Even the muck on this bike is mucky. I was digging away at some thick oil and sand on the swing arm for 15 minutes before I realised I was only taking the surface layer off thicker, heavier crap underneath. Taking off the seat, the fairing and any other extra stuff has immediately motivated me to do more. I need to figure out what parts to buy new and what to renovate but in the meantime, just turning the handlebars upside down has already made it look a hundred times better. With a 125cc engine, it’s never going to hit a 100mph so I’m going to go the brat/scrambler route rather than a café racer. Next steps, remove more unnecessary bits, take a good look at the electrics and see what I can do about the rusted section on the down tube.

3 sparks

4 years ago

The indicators don’t work, third gear makes a weird clunking noise, the speedo tells me I’m going 0km/h and the throttle feels like it’s about to come off in my hand. Oh! And the right hand mirror spins around like a mad man and gets faster and faster as I accelerate. All of this aside, I had a grin from ear to ear! I haven’t ridden a bike since I was 16 and with so much focus going into what I want to do from a build perspective, I’d forgotten why I was doing it.

4 sparks

4 years ago

The good thing is that I’m going to replace most of this bike. The bad thing is that, now that I’m starting to dig in, I don’t think there’s a single part that hasn’t been broken and then “fixed”. The wiring is...sketchy. There’s a lot of electricians tape on joints that have been twisted together and other parts that have been cut through and ignored. The frame is definitely my biggest concern but I’m going to get out and ride it at least once before I start tearing it down and facing whatever horrors I find.

4 sparks

4 years ago

It took a couple of false starts but here we go. Found an ad online for a 2007 Honda CGL125 for BD140 ($372) and bought myself a project to see me through the next couple of months. To say that it’s not been well maintained is definitely an understatement. The fairings are held on with wires, the indicators and speedo don’t work, the odometer reckons it’s a zero mileage find and the frame has got some serious issues. But...it rides! My hope is that once I’ve torn the bike down, I’ll be pleasantly surprised. Given the state of everything that I can see so far though, I’m pretty sure that’s wishful thinking. I’m vlogging the process so if you want to follow along with a bit more back story, find me over on instagram.com/markjwarman

4 sparks

4 years ago

The K100 is on hold whilst I’m stuck in Bahrain because of COVID-19. Almost all passenger flights have been grounded and I have no definite date when I’ll be leaving. So, with that being the case, what else is there to do except get myself a new project? There must be thousands of these old CGL’s in Bahrain. Home delivery has been a standard part of life forever here. I bought a new mic for my camera and it was delivered to me an hour later on exactly one of these little 125’s. Although most places are locked down, the garages are open so (whilst keeping my distance of course!) I’m going to head out and see if I can get my hands on one for a bargain price.

4 sparks

Mark Warman

@pontus.abrahamsson too right! This one is well underway now. Plenty to share so will start updating soon!

Pontus Abrahamsson

You can never have to many projects 😎 Keep on wrenching and stay safe!

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4 years ago