CBF 125 Back On The Road

Blog Date - 17 January 2014

Whoop whoop! The CBF 125 is back on the road and ... so far ... all appears well. 

It started with a rattle. The rattle got worse, became more of a knock. I thought it was the clutch basket, but I couldn't find anything wrong. Several people thought it was the crank. We checked, we couldn't find anything wrong. I checked other things. Nothing wrong. I changed the clutch basket anyhow because I'd bought one. I put it all back together. It's quiet again. Go figure.

So after waiting for the clutch basket. Then thinking it's not the clutch. Then stripping the top end. Then getting my mate to check the crank. Then putting it all back together with the new clutch basket. Then putting the motor back in. Then waiting for a new chain. I rode it last night.

It's always a tense time when you've been working on your bike, that first shakedown. Have I tightened the cylinder head bolts? Did I replace the washer in the centrifugal filter? Are the engine bolts all nipped up? Is the back wheel aligned correctly? You check and double check but it's still all too easy to overlook something.

It starts fine. It drops into gear OK, that clutch cable needs adjusting. It revs OK. We're off. After 500 yards I can start to relax, I'm still upright, moving and not being deafened with a loose exhaust or piston slapping around in the crankcase. After a mile I remember what I like about this bike so much. After 10 miles I'm going fine and feeling good. That will do, that will do for tonight.

I've not used the 125 to go to work though. I want to give it another dose of looking at before I deem it "completed". The last thing I need is to be stranded half way to work with something as silly as a poorly located spark plug cap. 

What can I say about the CBF? It's a real easy engine to take out, and put back in. It's a real easy engine to get the head and barrels off. I still cannot see anything wrong with the old clutch basket but the new (second hand) one is quiet so there must be some issue, surely. No matter how easy it is to work on, I really really really hope I don't need to work on it again anytime soon. 

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