The start of the restoration.

This blog is hopefully going to follow, from start to finish, the restoration of my first motorbike, indeed, my first vehicle. Hopefully it may be usefull to others doing a similar project, if not, then at least the internet trolls have got some fresh meat!

Background:

When I was 17, my first set of wheels were that of an already quite old 1988 Honda NS125R. I found it in the bargain section of bike trader, it was taxed and tested and advertised as a "good runner".

I bought it.

When it arrived, it became clear why it was only £800- instant gasket, missing engine mount spacers so the engine would move around inside the frame, seized rear shock, oh and the silencer fell off- never did find it!

After the " good runner" was patched up and more or less sorted, here's how it looked circa summer 2004 when I was using it to commute to and from college:

Below is a shot showing the custom stainless silencer my dad made me to replace the 'replacement' one above as it was grossly undersized, no idea what it was from, we found it in my friend's shed!

Once I finished college, I had to strip the bike down so I could store it at my dads house while I went to university (it has been like this ever since!) After I graduated from uni, I rented a place with a garage and started the rebuild, I was making slow but steady progress, I already had the frame powder coated silver, so it was just a case of working through each area of the bike and tackling issues as they arose.

Here are some shots of the the first re build attempt:

125cc engine out of its box, at this point it still turns freely so it's not seized!

Just about ready to put the engine back in the frame and start wiring it all back up.

Engine back in without drama, however, locating all the nuts and bolts was tricky as they were in various tubs, there was method to it when I was stripping it down!

Started refitting the hoses and the oil tank is back in.

I had the forks machined and re chromed, I also stripped the old paint from the fork tubes, re oiled and new seals installed.