Honda CR125 CAT FINNING Carl Nunn

Well fate would have me enter an old Motocross club reunion , where I rode a friends 1989 CR125 and I enjoyed its quirky little bike feel . So much that I started trawling the auction sites . However I bought a very clean CRF250 2007 , from a friend with a fresh rebuild . It does everything I need in a bike , however, all my friends have Evo or Super Evo bikes as well , & I felt left out . So I began checking out the auction sites again . I came across a clean looking 96 CR125 , only 5 miles from home and that was owned by a friend of a friend . I went to have a look and it looked ok , the owner Michael races Hondas and builds them up as a hobby , he was going to build a 96 but with about 3 bikes on the go he just wanted to flip this one . I took it for a spin , which was interesting it had no back brake and lots of bits missing including shrouds and even the kill switch . I was interested , the bike was only worth about £650-£700 however, Mick kindly offered to strip the bike and clean it up for me ( as I'm a bit of a show pony ) & would build a cool bike if I bought it for £1000 and paid for any parts required . I haven't got a clue about the insides of an engine so this was an offer not to refuse . So I handed over the £1000 and with a budget of about £500 looked forward to being the owner of a CR125 once again . I asked Mick would it be possible to build a CAT Honda ....... then the budget just flew out of the window !

The main problem with the 96 CAT was it ran White Power Extreme 50mm forks the original I had owned had Carl's name on them and I even have a set of spare forks with Rob Herrings name on them , which I'm still trying to find , in one of my garages somewhere . The suspension was amazing on the CAT , but the engine sounded sweet thanks to its DEP and Carbon tail pipe . So prioritys were ! WP50's and a Carbon tail pipe . Oh dear , both were rare as hens teeth to find , then the engineering required to fit the front end , I stupidly said ok what about a Pepsi Honda , the sticker kits were just becoming available . But deep down I knew this was a cop'out . Then in America an ex Team was selling off old stock Factory parts and amongst its sale was a virtually brand new Carbon Fibre CR125 tail pipe for $200 plus postage . £300 later and ( after import would rape me ) about a month and a half it was on my kitchen table !

Now another change , the 96 CAT although originally estimated as an easyish build was proving suspension wise to be a mission . What I thought was going to be an easier option was the 97 CAT which Carl Nunn won the 1997 British Championship on . I actually saw Carl ride it at Reading Supercross track and thought wow what a pretty bike . ( I had bought the 1996 original CAT now from Gary Butler who used to make parts for the Honda Team ) so another call to Mick , we are going 1997 CAT but using a 1996 frame !

So looking at what was essential to the build now was a pair of gold Talon wheels .... oh . No longer made with those centres . So months of world wide searches I came across a pair of gold great condition centres with a manky old wheel attached to the front . These went off to CMS Wheels for a fresh set of rims and spokes . Some £700 later they arrived better than new .

So then off to Herts MX to get some new tyres as nobody wanted the job of fitting tyres to these blingy wheels

So next up was the strip down , to assess how bad was the bike

To be fair the engine did not look too bad , it even had some new nuts and bolts on it , but this was going to get stripped bare

Taking the engine apart it was obvious this was going to need a lot of work ....

Everything was worn or dirty and a full strip , clean or in this case soda blast was needed to re assess .

So on close inspection , the bearings were shot , water pump iffy' the cylinder looked ok like it had a recent coating even the piston looked reusable . But this far in we decided to change .... everything , so strip it down to every single last nut bolt and washer

Everything was scrutineered and virtually binned

Thanks I will update later !

Next whilst the engine was split was to get the frame stripped out . It was not in a bad state with no rust or dinks, the sub frame when split and stripped showed a couple of tiny pin holes by the mounting point so it was off to my brothers workshop for him to angle grind out the rot , fresh welding and a re-grind down to as good as new !

So with the frame and subframe in primer , it was time for a nice fresh coat of Honda White

Now it was beginning to look like a motocross bike again , so next went in the new steering bearings & then to decide on what to hang at the front . The 96-97 standard forks were ok and the set the bike came with were not in a bad shape , but 20 year old technology had moved on so we decided to slot in a set of 2002 CR forks that have been fettled by RG3 and also some local suspension specialists & have a much plusher movement . however, they will not fit in the standard triple clamps , so a set of PR Taper Billet top clamps were sent of to Dentons for some machining to enable the new forks to slot in .

Opting for the standard bars on the original 97 also poised problems , the Pro Taper / Answer billet top clamp came with billet 28mm clamps for the oversized bars , so alternative bar clamps had to be sourced , the first set were about 3mm too short , though for now allowed us to mount the bars to enable moving around the workshop. The Talon wheels also proved to be having none of it , & we had to go through a couple of sets of specially made by Talon spacers to set up the front end .

now all the parts we had sent away to be soda blasted had returned , looking absolutely fantastic thoroughly recommended ,however, there is still more to do until the builds finished , however , in the worktop now was a whole load of cool looking parts , including cylinder head, gearbox casing , kickstart , cylinder head brackets and even brackets you couldn't see ! Covers for the power valves etc . It was like Christmas

Now that the brake casings were back it was time to put them back together with all new internal components , pistons pins etc etc , for a small part the internal parts were quite expensive about £100 per brake , though it was becoming obvious now that this was not going to be a quick or cheap build

The front brake hose although working , was looking a bit worse for wear , alternatives were , aftermarket , custom or refurbish . In the end we went for refurbish , another friend had just had some success with a KX rebuild and had some heat shrink over sleeping left over in clear and black , so with some strict instructions and a steady hand I stripped off the old dirty tired sleeving and fitted with some fresh sleeving ! Wow I even saved myself some money .

To get the rolling chassis , attention to the rear shock and swinging arm was needed . The shock was off to RG3 for a new bump stop etc , the swinging arm however on removal of the rubber chain protector etc had been worn through so much a hole had appeared . So back to the auction sites , but nothing good out there . After numerous calls I finally found a replacement in extremely good condition with new bearings and very very clean , at a shade over £100 plus delivery this was yet again one of the good deals we were able to make on this build , don't worry though more expense and bad deals lay ahead . With the replacement swing arm in we were able to put some old wheels in and the bike began to look like a bike again momentarily .