Another Chapter

1985 Rebel 250 CMX blah blah blah

Santa brought me an old Honda Rebel to ride. It's got low mileage but a few issues that I'm going to deal with. I guess Santa has a tight wallet. This is not my dream bike but it's a worthy bike to ride locally for local business. Feeding 8 cylinders is insane when 2 cylinders is all I need. Happy Holidays to all you rebels out there.

Shocking

Insert bolt in a vise

Push then pull hard on the shock until...

the Oil seal comes out.

This is for a 1981 Yamaha sr185 Exciter motorcycle shock. Yamaha made a slide hammer for this procedure but the vise method works good too. Of course, remove the circlip first and drain the old fork oil out because when the oil seal finally comes out it will pour everything onto the floor.. and use a piece of wood or the old oil seal to seat the new seal instead of something like a wrench which can mar the shock and cause one of the low tolerance sleeves to catch on any burrs. Add 6.3 oz 10w fork oil. etc. etc.  reinstall.
I love how everything is easy to work on with the exciter. They made an owner friendly vehicle. If I can find the part then I can do the work. It's the only bike a person would need for a city or town.


Update 9/18: The left side oil seal lasted only 1 year. It started leaking badly so I had no choice but replace it. I did take the fork off once and measured the oil and thought maybe it was overfull because there was around 7+oz but putting in exactly 6.2oz did not change the leaking. The original oil seals (which I saved because I'm a hoarder) were not actually leaking when I replaced them but the removal process had damaged them so I had to buy another oil seal. I found an OEM fork seal. I'm also a year older and the damage has been done to more than just the oil seal so the push and pull method was jarring my arthritic spine and causes too much pain so I pondered how else I could do this and decided to try a chain+come along/chain binder that we have in the shop. It's hard to describe and I didn't get a picture of it. I don't recommend this method but the slide hammer fork tool Yamaha describes is not something most people have, so you clamp the retaining bolt head in a vise, then put the front axle bolt in the fork, then wrap a chain around the axle bolt and use a chain binder affixed to some unmovable source (in my case it was the steel frame of the building) then bind the chain and torque it together. The worst case scenario would have the steel frame fall apart...the second worst scenario would bend the axle bolt...and the third worst scenario would have so much tension build up on the fork part that either the bolt threads strip out or the bolt slips away from the vise projecting it into your knee or else the two parts spring apart and hit you with violence and pain and spraying fork oil everywhere. In my case, the best case scenario happened, the two parts gradually separated and did not spring apart but simply slipped so that I could catch them. Then I took great care in pressing in the new seal with an old seal as a drift and a rubber mallet and curved wrench as another drift. This works to avoid marring any surface and I hammer in a circle until the new seal was below the channel for the Cir-clip. I hope this will solve the leaking and it's not some awful problem with the fork surface itself that prevents the seal from working. The surface does not look worn but one never knows.)

Commuting

some commutes I am willing to tolerate. This ranks high on the list.

Excited

1981 Yamaha Exciter sr185

I should look happier but the timing on the camera took me by surprise. It's been so damn long since I owned a motorcycle and even this semi toy should make me forget some of my sins. I love to tinker with them and I love to ride them and I don't even mind when things break. The only thing I don't like is not having the time to work on it non-stop for a month. I really wanted to import a 125cc single cylinder motorcycle from Mexico but the next best thing is a vintage Japanese bike that has slightly more HP (16). And that is what the exciter sr185j is...a beginner bike for someone 5 inches shorter than me. It gets me around and will eventually be my main ride while the van goes under the wrench.

It's ridiculous how long I've been longing for a small thumper/one lunger/single cylinder bike and finding/buying this one required an epic journey to places I've never been before, which is saying something. Vintage Japanese bikes are not easy to find in good condition and they are rarely cheap but they are more desirable than rideable. I'm going to ride the shit out of this one as soon as I inspect it. I bought it from a young vet who was discharged after 5 identical vaccines in a month caused Guillain-Barré syndrome and paralyzed him temporarily. For that reason I will forgive the fact the hot wire on the battery was not screwed on with a nut but merely laid against it and the battery was installed backwards in the box and the chain was too tight and a nail was used as a cotter pin. The thing has under 2k original miles because, as I said, most people think it's a cool bike and soon realize it's not big enough for anything useful so it sits around for 36 years in a barn and gets rusty. I can't wait to wear my Python boots and get a pair of bright red, skin tight, lamb leather pants made to rock this vintage Thumper into Methville. The world is going to hell and I'm going to go down like a bat out of hell. I guess since I'm working in a national park bat cave I should call it the Batmobile.

Single Cylinder Motorcycles 125cc

 This is going to be a long-term project to take pictures of all the single cylinder motorcycles I encounter in Central America. They are everywhere here...but they don't hardly exist in the U.S.A. Sure, you can buy a 1978 CB 125 and I admit those are awesome, but why not buy a 2015 125 with a fresh motor for less money? Because you probably don't live anywhere near a place that imports the Honda CGL 125. And this puzzles Oggy because in a place like Los Angeles where one must drive 45 minutes in order to park and walk on a rubber treadmill for 45 minutes and then drive 2 hours to buy medicinal marijuana edibles...and it hasn't rained in 10 years...well, it gets crazy. They've got Pink Dot delivery services driving all over the place to deliver A FUCKING 6 PACK OF BEER and a 1/4 oz of Purple haze kind bud and Sushi in a 6 cylinder vehicle? That's real bright with gas in CA taxed highest in all 50 states. Down here, the ubiquitous Italika 125 moto costs $900 brand new and includes a helmet. That's an entry level price for a worn out 1975 Cb125 that has no carburetor and no seat and was last started in 1987. A Honda or Suzuki probably runs $1400, but I'll find out exactly because I want to buy one. Actually the Italika was everywhere in Mexico but I don't see it as much in Guatemala. I see the Isuki, Freedom for the low end 125cc bike. Yamaha (pronounced ya-MA-ha) Suzuki, Honda for the high end options.

There are single cylinder bikes that are like 450cc. I think KTM makes those kind with a big piston. But they are not the ones I'm talking about or have any interest in. I want to deal with these little piston models, no more than 150cc designed for the city. Most are 125cc. Sometimes the fiberglass body and chrome makes it look like there's more power, but looks are deceiving as they have no more than 125cc, top speed is around 55. Around 70mpg, single little gravity feed carb, air cooled, rear drum brakes, front disk brakes, 4 or 5 speeds of pure awesomeness. No electric starter on most of them so be prepared to kick start, but you're only moving one cylinder so it's no big deal. They barely make any noise too unless you cut the muffler off.

On an average walk to the gym I'll see about 50 of these single cylinder motorcycles parked or swerving through traffic. Women will drive single cylinder scooters solo and when a passenger they will ride side saddle on a moto. In the U.S. I'd have to drive for 6 hours merely to have the option to buy one that has no battery and is mostly in a box full of rusting parts.

Yamaha YBR 125 with the mag wheels

I'll make this a page break so all the pictures don't load at once unless you're really interested in 125cc Japanese and Chinese motorcycles in Central America. Every bike I take a picture of will be honored here.