The Bikeshite Thread

[Cavcraft]

The Honda is doing its best impression of a Japanese Lambretta: the back light worked its way loose the other day, luckily a mate was behind me and got me to stop before it fell off.  Some insulation tape got me home, albeit with no brake light. The float bowl likes to work loose too, a common happening on this bike. This results in fuel seeping out, right next to the nice hot engine and near the exhaust. Thread locker or longer bolts and  nylock nuts will hopefully cure that.

One mega annoying thing about the fairing is that it magnifies the engine/exhaust sound by several thousand decibels. Plodding around at 30-35mph without accelerating is ok, but once you gun it it gets really intrusive. Ear plugs might the way forward on a longer ride, as loathe to take the thing off because it's already save half my legs and all my chest area from getting wet when it's pissing down.  Possibly considering some sort of indicators, too. 

[Sham]

FWIW - I always wear ear plugs, wind noise around a crash helmet at 60mph for more than a few minutes is worse than a rock concert for damaging your hearing.

[Bren]

These arrived yesterday. Nice and shiny.

MOT booked for next Tuesday.

[Snake Charmer]

43 minutes ago, Bren said:

These arrived yesterday. Nice and shiny.

MOT booked for next Tuesday.

I fitted a pair to my '95 Speed Triple, made a big difference. Laborious to rebuild though!

[Cavcraft]

MOT time again. Just checked and it's done 25 miles in 3 years. To be fair, I bet 4 of them was pushing the bastard. 

[Iamgroot]

1 minute ago, Cavcraft said:

MOT time again. Just checked and it's done 25 miles in 3 years. To be fair, I bet 4 of them was pushing the bastard. 

Only 4? Impressive!

[andyberg]

24 minutes ago, Cavcraft said:

MOT time again. Just checked and it's done 25 miles in 3 years. To be fair, I bet 4 of them was pushing the bastard. 

Liked for the bike not the pushing. I remember taking the piss out of a mate who had one when we were 16, god it was soooo slow. But now I would happily have one 😂

[UltraWomble]

Bloody hell

A Honda Gyro... 

[Snake Charmer]

12 hours ago, andyberg said:

Liked for the bike not the pushing. I remember taking the piss out of a mate who had one when we were 16, god it was soooo slow. But now I would happily have one 😂

A friend of mine bought one when we were 16, px'd his SS50 for it as he wanted something faster. 🤣

[Stinkwheel]

25 minutes ago, Snake Charmer said:

A friend of mine bought one when we were 16, px'd his SS50 for it as he wanted something faster. 🤣

Holy Cow!! If the MT-5 was faster than the SS50 then it must have been 'really' slow.

Honda used to take the restriction rules seriously and everyone else just didnt 

[Cavcraft]

6 hours ago, Stinkwheel said:

Holy Cow!! If the MT-5 was faster than the SS50 then it must have been 'really' slow.

Honda used to take the restriction rules seriously and everyone else just didnt 

You're not kidding there! Still hear the odd tale of SS50s (including 4 speed ones) doing 60mph back in the day and being faster than a Fizzy or AP50. All I can say is the drugs were clearly a lot stronger in those days if people actually believe that.

 

Anyhow, dragged this out the other day, ready to take for an MOT. Checked the date on the V5 and it turns out it's test (and tax) exempt now.

 

Had problems with the plug, someone suggested trying Brisk (Czech made) so I rang them. Really nice and helpful fella, told me that NGK weren't made like they used to be and couldn't handle the heat range of old bikes (or something like that) then a couple of  seemingly tall stories about how these plugs were far better. Have fitted one so will see how it pans out. 

[Stinkwheel]

16 minutes ago, Cavcraft said:

You're not kidding there! Still hear the odd tale of SS50s (including 4 speed ones) doing 60mph back in the day and being faster than a Fizzy or AP50. All I can say is the drugs were clearly a lot stronger in those days if people actually believe that.

 

Anyhow, dragged this out the other day, ready to take for an MOT. Checked the date on the V5 and it turns out it's test (and tax) exempt now.

 

Had problems with the plug, someone suggested trying Brisk (Czech made) so I rang them. Really nice and helpful fella, told me that NGK weren't made like they used to be and couldn't handle the heat range of old bikes (or something like that) then a couple of  seemingly tall stories about how these plugs were far better. Have fitted one so will see how it pans out. 

Fingers crossed on the plugs. I had similar issues with NGK's last time i had a TDR250, it would eat them. Never used to do that back in the day

I had a CB125TDC the same colour  and comstar wheels as your MBX50 (thats what it is right?) that thing gave me PTSD at how crap it was (mind you it had been abused silly and i bought it from a5 Breakers in Dunstable for 75 quid 

[Snake Charmer]

20 hours ago, Cavcraft said:

You're not kidding there! Still hear the odd tale of SS50s (including 4 speed ones) doing 60mph back in the day and being faster than a Fizzy or AP50. All I can say is the drugs were clearly a lot stronger in those days if people actually believe that.

60mph was the moped holy grail, the L plate equivalent of being ton up.

Easy to make an SS50 faster than an AP50 or FS1E, C70 top end and front sprocket to start with, l had great fun with my '73 4 speed in '81.

[Stinkwheel]

40 minutes ago, Snake Charmer said:

60mph was the moped holy grail, the L plate equivalent of being ton up.

Easy to make an SS50 faster than an AP50 or FS1E, C70 top end and front sprocket to start with, l had great fun with my '73 4 speed in '81.

I found the 65cc kit for my late fizzie along with a micron exhaust made it a lot better. Lending it to other people though, always ended up with it broken, I learnt to stop doing that 

[Bren]

MOT'd for another 12 months - probably last time I take it for it's test - it's not suited to somebody the wrong side of 50. I will bleed the front brakes again is the lever is a bit soft for my liking.

[tom13]

5 minutes ago, Bren said:

MOT'd for another 12 months - probably last time I take it for it's test - it's not suited to somebody the wrong side of 50. I will bleed the front brakes again is the lever is a bit soft for my liking.

Looks great. I love these. Are you selling it?

[Bren]

2 minutes ago, tom13 said:

Looks great. I love these. Are you selling it?

It's looking likely. I am not made of rubber anymore.

[tom13]

2 minutes ago, Bren said:

It's looking likely. I am not made of rubber anymore.

How much does these go for now?

[Bren]

7 minutes ago, tom13 said:

How much does these go for now?

Have a look on ebay to get an idea. Values can be all over the place based on mileage and condition. Mine has only done 23k and the colour is unusual. Have the pillion seat and handle as well as the books that came with it.

[Cavcraft]

On 27/04/2024 at 11:30, Snake Charmer said:

60mph was the moped holy grail, the L plate equivalent of being ton up.

Easy to make an SS50 faster than an AP50 or FS1E, C70 top end and front sprocket to start with, l had great fun with my '73 4 speed in '81.

Have had a 'reconditioned' C70 top end fitted to my SS50, which threw up a few issues which are hopefully now sorted. Or at least hopefully once the bike is running again.  Not updated the sprocket though, but will look into that.  

On 27/04/2024 at 12:11, Stinkwheel said:

I found the 65cc kit for my late fizzie along with a micron exhaust made it a lot better. Lending it to other people though, always ended up with it broken, I learnt to stop doing that 

That's something I should do. It's been away for a tune-up but remains 50cc. He reckons the Allspeed is probably holding it back a bit, seemingly you can get pipes actually made to suit your level of tuning, or something like that. I think one of the 'Fizzy' lads has just had 12 horse power at the dyno on his. That's mega impressive, imho.

[Stinkwheel]

10 hours ago, Cavcraft said:

Have had a 'reconditioned' C70 top end fitted to my SS50, which threw up a few issues which are hopefully now sorted. Or at least hopefully once the bike is running again.  Not updated the sprocket though, but will look into that.  

That's something I should do. It's been away for a tune-up but remains 50cc. He reckons the Allspeed is probably holding it back a bit, seemingly you can get pipes actually made to suit your level of tuning, or something like that. I think one of the 'Fizzy' lads has just had 12 horse power at the dyno on his. That's mega impressive, imho.

12 horses is mega impressive, the same an old school restricted 125 from a road fizzie is actually fantastic I think. Wonder how fragile it might be now though 

[Cavcraft]

The MT50 reminded me why it's mileage between MOTs is always so low: It managed half a mile today before conking.

[hairnet]

Ffs

[catsinthewelder]

@hairnet Did you visit the diving club?

[hairnet]

7 hours ago, catsinthewelder said:

@hairnet Did you visit the diving club?

Pervert

[gtd2000]

On 26/04/2024 at 14:37, Cavcraft said:

You're not kidding there! Still hear the odd tale of SS50s (including 4 speed ones) doing 60mph back in the day and being faster than a Fizzy or AP50. All I can say is the drugs were clearly a lot stronger in those days if people actually believe that.

 

Anyhow, dragged this out the other day, ready to take for an MOT. Checked the date on the V5 and it turns out it's test (and tax) exempt now.

 

Had problems with the plug, someone suggested trying Brisk (Czech made) so I rang them. Really nice and helpful fella, told me that NGK weren't made like they used to be and couldn't handle the heat range of old bikes (or something like that) then a couple of  seemingly tall stories about how these plugs were far better. Have fitted one so will see how it pans out. 

Back in the day, when I was running around on my Fizzy, one of the lads had an SS50 that was faster than all of our mopeds.

It wasn't until we upgraded to 125's (GP100 in my case) that he finally admitted that he'd put a C70 engine into the bike 😆

The Nanfang 50, that I bought a few years back, would actually indicate 57MPH, down a very slight hill. Didn't have the power to pull the skin off a rice pudding but a CRF70 top end soon cured that. No increase in speed but could get up hills better.

[hairnet]

Ffs

[hairnet]

800 miles not finished yet

[hairnet]

There was a thing at kiltulla

 

Shoulda gone

 

[Snake Charmer]

 

On 05/05/2024 at 12:41, gtd2000 said:

Back in the day, when I was running around on my Fizzy, one of the lads had an SS50 that was faster than all of our mopeds.

It wasn't until we upgraded to 125's (GP100 in my case) that he finally admitted that he'd put a C70 engine into the bike 😆

The Nanfang 50, that I bought a few years back, would actually indicate 57MPH, down a very slight hill. Didn't have the power to pull the skin off a rice pudding but a CRF70 top end soon cured that. No increase in speed but could get up hills better.

The small capacity increase seemed to give more torque, my SS50 was certainly better into the wind as 72cc, even two up with skinny teenagers. My 18st Father as a pilion was funny, laughing his head off as l struggled to keep the front wheel down.

I found the standard bike frightening in rush hour traffic, hardly able to keep up and pulling out of junctions was suicidal. I remember valve bounce down Priest Hill Old Windsor at about 45mph. Less than two weeks later I fitted the C70 top end and it would go steaight to 45mph and valve bounce on the flat. With the C70 front sprocket it would get up to 50 quite easily and a bit faster downhill.

I eventually had the 5 speed gearbox, bigger carb and front disc off a later bike on there rescued from a river. With the ports opened out, early C90 inner valve springs, heavier clutch springs and extra plate it would get to the holy grail 60mph, most of which was done in 4th revving the granny out of it and it would just about hold the speed in top if wind conditions were favouable. It really needed a slightly bigger back sprocket to drop the gearing a little.

I managed to slipstream a coach on a dual carriageway once and coaxed it up to 65mph for a short while until it pulled away, the engine was singing its head off and l had to back off at one point as I was catching up. A rev counter would have been nice.

The only two mopeds I could not keep up with  locally were Fantics, a GT Super Six and Caballero Enduro, they were faster accelerating but about the same speed on the flat and once the gap was there no amount of tucking in was going to let me catch up. A friends FS1E DX was faster as it had a YB100 engine, that used to be fun riding about together.