Hello All!

[BlindInTexas]

Hello, I'm Kris, 21 from Hawick (Scottish Borders). Just thought I would introduce myself as I am getting right into bikes and i think i will be here allot in the future. I have always been really into bikes but its only recently that i have been able to run a car and afford to buy and run a bike. Last September i bought an 1988 Honda cb 125 tdc (Read i bought a rolling chassis and a box of bits). I have lovingly restored and rebuilt it through the winter in a cold greenhouse. I have just booked my cbt for Sunday morning so i am about to go from 4 wheels to 2. I'm so excited but nervous at the same time. Has anyone got any advice for someone new to biking? If so i would be grateful.
Thanks for your time,
Kris.

[andy_uk]

Welcome along!
I was in Hawick (pronounced Hoik as I found out) around easter this year. We were stopping in Ettrick and Hawick was the nearest place to shop etc.
Enjoy the CBT. As for advice...listen to the instructor and remember what he tells you
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Aprilia Classic 125, GS500E, ER5-A1, ER5-C4, ER6 & an XJ6 project frame...

[_matt]

Welcome!

Make sure you've put that bike together properly before killing yourself on it

Enjoy the CBT, it'll be fine.

If you really need tips 'n tricks, Search up Teflon-Mike on the forums (a user), he's pretty much the font of all knowledge
____________________
1990 Yamaha XV 535 (Alive Again!) / 2007 Jinlun Texan 125-11 (formerly 2k3, wrong details, now going rusty in the back garden )

[BakesBeans]

Hi
____________________
Current: Kawasaki ZX636
Previous Bike: Honda CBR600F ABS, Yamaha XJ6 F Diversion ABS, Honda VFR400 NC30

[BlindInTexas]

Thanks guys. I had just pretty much finished my project and then discovered Tefflon Mike. It would have saved allot of pain but that's all part of the fun i suppose. There is nothing better than seeing a bike you built from the ground up finished. Just wish i could ride the bloody thing haha.

Kris.

[Teflon-Mike]

Snowies yer man .... err, actually.....woman... for CBT & CB-Twins actually...
Take it you have seen her Renovation blog?
Pup-Project: Honda CB125TD-C; Resto & Beyond...
One VERY expensive Super-Dream that one!
He`s gone and done it now-One more to go for full Licence
Charts her progress to a full licence, from doing her Theory a little before getting 'the Pup' to-road'.

ME? My advice is all on my webby. (link in sig at bottom) Frettiung about 'Doing' your CBT, though, start here:- Tell me more about CBT?

Now you will have to excuse me....

Having NOT learned my lesson helping 'er do the 'fancy one'
https://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w269/teflons-torque/XX-Forum%20Posts/101_0043.jpg
Or the one I did along side it...
https://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w269/teflons-torque/Little%20Dreams/100_0630.jpg
I am working on THIS one!
https://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w269/teflons-torque/Little%20Dreams/LD02_The_Black_1/imag2658.jpg
And have a petrol tank 'pickling' in caustic soda in the bath!
____________________
My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?'

[BlindInTexas]

Thanks Mike, I will have a wee look at your links. Yeah i read your blog on the build of "The Pup". both your bikes turned out lovely, my one doesn't look far from your one although i wish i had spent a little more time on my paint (it was a bit of a rush job so the bike was ready for my cbt) I really want to respray it at some point, probably when the horrid road salt comes out to play. One question regarding the cb has/does or did any company make luggage racks or panniers for this model? id rather carry stuff strapped to the bike than in a rucksack. I can always weld up a rack that bolts to the grab rail bolts i suppose.

Thanks,
Kris

[Teflon-Mike]

[Teflon-Mike]

[BlindInTexas]

Oh my bad its a tde on an e-plate. My friend has the tdc. It was him that swung me towards the little buggers. The thing i like about them is they look and feel like a bigger bike. I'm a mechanic by trade so i might just fab up something in the workshop to hold my luggage. What are the "throw over" saddle bags like? Looking at them they don't look like they will be overly secure on the back end of the cb. I will get pics up shortly. when i get used to the forum i will do a mini build thread, not quite in depth as you though haha.

Thanks,
Kris

[Teflon-Mike]

TD-E makes sense.
Throw-Overs?
Not too bad these days. You have a saddle strap that goes over the pillion seat, and a securing strap that goes UNDER the seat base.
On the 750, secure enough with teh seat locked down that I rarely took them off.
On the Super-Dream?
Trouble is the old-fasioned 'hinged' seat.
As you probably found, while the tail-rail made of extruded aluminium is very sturdy.... the tail coleking attached with four flimsy.... yes FOUR.... there SHOULD have been two tanks about 1/3 the way down at about the middle of the cowling and another two at the end, before the side panels..... Just plastic welded another pair of them onto a cowling yesterday!
YET to find a Super-Dream they ENT broken on!
Anyway, that cowling isn't well secured and clerance around teh seat, it gets flexed just lifting the seat up.....
Pain to thread paniers under and between, and risk is even more flexing snapping them tangs off!
Get it lined up though and leave it alone? Works well enough.
But not a huge gap between seat and exhausts, and 'loaded' they can easily hang on the hot-pipe, empty, they can flap perilousely close to the back wheel in the gap.
They have loops on the corners and cords so you can stretch them to the footrest hangers, to hold them taught..... But Super-Dream is so little and so reletively low, theres not much room to put much tension on them.
HAVE DONE and have been pretty happy with it.. but not 'as' tidy as on my bigger bikes.

And really depends what you want to carry.

I'm not keen on knap-sacks, BUT, if its only a few odds and sods from the shop, happy enough.

If heavier, then easy enough to bungee, or better still cargo-net knap-sack to the pillion seat. That surdy tail-rail comes in handy, and you can use the mounting lugs that it bolts to the frame by to hook to to stop the cargo-net sliding for or aft on the rail.

And to be HONEST, for any particularly 'heavy' load... better there than on a rack on the back.

Before it was nicked, Snowie's had a 45l top box on the rack. Took tow full face lids and was great for stowing riding gear when you parked up, and carrying odds and sods about.... but poped to ASDA one day and bought a BIT more than anticipated. All fitted in teh box, but there were a few heavy items in there. Think I had 5Kg of onions, 5Kg of bananas, 2l ice cream, 4lmilk and a few odds and ends... whats that? 15-20Kg? No where NEAR the weight of a 95Kg passenger on the back, BUT behind the rear axle, certainly felt it make the front wheel go 'light' and more so than carrying a pillion, three or four times the weight....

So, rack is great for bulkier 'stuff' and a top box wonderfully convenient, but not for carting heavier stuff about.... wouldn't put security chain in there! Better on the pillion or in a panier.
____________________
My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?'

[BlindInTexas]

Yet again thanks for your input mike. Going by what you have said i will buy a few bungie cords and just strap my rucksack to the pillion seat, Same with the chain and padlock. I had a read of your web site, there is a really good wealth of information on there. Thanks for taking the time to put it all up and sending me to it.
Thanks again,
Kris

[WetAndCold]

[BlindInTexas]

A little update. I passed my cbt with flying colors on Sunday. Yay! but on the downside yesterday i filled my fuel tank so i could take the bike for an mot today. When i came to the bloody thing i saw that my paint had bubbled and fuel was escaping. Long story short I stripped the paint back to find allot of filler and under that i found a lot of pinholes and a huge gash in the tank. Basically its a basket case and needs replaced. Bloody typical the only time i need a tank there is none on Ebay! There was at least 2 i knew of a few weeks back. so i have advertised in the for sale part of the forums.
Thanks
Kris

[Rogerborg]

Aw, balls, gutted for you. Hope you get it running soon.
____________________
Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[banditjohn]

Hello and welcome

[Efes123]

congrats on the CBT. comiserations on the bike. Have you looked at alternatives? sometimes, with a bit of alteration you can get a tank from one bike to fit another.
____________________
Honda Goldwing GL 1000 Current love
Honda VT500 ED - SOLD
Projects Suzuki GS125 Done, then stolen - Kawasaki GPX750R SOLD - Honda VF750S SOLD

[Teflon-Mike]

May be worth £50 for a full POR 15 kit.

Out of eight or nine tanks, I think I've had to bin at least two, and three have had to be treated.

If you strip back to steel, the POR15 kit inclides an external patch for swiss-cheese areas.

You treat the tank with ALL the cleaning & pickling solutions, and do like-wise locally on the effected area of pin-holing, then apply some POR15 'sealer-paint' to the area, put on the patch, then sealer-paint over the top, & allow to cure, then you do the inside of the tank, coating in sealer paint to form a fuel tight 'skin'.

Outside of tank can then be 'skimmed' with filler or 'hi-build' primer to level where patch applied, then painted as normal.

If worse than pin-holing, then they can be salvaged by brazing & plating.

Donated one of the more swiss cheese tanks to a lad who took that and the even worse one he had, and he chopped the bottom out of one, and beat the top straight, then sectioned the other and brazed the two halves together. Looked very very tidy just in the metal, and held water!

Either route could be 'better' cheaper and or less hassle than trying to source 'decent' second hand tank.

Also worth mentioning:- Shinray/Jailing copies; tanks on them are made from four pressings, not three, and have a seam down the middle of the top. burnished in so you wont spot it until you sand back to metal. However, the filler cap 'well' is completely round; genuine Honda tanks have the square recess at the bottom of the cap-well.
____________________
My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?'

[BlindInTexas]

Thanks again Mike. I was already looking at sealing the tank before i read your message. I have just ordered the por 15 kit. Currently stripping the tank back to bare metal (its a right bugger of a job). Will get there in the end though! Just out of interest do the copied tanks bolt straight on to the Hondas? I'd much rather have a genuine Honda tank though (I'm funny about little things like that).
Thanks for your time,
Kris