I've been wanting to buy a motorcycle for a while now; it's not that I've lost enchantment with building bicycles, but something about the noise, power, and (i'll admit it) cool factor of riding a motorcycle has always appealed to me. It's like picking up smoking for older people. My wife has been opposed to this plan, since she's concerned (rightly) with my safety, but it's not like the past few years of weaving through rush hour traffic on fixies sans brakes was particularly smart or safe either, so in September, on my 30th birthday, I convinced her to let me buy this non-running 1972 Honda SL 125. It was a steal on Craigslist for $160, registered off road through 2011 and complete with a clean title. I made it my goal to get her running and revamped for around-town duty by Christmas. It took me a bit longer than that, but as of now this bike has a new lease on life, as my next few posts will show. I'm still building bicycles, don't worry- my current project is a 26" MB/road crosstraining bike- but I thought i'd share the process of building this motorcycle with the 7 or 8 people who still read this blog. Keep in mind I've never rebuilt or even worked on a motorcycle, so everything I did here I learned as I went. So, here we go...
The bike as it looked when I bought it: non-running, with a bad orange paint job and a bunch of corroding plastics, dents, rust, and greasy mud from almost 40 years of being used in the dirt and stored outside. It was time for a little TLC, degreaser, and a self-taught, crash course in motorcycle maintenance.
After a little research and some advice from my more mechanically inclined buddies, I decided to start with the electrical system. I pulled the tank and seat, and started checking the wiring. A tug on the plug wire pulled it right out of the coil; it had literally been melted in half, possibly from a short. I ordered a new OEM coil/plug wire off of Ebay, as well as a new battery. While those were being shipped, I began pulling the front end of the bike apart and cleaning it up.
I pulled the forks, bars, and front wheel off, teaching myself how everything connects... as far as the headset/tripletree is concerned it's not much different from a bicycle.
The cups and races were pretty much welded together by rusted bearings, but once I tore everything apart, went to town with PB Blaster and repacked it all with a liberal amount of lithium grease the headset works great- smooth turning and silent.
A wire wheel quickly took off the corrosion on the triple tree, brake mounts, throttle switch box, etc... I love the wire wheel. Next, the forks get a new paint job, the front brakes get overhauled and the front end goes back together!
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