Overtaken by a car and caravan... honda Cityfly

[Terentius]

Hi all.

Im New to biking just did my CBT on sunday. I have been out on the road twice on my Honda CLR125 Cityfly and its pretty good but...

I was out yesterday and after zipping around some country roads and eventually found myself on a A road. All going well on a straight but when i found myself on a incline i found i had to keep dropping gears as my revs were dropping and started crawling ( or what seemed to be ) and was shortly overtaken by a car towing a caravan!!

Sniffling inside my lid i noticed the speedo leveled out at around 35MPH. I know this bike isn't a very powerful one and im a bit of a lump 6'1'' and 17 stone.

The bike is a 2002 model and has only 5000 miles on the clock and is in from what little technical know how i have "really good nick"

Anyone have any ideas if this is normal performance for this bike? Any ideas of how to improve it a little or am i stuck at lumbering up hills?

im VERY n00b to Bikes

I have found a very helpful workshop manual on this Forum and am currently having a flick through

Many thanks

[joshdudeha]

Nothing wrong with the bike, 125's are generally shit up hills.
And you will have to drop to a low gear as they have more oomph to push you up, hence the low speed.

Don't worry about it, my little YBR goes down to about 40 on a hill near mine. They just simply aren't powerful engines.
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Piaggio Zip 50 -> Yamaha YBR 125 -> Kawasaki GPZ500S '96 -> Suzuki GSF600N Bandit -> Honda CBR 600FW
Theory Test: 13/07/2011 Passed! | Mod 1: 27/07/2011 Passed! | Mod 2: 17/11/2011 Passed!!!!!

[Terentius]

I assumed that may have been the case. On the straights its fine, in fact i have to keep checking the clock very easy to speed. I live in the country so literally right out the door there are some great roads. I only noticed the lack of power on the A road to be honest.

Someone mentioned that removing some baffles in the exhaust can can improve the BHP? Anyone know any truth in this?

Maybe buying a new can? The city fly does have a odd exhaust im not sure if there would be a replacement out there, plus its age might go against it?

[Ariel Badger]

[Frost]

You're new to bikes so all attempts at 'tuning' it will likely make it worse or break something. As you're new to bikes it's likely that you're not riding or maintaining it properly. Check things like the tyres, pressures, oil, plugs, fuel filters, air filter, chain & sprockets before spending money on any performance parts. Bike generally have to be kept 'on the boil' in order to get decent performance out of them so make sure you're working the gears and using the full rev range. Hills usually need a bit of a run up on a little bike.

[Germ]

Bet you made that caravanners weekend.It's not very often they get to brag about overtaking .....anything

[Terentius]

Cheers guys ill have a look through the bikes manual again and this workshop manual i have had from the forum.

I checked the oil, sprockets, brake fluid, chain wear and tension, wobble from wheel bearings. I haven't checked the spark plugs as i dont have socket but ill ask a mate. I did all these as soon as i bought the bike. I think i did well buying it, being a 10-11 year old bike with just under 5000 miles. Was a older gentlemen who only rode it during the summer, garaged after plug, fuel removed and all oiled down.

Seem like good bikes (not that i have anything to compare). I almost bought a chinese bike thinking new would be better but glad i didnt now after hearing some horror stories. The main reason it caught my eye was the riding postion and looking little bigger then some more "sporty" looking 125's which would look like a toy under my size.

and yes.... it seems i might have made a caravanners day.... bastards!

[Frost]

Does it do 65 with a massive run up and you tucking right in?
If not, something might be wrong. If so, then it's just slow

[Terentius]

Do you mean 65 on a hill? On a straight ive had 60+ might get more if i tuck myself in, mind you with no fairing and no screen im not sure where i can hide

On a hill not sure, when i got overtaken it was a pretty steep hill on a A road that was easily a mile long getting steadily steeper. Was worth it to get to the top mind for the drop on the other side

I won't be going there again mind cos i was totally lost after a wrong turn!

[Bezzer]

[Germ]

[Terentius]

A railway sleeper? Jesus christ im not surprised he was shaking, sounds like he did do well that could have been a lot worse!
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Honda CLR 125 Cityfly

My avatar is Gloomy Bear - Wiki Link

[P.addy]

Hey.

Well mine would do dual carriageways at 65 absolutely flat out, could see 70 down a long enough hill.

Going up a hill I could probably sit around 40/45 depending on the actual incline.

There is no real tuning possibilities for the Cityfly, its basic reliable transport.

You could do what I considered doing.. but mine was for the noise more than anything.
On the exhaust you'll see it has a "collar" joining the actual pipe to that really restrictive looking exhaust.
I was going to buy a cheapy exhaust and a link pipe and use that instead...mainly as the Cityfly is whisper quiet and I like my bikes a bit louder than that. Could either mess the performance up or give you an extra 0.5hp.. who knows.

Make sure your chain is tensioned correctly, your tyres are inflated properly etc.

When cruising, try to max out 4th gear and rev the nuts out of it. 4th is a very long gear on the cityfly, its how I indicated 70 down a hill, new bike, didnt realise there was 5 gears On a dual carriageway I never used 5th.. only use it when pottering along not really needing to be anywhere. If I want to get somewhere sharpish id use 4th.

[Terentius]

Cheers paddy, I noticed you had stated in a post i read that you was selling a Cityfly? Did you sell it? How many have you had?

Yea the reason i asked about the exhuast was that it does seem a little restrictive looking at it and yes, very quiet.

Noted about 4th ill have a run out if the weather stays good later on and try it out.

It was a very steep, the hill in question. I supose ill have to have a longer run out and spend a bit more time on the bike as really.... i only did my cbt on saturday and insured the thing sunday so early days in my biking career!
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Honda CLR 125 Cityfly

My avatar is Gloomy Bear - Wiki Link

[P.addy]

Just take it easy, new to riding n all that.

I've had 2 now, 1st one got written off and the most recent one I fixed up and sold on to a learner who had passed his CBT that day

[G]

Are you changing down gears to match the speed?
If not, do so .

At 35mph in top gear you'll probably be a little above half power.
While it might be that in a lower gear it will pull 40mph say, because you're at peak power.

Speeds sound about right.

Oh, and the caravan didn't look like this did it?

[Terentius]

[stevo as b4]

Im under 12stone, but my old CG125 which is probably slightly smaller and lighter, but a bit less powerful than the Cityfly would always manage to hold a minimum of 50mph in 5th/top gear on any motorway or dual carridgeway incline. It had about 14k on the clock but was well maintained.

You want to check all the following.
1, tyre pressures, if your total weight including riding gear and luggage is more than the normal solo specified weight in the tyre pressure chart, then add a couple of psi or so.
2, Chain tension, condition and sprockets and keep it well lubed.
3, Air filter is clean and check engine oil level.

The OHC honda 125 single is a tough little engine that will rev hard all day and be happy for hours with the throttle on the stop, but it's got a small sump capacity and probably generates alot of heat. I'd reccomend 1000mile oil changes, and cleaning of the gauze filter. I used Castrol GP or similar. You don't need anything more than a decent mineral or maybe semi synthetic oil, but little hard worked engines with less than 1litre oil capacity should get lots of regular oil changes, to keep them healthy and stop things getting sludged up.

As for tuning, if your bike is running as well as it should be doing, then i don't think that is an issue. You can if you know alot about engine tuning and have experience and the right equipment get more power from these engines, but the gains are small for the costs involved. As i always say with anything under about 400cc, more capacity makes more difference than anything else you can do.

[Terentius]

Thanks Stevo, Been out on the bike again today when the weather was good and getting 55MPH in 4th on a slight incline. The tyres do seems a little soft after reading this and checking, ill check the pressure and fill if needed at the petrol station on my way out tomorrow.

I'm sure the manual says 25PSI for tyres, you saying i should maybe add a little more air pressure if i'm carrying umm *cough* luggage?
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Honda CLR 125 Cityfly

My avatar is Gloomy Bear - Wiki Link

[Im-a-Ridah]

Try getting a run up if you can

[Frost]

25PSI sounds low. I usually run most bikes at about 30 front, 32 rear. If you're a pie muncher i'd go up a PSI more on each and see how it feels.
As for riding position, make sure your arse is back a bit on the seat. I see so many people riding bikes practically sat on the tank and bolt upright

[Terentius]

yea will do frost, ill check manual again, check tire pressures and put a extra in for me fat arse.

Is that Ludwig Van in your picture there Frost?
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Honda CLR 125 Cityfly

My avatar is Gloomy Bear - Wiki Link

[Frost]

Might well be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60ROJ8MR6mg

[Terentius]

Crazy, crazy man. Genius mind, but CRAZY
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Honda CLR 125 Cityfly

My avatar is Gloomy Bear - Wiki Link