CNC brake & clutch levers.

CNC brake & clutch levers.

There was a scratch, well more of a little flat scrape on the tip of the original 'cast' brake lever from the previous owner, kind of like it had gone & scraped against the side of a wall. Most likely done along with those scratches on the bar end that side (a previous blog post). You know the kind of thing that happens to a bicycle all the time. It didn't effect how it works in anyway and I put a drop of black Hammerite on it, so it couldn't really be seen but, still it would be nice to replace it. Obviously it wasn't a big deal so I left it until now.

Looking on eBay at the spare parts I notice rather a lot of the new CNC aluminum levers, obviously you can't get one for this model 'particularly'. Well, maybe in the far east under one of its other guises there are 3rd party parts made especially for the bike, I don't know? I'm not particularly keen on cast levers I've had a clutch lever snap on an old Kawasaki years ago (It did get some usage) and cheaper quality Chinese Goped levers snap in two pieces before that were replaced with aluminium ones, and aluminum sounds good now too if I'm honest. Just for that if not aesthetic purposes.

However, I realise that body wise the bike is a clone of the previous shape Honda CBR 125, although it has more of an carbed reliable Honda 'CBF' type engine with the OHC, instead of the fuel injected engine of the CBR (not that it is a problem really as 4 - stroke single cylinder 125ccs generally all perform similarly in performance, it's just a reliable design for them to choose, as well as being implemented elsewhere on other bikes. You might squeeze a few more MPH out of some, the OHC will vibrate less than the OHV engines, but they are all pretty similar). So really it's a cross between the CBR and the CBF in a sense. Anyway, back to the body. Upon realising it's CBR 125 isms again I looked for a set of CNC levers for the CBR 125 / 125R 2007 - 2010 era. Then I checked them against the spare part original cast levers picture and they looked identical. It's not the main lever it's the part that fits to the bike, the black part on these particular CNC levers you need to look at. Now as an engineer I know full well that things could be well out between the two just from looking at a picture, it doesn't mean anything. The working 'design style mechanism' might just have been copied but the dimensions might well be different.

They were around the same price for the two mailed from the far east as the one spare original cast brake lever, so I thought bugger it, I'll take a risk & see. Now there are two types, long & short levers. I went for the long type as you can put your two or three fingers over the front brake for those times your still on the throttle, when you may need to brake. With the short ones you can't always do this. Now they come in all sorts of anodised colours and there's the original more generic choice of plain aluminum or anodised black. Of course I was sticking to the theme with gold, although the black would've been fine if there wasn't any in stock.

They're mainly ordered in from abroad and the far east on eBay but, postage is either free or very cheap anyway. Just as long as you don't mind waiting a couple of weeks. They have an adjustment switch, 1 to 6 which adjusts the lever to how you want it to sit to or from your fingers. They cost from about £9.00 up to around £20.00 from abroad, it's up to you to shop around on there, you will probably pay around £15.00 or so like me. Again, it's not a lot at all. The ones from sellers based in the UK were going for around £28.00 upwards and they're exactly the same thing so, it's up to you. If like me you already have usable levers, wait and pay less. If you've damaged yours and can't wait pay more & have them arrive quicker. Some were engraved but with 'CBR 125' you might not mind that if they're the only ones available at the time you're reading this but, I'm assuming since it's actually not a CBR 125 that the original plain ones will be the best bet.

 When looking at the fitting ends in this comparison photo below the CNC one looks bigger because it's closer to the camera but they are in fact the right fitting.

The hole diameter is the same and both notches fit ok and do the job they're supposed to do just fine.

The clutch handle is the same, everything fits fine.

Removing the brake lever and fitting this new one is really simple. Undo the nut underneath on the bolt holding the lever on there. Then undo and remove the bolt itself with a spanner or socket. The bolt should just pull out once the nut underneath is removed but it will be stiff, a few turns with the spanner or socket will work it out.

Once the bolt is removed you can swap the levers over and replace & tighten the nut / bolt. If you would like to add some grease to the bolt first, that's up to you. I would go for something thick like engineering grease or Vaseline not WD40 that will run all over the lever everywhere.

Now the clutch lever is a little different as you have to get the wire out the old lever and also put it back in the CNC lever. If your used to doing this sort of thing with the brakes on a bicycle then it shouldn't be much of a problem. The part that screws in on the end of the cable is moved to align its slot with the slot in the frame and so is the ring next to it, then the wire can be removed from under the handle & pulled through the slot.

However, it's easier to align the slots as mentioned above, as far screwed in as possible, just to get some slack for the cable, then just remove the bolt holding the lever on and pull the handle out moving the cable through the slots as you do, then you can easily remove the cable and put it into the new CNC handle. You can then of course locate the new lever and bolt it back down in reverse order. Then adjust the ring and screw so the cable is locked inside (the slots no longer align). The bolt is the same kind of thing as before, except that it has a flat head screw driver slot on the top, so you will need a flat head screw driver for that.

Once they've been fitted, obviously you want to drive up and down your street to check they both work fine and do everything as they should, before checking them again more throughly on the open road!

Although everything should be fine you don't want to find out your brake doesn't work just when you need it to!!

*edit.
 When buying these be savvy, there are some people selling the same product for around £150.00 vs. £15.00:

You're not really going to get any difference in quality regardless of a name on a box or website etc. At the end of the day it's still the same product CNC machined from a block of aluminum with the same ratchet mechanism and a couple of bolts.

Changing the front lights.

Changing the forward facing bulbs.

Ok, so on to the changing over of the bulbs. In fact changing the bulbs wasn't that big of a deal with this bike after all. I was having nightmares like some sports bikes of having to remove the whole front fairing. Which is where the more boring looking bikes with the old circular chrome headlights excel 'in easy bulb access'. After removing each side quarter panel faring as I call them (the little corner pieces that are joined to the front headlight fairing and the side fairing with three screws) you can actually get good enough access to each main headlight bulb from either side. However, if you are changing the riding light bulb you will find it easier to remove the speedo / dials gauge by the two bolts, there's a little locking pin in the middle the same as with on the side panels onto the petrol tank, this just needs to be pulled up out of the rubber ring and the speedo can be just moved to the side. It won't be completely free because of the cables that are still attached.
Obviously we are changing both lights out here at once and so the speedo being moved will also give a little more room for the main headlight section.

Riding light.

The riding light is located under the curved black plastic piece you can see in the above picture. You should be able to locate it by it's wiring leading up to it. The bulb is locked in place by the keyed rubber holder it's located in, that is turned and locked in the location. You will need to turn this in the opposite direction to unlock it, then you can pull it out to get to the bulb.

The bulb then will just pull out in an upwards motion from it's holder. Be careful not to use too much pressure or you will shatter the bulb into your fingers! The replacement will just slot back down into the holder, in this case we are using the L.E.D T10 replacements as shown in the previous blog post Do you see the light?

Just a quick test to see if it's working before I put it back in place and you can clearly see it's already much brighter as well as much more whiter opposed to the duller yellowish hue of previous, although using less wattage.

The same can be said when put back into the lens and turned to lock it back in place. Much more whiter and brighter through the lens.


The main headlight.

When it comes to changing the main headlight bulbs, theres a rubber cap on the wiring for the bulb which helps stop moisture getting onto the connection, this needs to be carefully moved / slid back on the wire to expose the bulb.

Then pull off the square black connector block.
After this there is a two pronged locking pin mechanism holding the bulbs in place. These need to both be un-hooked and then flipped back (they will flip right back) and the bulb can be removed.

Now you can put your new HS1 bulbs / replacements in place in reverse order. There are three tangs on the HS1 bulb's edge that locate as a key to the correct orientation of the bulb, so that shouldn't be a problem. Followed by making sure the rubber cover is back in place to keep the rain / water at bay.

Then once that's been done we can check the bulb works. And just repeat the process for the other side.

As mentioned at the top, if just changing these bulbs the speedo doesn't really need to be removed, just the quarter panels. And if your not changing dead bulbs then it's always wise to keep the original bulbs safe for a spare in an emergency!

Bar Ends.

Bar Ends.

The bar ends on the handlebars are supposed to be there to help with vibration felt through the bars / to help dissipate it. As well as tidying up the look of the ends.

There were a few scratches on the underside of one bar end from the previous owner, plus I saw some universal 7/8" bar ends for sale on eBay. I assumed my handle bars were 7/8", I didn't get my vernier out to bother checking. That's what made it a good little hop up, they were only a couple of £s. It's so simple anyone can do it. And if you really aren't sure after this there's bound sure to be a You Tube video or two on the web on the subject of fitting to follow.

There were a few different universal bar ends to choose from, mainly CNC style aluminum. I used to work for a company that produces CNC / turned components at one point in the past so I know what kind of thing to expect. There were also different colours to choose from with some anodising of the aluminum. I chose to keep with my obvious theme of black & gold.

The bar ends operate by pinching a rubber bung that fits over the main long screw, when it's squashed it expands inside the tube of the handlebar locking it in place. You have to screw the nut on the end quite firmly but not too hard, remember it expands and you need to get it in but, if it's too lose it won't tighten. When it's in place you can tighten it by tuning the screw from the front of the bar end.

After removing the old bar ends I decided to remove the new rubber bungs and reuse the old ones off the old bar ends. They are longer and a touch thicker. I know the new ones may well of still worked because they still need to expand but I knew these bungs work as they've just come from these particular handle bars and worked previously. I recommend you do the same, there's just more grip area for a solid lock. The nut was embedded in the end of my bung upside down, if yours is the same it will function just the same way and is the same size thread as my new screw so I didn't have to worry there. If not you could reuse your old bar end screw I've no doubt. The new screw was an Allen type, whereas the old one was of the Phillips type.

When removing the old bar ends loosen the screw which will stop / reverse the expansion of the bung and you should be able to pull and wiggle it out. Don't undo the nut completely or you will pull the bar end and screw out leaving the bung stuck inside!

 Once the bung is screwed on just right, insert the complete bar end into the handle bar. And wiggle it back in place. You could use a rubber mallet or the rubber coated handle end of an ratchet to tap it back into place. Remember a metal hammer will scratch & damage the bar end! If you want to use a lubricant to help it back in don't use WD40 on the bung because it destroys rubber! Instead try washing up liquid.

After the bar end is in place just tighten the screw to lock the rubber bung in place. And you've finished. 

The old bar ends were heavier than these newer aluminum ones. What effect that will have on the vibration issue or whether it will is unknown at this point in time.

New Battery / Alarm Immobilizer .

New Battery.

Anyone looking for a new battery for the bike should know that it takes a 'YT-X7A - BS' 12v size battery. Any battery with that code / no will fit.

A couple of weeks ago I bought a new battery as my original OEM one had finally become shatted. Of course I suspected the charging system might also be at fault like any vehicle (this bike uses a magneto / stator not an alternator system) but, after charging the original battery, using it for a week & it going tits up again and resorting to having to use the kick-start then using the new battery and it charging it fine and every thing is still ok, my hunch was correct.

Tayna Batteries is one such place that sells batteries online for a fair price:

https://www.tayna.co.uk/search/ytx7a

I would say the 'Powerline' battery is the best value on that particular list as it is only £9.99 & has the joint highest capacity at 7 Ah, it also has the second highest CCA at 130A. This means in laymens terms it performs better at cold temperatures (-18*c test temp) than one with a lesser rating. Not that the other one won't work in the cold, just that this one is better rated (cold cranking amperes). 

This is the battery I chose for the bike of course, as I think anyone would've been a fool to pay nearly £30.00 for one with a lesser spec & touching £40.00 for the one with a slightly higher CCA rating, for a 125cc. Not to mention you could of bought 4 of these if you were willing to throw £40.00 on a battery, not that it is entirely a good idea to do so as you could find them selling for £7.99 next year on special and you won't get through all those in a year.

I'll be honest though, it made me realise the kick-start really was a good addition to leave it on the engine. I did paint mine black with Hammerite simply because the silver stood out against the black paintwork, but it does come in useful from time to time. Otherwise you would have to of rolling (bump) started it with a low battery, which I did out of laziness while about to set off on a slope the once the other week with the bike. Button starts do use a bit of battery power to crank on motorcycles, you can see that by watching the voltage needle when using it. The kick-start none at all. I notice some newer Chinese models now leaving the kick-start off, a lot of European and Japanese bikes have for a while, I actually feel happy with it on. After all, you can't exactly bump something easily while sat at a junction if it stalls with a hooky battery. That won't happen now of course but again at some point in the future it may.


Lextek Alarm / Immobilizer.

These have been around for a while now and I finally bit the bullet and bought one for the bike. Not only do you get the alarm but in a sense you get a spare engine start button as there's a start button on the key fob.  Mainly for the price they're worth it just to bring yearly insurance down next time around, as obviously an alarmed bike means less to pay. However they do seem fairly loud from casing You Tube videos.

The alarm is a universal alarm and comes with a plug loom for just that (to be fitted by someone who knows what they're doing!) to fit to any bike. However, there is a plug that just fits onto Lexmoto bikes, into where a loop plug is temporarily placed, and it's just plug and play. However it's just finding or knowing before hand where exactly on your bike the plug is before taking things apart. I have a hunch that it's at the back under the glove box or in one of the back side fairings somewhere on the XTRS? I couldn't spy it while changing the battery but, there were some wires in the back side fairing I couldn't make out. I may get a better idea when changing the rear light bulb in the area but, I've been commenting You Tube vids of alarmed Skyjets etc in the hope of finding out, so far nothing. Of course I'll blog the install.

Do you see the light?

Lighting improvements.

The headlights are ok / adequate but could do with being brighter. Of a night I generally find myself gravitating towards the high beam trigger a lot more than I should do. There is a switch but the trigger just seems the best for a momentary burst of high beam. Looking to see where some junctions / turn offs start at night being one of the issues before having to drop to low beam for on coming traffic. The low beams really should be good enough for this on approach and could do with being a bit brighter if at all possible.

I've heard stories about people using upgraded brighter bulbs on these bikes and in some instances melting the bulb mounting (not designed for such power output and gets too hot). Or with the the battery / electrical charging hardware (stator/magneto, voltage regulator etc) not being able to keep up with the power drain demands of the higher wattage bulbs and flattening the battery even whilest running. I've heard stories of people using just one higher power bulb instead of two to get around it. I wasn't going to do that.

First things first over the past couple of years there has been jumps in the L.E.D area of auto replacement bulbs. These L.E.Ds can match or in most cases be much brighter than bulbs and use a lot less wattage in the process.

What we need to do is look at the original specs for the bulbs in question.

The original bulb's specs:

Riding light: T10 fitments (original 1.7W output. Another is listed available at 5W output).

Headlight bulb: HS1 fitments (original 12v 35W output)

Rear / brake light: P21 fitments (original 5W output)

[the indicator bulbs have long since been converted to L.E.D and for that look back through the blog]


What we don't want to do is exceed the wattage, we want to match or undercut it to avoid any problems. Remember, it's possible to find brighter replacements that use less power output than standard bulbs. Finding running light & rear / brake light replacements that do will mean less draw on the stator and the battery going flat.

Running Light.

The running light is a light that gets used mainly in the day on a motorcycle, instead of the main headlight so you can be seen easier in traffic, especially on dull cloudy days. You would switch to main head lights at night of course. Although if your headlights fail it wouldn't provide much light but would perhaps allow other road users to see you and allow you to make your way back home carefully in an emergency. I would stick to well lit roads in such a situation. The dash also lights in conjunction as it does with main headlights. The running light is the small triangular light on the top. It is the equivalent of a car sidelights.

So we need to find a bulb that is much brighter than stock if possible and at a bonus uses even less power. I look to L.E.Ds of course for this. And Ebay is the best location. Sure enough there are many T10 fitting L.E.Ds on offer. Of course we need WHITE lights. It is illegal to drive around with green or blue or any other coloured lights on the roads. And they need to be in keeping with the dimensions of the original. They need to fit essentially. So any exaggerated length looking setups need to be avoided. And they need to be bright enough for our purposes. Since T10 fitting is the same for most car sidelights one designed or advertised for such a task would be great as it would both be bright enough and fit.

I decided on this 8 SMD option:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/T10-CAR-BULBS-LED-ERROR-FREE-CANBUS-8-SMD-XENON-WHITE-W5W-501-SIDE-LIGHT-BULB-/281450157390?var=&hash=item4187bc954e:m:m9jxk3QjBoCvJEZpsOPy0HA

They have a brightness rating of 6000K & output less than 1W (Watt) in power! They only cost a couple of pounds (£s). I ordered two so I have a spare now for later, so I don't need to go looking again in future. That's another thing they tend to last much longer than bulbs anyway, if they are good enough quality. That's a little bit of our overall wattage output shaved off.

Rear / Brake light.

Now onto the rear / brake light. Any P21 fitting L.E.D brake light replacement of choice will do. Again it's a standard fitting for cars also. As such your likely to get a pack of two again and they should be equally as cheap. One thing you need to consider is which rear lens you have on the bike? If you have a red one with a white bulb you will need a white l.e.d (although a red one would still work fine behind a red lens. The light is going to be red no matter what). If like me you have the clear lens version then you definitely need a RED l.e.d!

I decided on this super bright 50 RED L.E.D option:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2x-380-RED-50-LED-1206-STOP-BRAKE-TAIL-LIGHT-BULBS-LAMPS-1157-BAY15D-P21-5W-12V-/271989652271?hash=item3f53d8bb2f:g:fQ4AAOSwKIpV-5TY

They output at 3.5 W where as the standard bulb was 5 W output. So that's a lot less again. They are coming from abroad but it's something you may have to consider waiting a couple weeks for if you can't find any local.

Main headlight.

Now this was the hard one (and arguably the most important and expensive). We already know that 45W HS1 bulbs etc were out of the question, we know they exist (or rather I do any way), not only do they get too hot, they draw too much power. Now, so far we've shaved a bit of power draw off elsewhere with our other replacements. At a push the rig could probably handle 37 / 38 W output now with out draining out the battery, if such an output bulb existed? However, we are still best looking at sticking to the standard 35W output of the original but brighter of course.

Again, I search for any L.E.D set ups with HS1 fitting. I find some 'CREE L.E.D' jobs which offer between 6000 - 10000K brightness with much less power usage (30W). There was an issue over whether they were legal for road use however. I think it was to do with the different colours available and white only being legal for road use. Of course it was the white I was looking at but, as I couldn't be sure and someone mentioning something about them working better with specially designed reflector coating (silver coating where you mount them) for focusing the beam, I decided to look elsewhere and picked up a packet of two 35W Japanese 4200K Xenon Super White Halogen bulbs from HIDS Direct for £9.99. I might order the Cree L.E.D.s and check them out at a later date but, at least I know these will work well and better than the originals for the meantime..

http://www.hids-direct.co.uk/hs1-12v-35-35w-xtreme-white-motorbike-atv-bulbs/

If I choose to fit them myself  (cheapest option) I will likely post another blog in future on the process, as it's not straight forward and involves the removing of fairings etc on most motorcycles just to change a bulb unlike most cars.

Since I use the bike for transport and all of my current bulbs are in good working order it wouldn't be wise for me to put it out of action to change the bulbs while I workout what exactly needs to be removed and what doesn't for this bike to change the various bulbs. If over winter there's a snow / ice period that it can't be used anyway then it might be a good time for me to do so.

Stuck clutch

Stuck Clutch.

I recently had a stuck clutch with the bike, it's a problem all motorcycles are susceptible to and usually if left unused for a while or if a motor oil like synthetic 10W 40 that is designed to be used in cars is used by mistake. This oil contains other additives which apparently does not work well with a clutch in a wet clutch scenario and over time can cause trouble. Of course a proper 10W 40 '4 stroke' motorcycle oil should be used. I'm assuming the previous owner used the correct oil type, however maybe it would make sense to do your own fresh oil change when purchasing a bike anyway, regardless of how 'full' it is. The bike was stood around for a little while as well over summer while spending a lot of time visiting sick relatives in hospital but, again I wouldn't of thought it long enough to cause the problem, however it was what it was and I had a stuck clutch.

It was a problem that was easily fixed, just a bit fiddly and a touch time consuming. All I needed to do was drain the oil by removing the sump bolt underneath, then remove the clutch cable from the actuator arm, remove the kick-start then open / remove the crank case to expose that part of the engine. Then you need to remove the clutch basket (there's a cir-clip to remove once you've removed the bolts & springs & took apart the front thrust plate assembly), open it up, remove the clutch plates and rings and clean them up with white spirit or petrol on a paint brush, then dry them with the airline or a dry rag and put it all back together and fill with fresh oil.

HOWEVER, to remove the clutch basket you need to remove the 'oil filter rotor' which over hangs the clutch basket and I couldn't get the 3 screws out myself without rounding the screws off. Using a blow torch on the area they are screwed in, so it expands to help loosen the screws always works wonders but was out of the question because of the proximity to the petrol tank. Rounding the screws off would be very bad as it wouldn't be able to be removed at all without destructive means of the oil filter rotor which then would have to be replaced with a new one. I had no choice but to take it to a mechanic shop with the means to remove the screws.


 I had also since discovered that a brand new set of clutch plates for Honda CG / CB or FMI 156/ 157 were about from only £7.00 on eBay if you have a look through the list. Although when cleaned the current plates would be fine, and another set I have in a clutch basket I bought from a breaker just in case the problem was much worse would also be fine (none were actually worn out), for the sake of seven quid I might as well replace the plates for new ones while I have the chance. You don't open the engine up like this all the time and replacing with new ones now means I won't have to replace due to wear for a longer length of time. So I asked the mechanic to fit the new plates before putting it back together for me.

In the end we have a working clutch again. But it's cost me for the sake of  3 oil filter rotor screws!

Clutch considerations.

Like mentioned before, in case it was a worse scenario than the 'stuck clutch' I purchased a cheap replacement whole clutch basket complete with plates and rings, from an online breaker. Coming from a 2013 XTRS. Now the basket, although able to fit (the dimensions are all the same for 156 / 157 FMI clutch baskets and are interchangeable engine to engine) there are a few differences. For a start it had a five bolt thrust plate opposed to the four bolt one already on the bike. This wasn't the problem however, the bearing was smaller and I only had a bush sleeve (known as the rod spacer on the parts page) to fit the lager bearing in the original basket, so the mechanic had to use that basket again. Luckily nothing was wrong with the old basket anyway. But it's something to consider. And something breakers should supply you with (the rod spacer to fit that baskets bearing size for 156 FMI engines) or indeed if your buying a general 156 / 157 FMI clutch basket new that's not necessarily labelled for the XTRS.

If you need to clean your plates and rings remember to pay attention to how they are assembled. There is a ring between every plate. Make a note of the correct order for when you reassemble. If you're not sure, we live in an age where you can take a photo on our phones of something for future reference. All in all it is a do able job, unless you get the same trouble I did with the 3 screws in the oil filter rotor. Believe me it's not worth knackering the screws, take it to a mechanic that has to deal with this stuff all the time. The only other option would be to get an angle grinder and cut the oil filter rotor where the screws sit, then buy a replacement oil filter rotor. If you manage to get the screws out I see about getting some decent steel replacements the same size and thread. I can't see any replacement screws on the CMPO site at a glance in any case.

CMPO clutch parts:

http://www.chinesemotorcyclepartsonline.co.uk/search.php?name=xtrs+clutch#results