Due to a mix of boredom from my office job and a surge of nostalgia (and reading too many build threads on vital) I decided I wanted to do a rebuild project as well. I saw some showa 47 on the German small prints paired with idolizing the Hondas of the mid nineties (I was a kid but still McGrath was my idol like for probably many), I decided to buy an absolute piece of trash CR125. I bought the overpriced bike in late 23. and I am still in the process of rebuilding.
Here in Central Europe they are rare especially in good condition. With this one was not. Here are a few pictures to give you an idea. The first three are from the advert.
As you can see she has been taken care off really nicely. I think there were 4 layers of paint.
After opening the engine I was greeted by some RTV which have hidden some damage to the engine cases unfortunately. I did not notice them.
I fabricated some pieces to weld on the damaged areas. I find a guy who did the welding. Not the best but it will do. I also found a replacement inner clutch cover.
The bike is fully stripped and in parts. I have started on several pieces but so far only the shock has been serviced (not by me).
I will keep posting to start to document more of this journey.
I am also open to purchase any trick items for this bike.
Another surprise was the swingarm. I hope it is visible on the photos.
Needless to say I needed a replacement.
I got lucky on eBay and found one in very good shape for 120USD.
Good luck on your build! They are still very fun bikes.
Don't see too many Swiss or French posters on vital, pretty cool man! What's your local track out there?
! Great bikes… keep the updates coming….
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I live right next to France. Which is good because they have good tracks and the fees are low. There are 2 tracks within 20-30 minutes of driving. Bartenheim and Rixheim. And they are nice. Good flow and lots of fun. The former GP track villars sous ecout is less than 50 miles away. Buti am not sure if you can train on it. Also the 94 MXdN track of roggenburg is fairly close. But there is no training allowed. I would say compared to Germany it’s pretty good here.
One thing I wanted to learn ever since doing bike maintenance on my own is welding. The frame and subframe need some attention. The welds are not pretty but they last. the bottom holes of the footpeg holder were worn out. I ordered some stainless steel bungs (?) and welded them on.
One of the subframe rails had very strong chain marks on the inside and a small hole on the outside. This needed to be addressed. I welded on a flat piece on the inside (the chainside) and on the outside I ordered the correct diameter chromoly tube fabricated by eye and thought good enough.
Cool build man, excited to see the progress. I assume a gas shielded mig welder? Nice looking welds for a "first timer"!
Thanks. I have so much respect for the craftsmanship. It must be very satisfying seeing your actual work at the end of the day.
I used a TIG welder. For the footpeg holder repair I needed something more precise. I am sure though that it can be done with the MIG welder.
I need weld this little cross bar on again. Could anyone with a steel frame CR help me out here? I need to know how far back from the top it has to be. I did not take pictures before 🤦♂️
Also little update regarding the cylinder. I sent it to Italy. Let’s see if this will add a bit of power or not. Any thoughts? Is it a rip off or worth it?
All I had was a standard tape measure. But I think if you bolt the subrame up and just tack it on it should be fine. This is off a 96
Cool! Didn't know Srs was still in business. Their pistons are good.
Would you mind share the link?
Thank you. Really appreciate it.
I went to http://www.srsracing.com/ and sent an email to them srs@srsracing.it
I am not sure if they speak English. I translated everything into Italian with Google translate. It still worked out.
They said they wanted to start making the cylinder heads again soon. But I don’t know how serious they are.
Hope this helps.
How much did they charge for the porting and head modification?
They wanted 500€ for the mods incl a piston and shipping. Probably a bit steep. But I did not negotiate. Probably should have done it.
Edit: I don’t think they did the head.
Nah, I would say that’s a accurate price figure for porting and a piston. But I would have expected that they cut the head to.
I don’t have the cylinder in my hands yet. Should be delivered in the next couple days. Then I will post some pictures for anyone interested. I appreciate your input Tumic.
Pit Row
There finned heads where trick. Talon Vohland was thinking about quitting in 99 at fmf Honda. He flew to Italy & tested Jeff Dements SRS cr125. It didn’t hv the bog of his USA bike not good in sx. He raced with the Srs cylinder but had to use a fmf pipe. JM Racing helped Srs with modding it to help a fellow Texan out, Jeff. A 95 cylinder isn’t much different than a 99 I think . It should run clean . I ordered kit A from a USA importer hgs srs pipe, carbon silencers, head& piston for my 04. Then he went out of buisness. JM racing built the last cr125 engine to win a title at LL . the Tara Gieger spec engine it’s real good .
I'm east of you in Georgia. I think I have the only old school Japanese bike in the whole country. All KTMs, Huskys.
I received the cylinder back from srs with a cut head and SRS piston. I do not have a picture of the piston on my phone yet but will deliver later after climbing.
I am not sure now much more than the C-port inlet they have done in terms of porting. There seem to be some marks at the edges of the exhaust port. Seems like they vapour blasted after the work.
Any thoughts? I have never had my cylinder ported, so open for comments.
You would need to measure the port heights and compare to a stock cylinder to see if they have raised the exhaust port. It’s hard to see the transfer ports in those pictures.
Did they port match the cases?
I don’t see any traces of that. But i checked and it matches already.
Small update on the bottom end
Another update: forks are finished. I put gold valves in them. I did not have much support from race tech at all but I guess being in Europe is part of it. I just subtracted 10kg off my weight for the calculation to mimick them going on a 125 instead of the 250f. The calculated valve stack is much slimmer than stock (as these cartridges are from an 09 crf250r). It’s very experimental if anyone has a valve stack suggestion for gold valves I am all ears and happy to share mine too. Engine wise I need some clutch parts and I want to do the exhaust valve governor mod but I don’t have those washers. Slow progress but better than none. Happy Easter
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