Easy fix or worthless?

[LazzurusMan]

I've found a honda CG 125 online for £200 not far from me, and it needs some work.

speedo and speedo cable need fixing, it has a small oil leak from the sump plug so the rubber O-ring will need replacing, the front forks need new seals cause they're leaking and it also needs a new chain. How easy/costly would all of this be?

[CaNsA]

[Polarbear]

Things can sound easy but be a ball ache.

If you are a happy home mechanic

If you think the advert says.. will pass MOT easily
____________________
Victory Cross Country American tractor.

[LazzurusMan]

Well for a start I know very little about mechanical things. I understand the basics of how an engine works, and have a driveway that my parents are willing to let me put a pile of bike parts on and see what happens.


Do the problems I've listed sound doable for a complete novice like me?

[LazzurusMan]

Another note, separate bike.

Anyone got any ideas what could be wrong if the engine turns over but wont start on a VT 125 Shadow? There is apparently a weak spark. Also within my price range and being sold locally.

[monkeybiker]

I'd get the cg but get someone who knows about bikes to check it over as there will most likely be other problems.

What year is it? If you can't change the seals you could always just get some 2nd hand forks and swap them other or remove forks and take them to a bike mechanic and re-fit yourself.

[Rogerborg]

Show us the adverts, we're not going to gazump you.

Well, Paddy might.
____________________
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

[Vincent]

[LazzurusMan]

The CG. It's a '98.
https://www.gumtree.com/p/honda-motorbikes/honda-cg-125/1116012499


Unfortunately I can't find the Shadow, so I'm guessing it's been sold/swapped.

[moppy]

The state of those forks! Bloody hell.

Go on eBay, tot up the price of all the things you think will need fixing, then add 50% of the price you've come to. Should give you a best case scenario price of repair.

If you're not handy with a spanner, abandon hope.

[TheSmiler]

Worthless.
____________________
CB125>CG125>GN125>ER5>K100RS>R1100RS>K100RS
A2 completed 23/07/15 Ready for the Golden Crisp Packet

[Teflon-Mike]

If it was an 'Easy fix'.. the seller is unlikely to be flogging the thing for £200 'Spares or Repairs', when they could do that 'easy fix' and be selling the thing for £500..
- 'Probably just needs the carb cleaning'
- 'Could just be a loose wire - but I'm no good with electrics'
- 'wont start, will need a new battery'
- 'Just needs fork Seals for MOT'
These are all old chestnuts of the small add, and they mean:
- The engine's worn out - turns over, but it's defied all attempts to get it working bar taking it to bits and reconditioning it - but you can figure that one out for yourself after you have tried cleaning the carb
- 'Mechanic said it could be anything, but it'd cost more in time to find out what it is than the bikes worth. Mate with a mult-imeter, had it for a month, failed to get it running, then said the stator was shot. I have no idea what a stator is... except it's expensive.. but I'll let you figure that one out'
- 'I'm too cheap to even invest £20 in a new battery. So, I have put jump leads on it from Mum's car to get it running... it doesn't.. but without a battery to try, you'll never know, that will you?'
- 'I never even took it for an MOT; The steering bearings are notchy and clonking, but when you get here I'll tell you they just need 'adjusting' when you do the fork seals, and that the rust on the forks will 'polish out'.. oh and that the front brake doesn't work 'cos of the fork oil leaking from the old fork seal.. thing really needs a complete ground up restoration, or scrapping B-U-T, the obvious reason for no MOT means I can play ignorant, and the chance of a 'bargain' from a simple two hour and £10 fix will get some mug to take it off my hands for good money.

Now, you are a new, and young rider who has had your bike nicked, and are in desperation alley, to get another bike, and are RIPE to get ripped off by any of all of these ploys.

You don't WANT a 'project'.. you want a straight, working bike.

Very VERY seldom do 'fixer-uppers' prove a bargain... most commonly, you buy an old shit-heap, that remains an old shit heap; even if you get it to road, chances that it'll cost you less to get it there than buying one already on the road are slim; but even supposing you are lucky and do... it'll like as not still be a shit heap, that has a lot of faults and niggles, and demands a lot more attention and usually money chucking at it on an ongoing basis, while frequently leaving you at the road side, wanting to throw a match in its tank and be done.

The folk that do make a fixer-upper work for them.... usually LIE when they tell you how much they 'saved'... tripple how much they say they saved, and closer to the truth, that is likely how much more they have spent than buying a working example... because they will have forgotten how much they spent on petrol running around to get sand-paper or tools, or how much they have spent on tools or bits of wire, fuses, solder, crimpy connectors and other 'odds and sods' and only added up the cost of big bits, like tyres and the fancy brake levers they had to have....

If they are very lucky, they MIGHT have a bike that's a bit 'better' with more faults tackled and not about to re-occur than on a more tired 'runner' that's about to become a 'project' or being staved off from becoming one... BUT.. there's a lot of luck involved. The odds aren't great, and the only REAL reason for taking on a project is if you WANT a project; you actually want to BUY PROBLEMS....

Mia culpa! I do about one a year! It's more challenging and more rewarding than doing a cross-word puzzle AND I have something a bit more exiting to show for it at the end.

And to get a typical derelict or MOT failed Learner-Legal on the road, I reckon on 'around' £700 in direct 'stuff' to get it half 'nice' and through an MOT. Doesn't matter what the bike is, or what state its in, THAT is my ball-park budget for the job. and I have the tools and the know-how to do it. If I wasn't so 'fussy' to make them look like they have had the attention they have, I MIGHT snip a hundred or two off that; if I was prepared to ride about with a rusty tank, cable tied side-panels, and a torn seat cover... but even then.... £500 still puts you into the ball-park to buy a ready to ride 'runner' with similar cosmetic flaws.

IF you really want to take on a project, then they can be great fun, and for a newb, I will not discourage you, real-bikers build their own! You can learn a heck of a lot about how they work; how to fix them, how to look after them, and what is the stuff you have to pay respect to, like tyres and brakes and steering, before engines and shiny bits; And it IS a fucking big thrill to to get something that looked like this:-
https://scontent-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/226988_215519581806300_1612528_n.jpg?oh=20b5128fa0bbbbd82f95c5ddebac8d4b&oe=55BFEC6C
when you got it; with a rusted through side-stand, and a siezed engine; rotten exhausts, cracked side-panels, dented rusty tank, and a gazzilion other problems... and nine months later....
https://scontent-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/306076_263765330315058_4285002_n.jpg?oh=3efd7f0977537f62084e333ba53588e9&oe=55C79900
Its all shiny, looking like 'new' and MOVING under its own steam! (that's not me riding it BTW).
That one was supposed to be a 'quick-fix'.. had been 'restored' by some-one else, who'd then had the engine sieze! It was actually taxed and tested when I bought it, and I expected to wallop a 'spare' engine I had into it and 'go'..... B-U-T as I unpeeled each layer, so I discovered how much HADN'T been done in the PO's 'restoration' and not only had to fix it, but I had to 'undo' the shit work he had done before I could!
BUT... the STUPID grin that thing gave me when I got it up and running and out on the road, and over 50mph! I came home gibbering like an idiot "It works. It WORKS.. y'know it fucking WORKS!!!"
Rode it 30 miles 2-up to a meet, and I was still gibbering; looking around and thinking "Christ! I got here... on THAT!" then I rode home, and saw 70 on the clocks on GPS, two-up! Its a TIDDLER! It shouldn't be doing this! And I built it!.. and it hasn't BLOWN UP!"

THAT is what you get from a 'Project'.. and its worth EVERY PENNY.....

BUT, it isn't a 'Cheap' bike. and its NEVER an 'easy fix'.

And for where you are at.... BUYING some-one else's PROBLEMS in a 'fixer-upper', is very unlikely to get you what you hope for; a cheap, working bike, in a hurry... you are likely to get very frustrated, very quickly NOT fixing problems some-other duffer has given up on; with even less up-front know-how, and tools and resourses to sort them out.

You are likely to blow whatever cash you have left over after buying the shit-heap 'project' bike, on the glitzy bits it obviously needs, or that you think it ought to have, before you discover whats really needed, and even IF you can get them parts; or have the tools to change them.

You will be on an exceedingly steep learning curve; and every little set-back will be adding to the frustrations you already have; making you feel like you are going back-wards not getting anywhere; you will get dispondant, you will see more problems you CANT tackle than ones you can, and find it hard to keep motivated to keep the job going anywhere; you will make even more problems for yourself, trying to work around problems, and waste effort and time and money on 'Bodges' to not do the job properly, 'cos you don't have the tool or the part you need.. so nuts will get rounded off, screws chewed, bolts snapped in holes.. so it either wont get fixed, and you will wast the whole LOT having a project that never gets done, or eventually gets chucked in a skip, (or punted out to some-other desperate hopeful!) OR you'll bite the bullet and pour cash into the money pit JUST to beat the bugger!

THAT is the real liklihood, and WHY its unlikely to give you a working, reliable bike, cheaply in anything like a hurry, and WHY I strongly suggest you back up, and think long and hard about what you are about, your needs and your wants.

You have the finance company and insurance co on the bike that was stolen, to contend with. You probably have a credit 'gap' that will need to be filled, as soon as settlement happens... if I remember right, you bought brand new £1500 bike on credit, owing £2000, of which, Ins-co MAY after they have told you its second hand value is only £1200 and they have taken £250-500 policy excess off, leaving you to find £1000 or so INSTANTLY due the credit co... you MAY be able to negotiate a re-payement plan with them, BUT, you have that gap to fill... with that 'Problem' on your plate, however you handle the 'gap' its going to starve you of cash to do a 'project'... If you get project 'to-road'? You will need a new insurance policy for it. With an 'unsettled' claim against you, that'll make Ins-co's squiffy. If it's settled? well likely to load your premium, and rough reckoner with insurance is that whatever they give you now, they'll take back, with interest, over the next five years with loaded premiums... so if they pay out £1200, your next insurance is likely to be £300 more expensive...

I am not unsympathetic.. I have been there; happened to me when I was 19, but sympathy comes between shit & syphilis, and it don't pay the bills!

So, for where you are at; PERSONALLY, I would suggest you take a step back; stop looking for more trouble, and deal with what you have got.

I was told long long ago, and I had to learn the hard way as you have; if you cant afford to buy cash; you cant afford it. So you couldn't afford the bike you had. You don't have that bike you couldn't afford in the first place; AND you still owe money on it; and even after the insurance settle, are likely to still owe money on it.

Ergo; you are actually now EVEN less able to afford a bike than you were when you couldn't afford to buy the one that got stolen...

So do you REALLY think you can afford another?

How did you get about before you got a bike? It wasn't that long ago, or you wouldn't still owe so much to the HP-sharks.. you must have 'coped'.. might not have been 'nice' but you got by. Why cant you now?

The old expression is when you are in a hole... stop digging.. here and now, I think you need to take a long hard look around you and recognize the hole you are in, and stop trying to dig it deeper, and try climbing out!

JUST my opinion.. but; I REALLY don't think a fixer-upper or a peoject bike is a solution to any of the problems you have right now; it is just buying some-one else's unsolved problems! And even MORE to frustrate you, and beggar you that you got already.

IF you can steer around the credit gap issue, and still realistically afford to look for a bike after? Well, I'd say stop making life hard for yourself restricting your search area to such a small geographical area; stop being so fuzzy about what the thing looks like; and fretting over headlamp arrangements and how much chrome there is to polish! and up your budget to that needed to get a bike that DOES THE JOB you want it to do; soon as you stick the key in it... after taking the FUCKING big lock you buy first off it!

IF you want a 'project'... then split that out of the equation, and do one eyes wide open, as a learning excersise, as 'something to do' and maybe as a long term bike you have more enthusiasm for, that you are more likely to be motivated to do, properly, and can get the value from at the end, from using the thing. And cost it up as 'entertainment' like x-box games or going down the pub; rather than against bus-fares. cos a project is 'toy' not 'transport'.
____________________
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?'

[unitynotsocri...]

It does look like a burglers dog but for 200 promises notes its worth getting for the spares ! A better pension investment than gold...........
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nearly a normal tax paying tosser.......with ferrileness suzi100,cg125,cb125scb100n,cb175,cd100,cj250t,kh250,c15,125 bantam,super 6,rickman gs750,xt500,250rs,dt175,lifan125,dolomite1850,metro,Morris220ld,morrisfg,leyland princess,range rover,corsa,vw camper .now struggling with legs. MORE ORDER = MORE CHAOS

[mudcow007]

buy it to play with, in the grand scheme of things £200 isnt really alot

[Andy_Pagin]

Looking at the pictures I suspect the bike is all round knackered. It'll cost more than it will ever be worth to get it back in a decent state again.
____________________
They're coming to take me away, ho-ho, hee-hee, ha-haaa, hey-hey,
the men in white coats are coming to take me away.
Yamaha Vity -> YBR125 -> FZS600 Fazer -> FZ1-S Fazer

[Pol Anorl]

[Doovy]

Definitely looks fucked.

If those are the issues they've told you about, I can guarantee there will be more hidden.
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Yamaha RXS 100 > Honda CD 250 > Honda Hornet 600 > Honda CBR 600RR > Yamaha RXS 100 > Kawasaki ZX6R J2 > Yamaha FZ1

[CaNsA]

[WD Forte]

All fixable IMO but probably not for a novice unless you have
an experienced hand on call for free

Also in my experince of old bikes, whatever your initial estimate
of the repair cost to be, double it
There's always 101 little things to do/buy/get that keep pushing the cost up.
Offer a oner and use it as learning bike
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bikers smell of wee

[monkeybiker]

If you want a project bike then it's not a massive amount of money. If it becomes too much you could always sell it on.

Are you after a reliable form of transport or something to play with?

I do like how he talks about the exhaust '' all you have to do is cut it off and weld it on'' like it's so easy.

[GSTEEL32]

I'd never recommend buying a non runner as a bike to learn about mechanics. There's simply too many issues to deal with as a novice. To me, it looks like a money pit. Its a CG. They're cheap when they're new and they're even cheaper second hand.

As mentioned, 4 - 500 quid will get you a running shitter, and I'd definitely have a running shitter, over a non running glamour puss.

Nothing is more demoralising, than buying a project and never getting it off the ground.

[monkeybiker]

[Commuter_Tim]

[RhynoCZ]

[Nemo]