Hardest bikes to restore

[DJRacing]

Once again I come to you with a bit of tongue in cheek stuff again.

I'm going to hang my balls out and say that of all the Vintage Motocross bikes the humble 125cc is the hardest bike to restore.

The reason I say this is because very item on a 125 is so flogged out, bashed around and butchered up again that at times you wonder if it is even worth restoring.

Now of course all bikes need saving but the 125 has to be the hardest. Everyone has trashed the little buggars to within an inch of their lives and the maintence has usually never been done properly, if at all. Add to the fact that most people start off riding 125's, so at times they are miss treated and abused.(not like a big open classer).
And then you get the fast experienced rider on a 125 and he can punt that thing around all day giving it death.
Right up to the time a VMXer finally saves the 125 from a fate worse, than a fate worse than death, the bike may even have been used in some torturest farmers shed for all manner of horrendous jobs. The horrific things that get done to these bikes is unbelievable.

So I take my hat off to the restorers of 125's. You guys are the true specialists of restorers.

[paul]

theve all got there good and bad points but there alway seem to be alot more 125Yams for sale than 490 maicos     and try and get someone  to part with bits for them 

[DJRacing]

Now com'on Paul, we both know the reason 125's are for sale all the time, because they are to hard to restore for the average restorer and lets face it, cant you actually by a Maico 490 brand new still with all the parts that are still available

[paul]

mmmmmmmmmm    but you do see lotsa  nos stuff for 125 avail too on evil bay  and ive never really had a 125 so im not sure what avail  well im going to look and see whats around  , stay tuned 
http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?sofocus=bs&sbrftog=1&from=R10&_trksid=m37&satitle=yamaha+nos&sacat=-1%26catref%3DC6&fmmk=&fmmd=&fylo=&fyhi=&mppfqy=yamaha+nos&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D2&sadis=200&fpos=3178&sabfmts=1&saobfmts=insif&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&fsop=1%26fsoo%3D1&fgtp=

go crazy

[crs-and-rms]

i think it depends on how many bikes of that model were made look at some of the 75, 76 yz 250s try finding parts for them , i know that 125s rev harder so they do wear more than a cr 500 would

[oldfart]

 Thats part of the fun ....Spending hours on the computor looking for parts , building up what you need to finish the project . Some of mine have sat idle for 3 months waiting for the parts to show up .
The grass is always greener on the other side --but's it's  just as tuff to mow 

[DJRacing]

I hear what you are saying CRs-RMs, but regardless of rarity of model, I'm more talking about bearing housings been flogged out, rear brake pedal pivot joints so worn its easier to cut them off the frame and start again, brake hub linnings so out of round that its egg shaped. Yeah of course if you have the money nos parts are great. But then isnt that like having a shovel for twenty years and saying that its the best shovel you have had, your've only had to replace the handle 3 times and the blade 2 I understand that some parts are very rare and hard to find for certain models. (by the way, for '74 '75 '76 yz250/360 parts, try Jgroom on ebay) There is another thing too, alot of parts for the 250 motocrosses fit its' corresponding open class bike. So that can mean 2 people are fighting over the same piece but it also means that if you own a 250 and need a part you can look at open classes for the piece as well. 125 restorers dont seem to have that option, and even the reproduction guys seem to look after the 250/open bikes better.(althought that seems to be changing some what now).

Maybe I didnt word my opinion quite right at the start. What I believe is that 125's are ridden alot more thoughout their life time than say 250's and open classes to the point that every moving(and in alot of cases non moving) parts are worn in some way or completely stuffed. So the job of restoring a 125 can be alot more harder than the bigger bikes and I'm not just saying 'waiting to buy a new or second hand part', but actually rebuilding the part you have.

[crs-and-rms]

i like looking for the parts to ,i have three rm 125s four rm 250s two pe 250s and one honda cr 250 that im doing havent finished any of them as i fine some thing for one and do a little for it then find a bit for one of the others that i need and so on . i  agree that 125s are ridden harder and ridden by younger guys with less money and less skills to repair them, i work in bike shop and the skill levels of most  younger bike owners  is quite poor

[DJRacing]

CR's-RM's  I had that problem too of finding a part for one bike and then finding a part for another bike and so on and so on. In fact alot of guys over here have the same problem . I found that I wasnt getting anywhere fast with any of my bikes (as did my friends in the same situation) so alot of us just try to concentrate on one bike at a time. We called it VATES- "Vmxers Addicted To Ebay Syndrome" .Dont get me wrong, I love searching ebay and other places for parts, and its lucky we can. I think if I lived in the states my "VATES" would be so bad a courier van would be arriving everyday with parts for my bikes , but as you probably know the shipping costs just dont allow that :'(.

Hey, I'm just stirring the pot about restoring bikes. If what I have said in this tread makes people respond then its all good(just a beer in hand and a few jokes back and forth keeps the passion of VMX alive).
Anyone undertaking the task of restoring a bike, I salute you.

[paul]

you know what really there all the same !get the bits put it to gether  same take longer than others   

[evo550]

Anything pre '85, you still might be able to get parts from your dealer, but holy s%^t how many things are there to replace...water pump, power valves, disc brakes, linkage suspension!!
Air cooled, twin shock, drum brakes...K.I.S.S.

[vandy010]

i think the hardest bike to restore is the one i'm doing at the moment.

[paul]

well what is it 

[vandy010]

sorry paul, nothing too rare or exotic over here,
just a heaps of parts all over the garage that i need to get together somehow.
it's a bit like that with most of my things actually.
i guess some may call it hard.
next beastie in line will be my tt500.

[dkupf]

It's taken me almost 4 years  just to get enough parts together for a Hodaka Thunderdog to start a rebuild Darcy