at a meet last year a young chap came over and asked me to have a ride on his cg cos it felt funny...johnfish wrote:I had 2 CG125s which I also hated
i got 50 yards before getting off and pushing it back!
the handlebars were loose, no rh grip, as soon as i moved off the mirrors swung in at me and the chain was running over bumps where the rear sprocket teeth shouldve been.
looking closer, everything was loose - front and rear spindles, sprocket carrier nuts, chainguard hanging off, no oil in it, bald & perished tyres, no fuel cap, the list is endless!!!
the only toolkit he had was one of them pushbike multi spanner things lol... looks like thats what had been used to do all the nuts up with!!!
thing is, they start life as perfectly good ultra-commuter bikes, capable of lasting decades at over 100mpg, but years of abuse by learners with halfords toolkits obviously takes its toll.... thats if theyve been maintained at all!
another chap off another forum rang me last year for some advice..... he was going looking at a yzf125r (baby r1) for a friend, and hoping to collect it and ride it home.... he wanted to know if there was anything to look out for.
i said well if the bike's only a year old and 2k miles its barely run in so just check the obvious before you leave like oil level, lights, chain, tyre pressures etc....
about 4hrs later he rang back.... i said well, did you get it home then?
no - i'm in an rac truck. it seized up at 80mph!!!
he commented how quick it was for a 125 and how easy the wheel came up lol nice - for someone elses bike!
when he got it back he had a closer look, to find it was absolutely Bone dry. not a drop of oil in the engine, and no sign of leaks, rich tea coloured plug so it hadnt been burning it...
all i could suggest was the po mustve drained it completely for some reason... probably cos he knocked him down a grand!
thing is on these, the piston is a sacrificial item that runs in a bare coated ally liner.. the piston is designed to wear, but it was absolutely fkt.
cost him a new engine from a breaker!
point is, even a new bike can be totally shagged if its not been looked after or been abused.
some ratters will run forever even though they look like dogshit.
one man's poison is another man's meat. one man's fetish is another man's feet.