH! This in turn meant that my front caliper no longer fitted, as it was for the old forks… Might as well fit a better one, Brembo from an XT660 enduro bike: Anyway, eventually got it together with some new rear shocks and 2” shorter front forks. I also was donated some downpipes for a Motad system which were lashed together with some straight drag pipes with baffles in, much quieter but sound awesome!! Rode it for about 50 miles and one of the carb diaphragms perished. Carb rebuild and new diaphragms needed. Rode it for about 100 miles and the alternator packed in!! Second can of worms opened… I was faced with a decision, either rewind the original rotor and wait for other 30yr old electrical parts giving up the ghost or buy a new permanent magnet alternator, new electronic ignition and have a brand new engine loom. No point in using old wires for new parts so a complete rewire. I’d also discovered previously that the camchain tensioner had gone (plastic in oil) so an engine rebuild was required at some point, might as well remove the clapped out electric starter at the same time, might as well rebuild the lump at the same time – right? In for a penny, in for a pound! Found someone locally who was a bit of an expert who would strip, inspect and rebuild for £300 + parts. Only caveat being he wouldn’t rebuild with worn parts – fair enough… If I’m getting the engine out and rewiring it, might as well cut all the old tabs off the frame and fit that 59 caddy taillight at the same time… So… battery box was removed, new mini battery and fuse box installed in a Villiers stationary engine fuel tank under the seat. Mockup: Rear frame loop was cut with much help from HARDCORE and some thick steel tube inserted to french the caddy tail light. A new seat hump was fabricated from GRP and mesh. Wiring loom constructed form mil spec connectors and new wire. The engine rebuild quickly snowballed: new conrods & pistons, crank re-assembled & balanced, rebore, new valves, springs & collets, new cam chain and guides, spin on oil filter conversion, starter motor blank, ported head, new alternator fitted, new ignition fitted. £1000 of parts – BOOM. Suffice to say my wife was not pleased… Re-assembly: Got it all together, and it looks like this: Without rear mudguard: The engine pulls like a frickin train, it sounds divine and turns plenty of heads. I’m in love! Rode it for about 750 miles and the “fit and forget” PMA conversion broke… Fixed it, MOTed it and then my son arrived so has sat in the garage since June! Now SORN until the spring… Future plans: make a better (good) seat hump with pro upholstery, the current one is pretty wobbly up close. Paint. Smooth, de-tab and powder coat frame. Re-jig headlight wiring so main beam works… Re-jet carbs. Fit spoked rear wheel, maybe find an ally rim spoked front. USE IT!!
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mylittletony
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Dec 18, 2014 10:44:30 GMT
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Vehicle number 2: Following a trip to Asia, the lust for a moped was strong so when I stumbled on a Honda C70 from JohnnySomersett I snapped it up. Fixed the indicators, new gear shaft seal to cure a leak, MOTed it, used about 3 times, decided it was too nice to chop about so bought another and sold this one to Steve. Who promptly chopped the sh*t out of it and then sold it!!
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mylittletony
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Dec 18, 2014 10:46:47 GMT
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Vehicle number 3: Via some trading of other old bikes that didn’t get touched, I then bought this Honda C50 full auto from composimmonite with the express purpose of making a streetcub. Came as a pile of bits via pony express from kevfromwales, HARDCORE, Colonelk, and probably a few others. Much love! During a second trip to Asia, I scored 2 custom seats, 1 intended for the blue bike, 1 for this. Here it is, roughly assembled, unneeded bits sold off and ready for chopping. Bought a donor pit bike for 80 notes as the original auto lump needed a rebuild and the rubber transmission parts are suspect & NLA. This is a 110cc 4-speed semi auto, bolts right in. Wiring loom also used, new spark plug boot and it fired straight up. Clean oil too! Pit bike engine in, exhaust too for the time being, handle bar adaptor plate on: Looks good, remove rear arch section, BOSH: Suddenly, PAINT Coming back together: I then discovered some fork issues, which I think I’ve rectified (wouldn’t be right without some front suspension problems…) and it’s now waiting for me to finish the basic wiring loom for lights, make a bracket for the headlight, buy a numberplate and MOT it in the spring. Also gonna make a handshift for it for the LOLS. I think I’m in credit on this bike, which for those who know me is a miracle, and planning to use it for my commute a few times a week.
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Last Edit: Dec 18, 2014 10:50:10 GMT by mylittletony: picture fix
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mylittletony
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Dec 18, 2014 10:48:40 GMT
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Vehicle number 4: I heard about this bike from the C90 forum as someone had won it on ebay for £26 and only wanted the wheels. It was about 10 mins from work so went and bought the rest for £20. Had to pay for the V5, but no biggie. I don’t have any great pics as I tried to hide it from the wife, unsuccessfully. This lead to another awkward conversation. Basically it’s a ’98 Chinese replica of a Honda CD70, using a cub style engine, this time in 50cc manual flavour. The frame is essentially identical to an SS50 and it would have looked like this once: I have a plan to make it look like this: (images graciously borrowed from a C90club.co.uk thread) With inspiration from here (image borrowed from Chalopy blog) And here: Engine wise, it’s basically a 70 with a 50 barrel, so I’m planning to reverse that and fit a smog pump supercharger, because why not. This will be belt driven from the flywheel in the place of an electric start mechanism, sucking through a carb for a 110 and blowing into some sort of plenum chamber. If I blow it up, I’ll rebuild it as a 110 and boost that. I’ve obtained a complete front end from a CG125 replica (bolts straight in - love Honda commonality) and have a number of bits and bobs from my other cub adventures to help chuck something together. This is all waiting for me to finish the C50 and tidy up my Volvo first.
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Dec 18, 2014 13:49:59 GMT
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Great thread/blog! I've a lot of love for the placcy's! Me and my brother endurance raced our '84 Cub, which was some of the most fun you can have on two wheels.
I need to start one of these blog threads for all the madness that goes on inside my garage!
Cheers, Oz
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THE_Liam
Yorkshire and The Humber
If at first you don't succeed... HAMMERS.
Posts: 1,363
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Dec 18, 2014 13:57:19 GMT
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Been thinking about getting my bike license for years - this thread is pushing me closer to taking the plunge
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mylittletony
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Dec 19, 2014 10:11:07 GMT
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Do it Liam, I love mine. I don't ride anywhere near often enough, but as far as experiences go, it's pretty raw one - I feel pumped every time I get off it. I didn't get my license until my mid 20s so am quite sensible when riding and thankfully past my youthful recklessness, so still alive.
The small bikes are mainly to experiment with and tootle about on, I've probably got about £150 tied up in both the cub based bikes.
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THE_Liam
Yorkshire and The Humber
If at first you don't succeed... HAMMERS.
Posts: 1,363
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Dec 19, 2014 10:20:10 GMT
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How hard is the test? I've ridden off road on and off for years so I'd like to think my bike control is pretty good, but I hate the pressure of tests. I had a CBT and an XL125 when I was 17 but that was useless once you got to 50mph. Are those 1 week courses worth it? Like would it be realistic to learn and pass in a week or are they a con?
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mylittletony
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Dec 19, 2014 10:26:37 GMT
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it's changed a lot since I did mine in 2008-ish... I did direct access, 1 week course having ridden a 50cc Vespa for a year and would have passed 1st time had I not switched into London-impatient-riding-mode and tried to follow a bus through a red light.
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THE_Liam
Yorkshire and The Humber
If at first you don't succeed... HAMMERS.
Posts: 1,363
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Dec 19, 2014 11:40:56 GMT
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Might have to book a few lessons and see how I get on, there's a training place next to my work.
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Steve
Posted a lot
Making progress in small, easy to handle chunks of awesome
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Dec 19, 2014 17:24:58 GMT
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Vehicle number 2: Following a trip to Asia, the lust for a moped was strong so when I stumbled on a Honda C70 from JohnnySomersett I snapped it up. Fixed the indicators, new gear shaft seal to cure a leak, MOTed it, used about 3 times, decided it was too nice to chop about so bought another and sold this one to Steve. Who promptly chopped the sh*t out of it and then sold it!! Bit harsh....lol! And I ain't sold it yet
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Dec 19, 2014 17:36:04 GMT
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I'd love to attempt something like this but SWMBO wouldn't approve and I think I'd end up living in the shed with it.
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mylittletony
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Dec 19, 2014 18:38:50 GMT
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Steve. Who promptly chopped the sh*t out of it and then sold it!! Bit harsh....lol! And I ain't sold it yet Only as in you got stuck into it in a way i didn't have the cajones for... Thought it sold on ebay??
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Steve
Posted a lot
Making progress in small, easy to handle chunks of awesome
Posts: 2,027
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No mate. Was bombarded by idiots wanting to pay pennys for it, sold it cheap only to be messed about so resisted and came to my senses so withdrew from sale for now. Will probably just finish it when I can be bothered! Your progress looks good though, and nice to see some better pics of the XS me likey very much
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mylittletony
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Another of my 2 wheeled collection is this fine thang. Purchased from a 2nd hand bike shop in LA in 2005 at the beginning of a mega road trip, carried home from Vegas as hold luggage by my best mate! Powder coated then pin striped by Kris in Leicester (can't remember any other details). Has had a couple of iterations and I have wide cruiser bars and a banana seat in the garage as alternatives. I chose the current setup so I can run with a baby seat on the back and the narrow bars take up much less space in the garage! It got sidelined due to a crack in the frame, but I had that brazed up a while back and just recently bought some paint which was a pretty good colour match and rebuilt with new tyres. Couple more pics for reference markbognor this may be relevant to your interests!
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luckyseven
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Owning sneering dismissive pedantry since 1970
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Never seen this thread before, so thanks for the resurrection! I love that XS650, takes me right back to when I first started having an interest in the bikes the big boys were riding... and an XS650 was seen as acceptable rather than Brit iron because it was like the traditional British twin but didn't actually leak oil Horizontally split crankcase? Why, it's witchcraft I tells thee
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markbognor
South East
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All your toys are so cool!
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mylittletony
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Cheers luckyseven, it's my baby and I can't foresee ever getting rid of it. I've got a tidy up/refresh/entire change of style lined up in my head, just a question of whether I decide to do it this winter or not. Lots of other things to be doing as well! I found a couple more pics of the bike, with old tyres and the banana seat, plus a close up of the pinstriping Next up will be the wife's pushbike, once I finish it...
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mylittletony
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Jun 13, 2016 11:40:58 GMT
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UPDATE! There has been progress on 2 bikes! The XS650: I bought a front shouldered Borrani rim (same company that make wire Ferrari wheels no less) for 99p - Winner! My winter to-do list included as must-haves: - sorting out my headlight wiring
- front brake squeal
- rear brake shoe check
- fit new speedo
So I figured I would whip the front end off, clean and paint the fork lowers and have the front wheel rebuilt while I was at it. If I was putting a nice ally rimmed front wheel on, it made sense to fit the matching rear I had in long term storage as well! My MOTed, usable bike soon looked like this: Now it looks like this: I fitted a new tyre while it was apart as the old one was unknown, a bit perished and a questionable brand. I've also been on the lookout for my restyle bits as previously mentioned. I've been simmering away on a new seat for it and I bought these bits: but that was nearly a year ago I had to prioritise things and actually use it this year, but I do have some fairing brackets en route from the US to enable fitting this. I've also got some rearsets from a Fazer 600 which look very promising, in fact the shifter linkage and lever look like they'll go straight on. Planning on enjoying it and continuing work on the seat, then rearsets, then fairing and headlight arrangement. To be continued...
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mylittletony
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Jun 13, 2016 11:53:52 GMT
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NEXT! the C50/110. I pulled my finger out and finished off the wiring and brackets as mentioned before: Steve rightly pointed out that my headlight bracket looked a bit curse word, so I redid that I couldn't for the life of me get it running properly. I could start it, but once warm it had had enough. I ended up using the services of a kind member on the C90 forum who diagnosed blocked air passageways on my cheap chinese carb. He supplied and jetted to suit a new one. I had to fit a different inlet manifold, but we're on and running, and riding! That brings us to here: and a pre-MOT check over. I was struggling a bit with the headlight being dim but figured I'd see what happened, so trailered it there. Fail on the headlight and missing pillion pegs The simplest route was then taken, all lights removed and pegs fitted - it now has a daytime MOT! I'll work out what's up with the headlight later, not like I'll be using it in bad weather anyway! I've actually switched the exhaust for a spicy little drag style shorty one, but have failed to take a pic as yet. Longer term plans involve reinstating the front and rear mudguards to make it more weather friendly and bimbling around on it grinning like a loon. Oh, and a hand shift.
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