Midlife crisis…perhaps but I just bought my first road bike. 😁

[Madcoop]

Hi folks. We’ll, as per title, I have just bitten the bullet and bagged myself a GT125R, 08 when an opportunity which seemed to good to pass up came along. This bike has only covered 8.5k in its lifetime, and has been dry stored since the fella I bought it from purchased it several years ago. This was one of several bikes which this fella was having to move in a big hurry so he could make space for his latest impulse buy, a mint RS Turbo. He literally had two days to get the bikes away and I was stood there, so I made him a cheeky offer of just a few hundred pounds and ended up coming home with this little beauty on my trailer.😃

Now I am not bad on the spanners, and I have what I would call a fair understanding of mechanics, but I am by no means an expert. Self taught amateur is more like it, with all my experience being gained with cars and not bikes. Obviously I have a lot to learn, but this bike and the help of this forum will hopefully have her back on the road and me a bit better informed, in no time.

I’m not going to lie, the bike came to me running pretty rough, but with it sitting so long the issue was only thought to be carb related. I have had a few other bike owners review the videos of her running both before and after I cleaned the first carb I’ve ever stripped…lol and they are of the same opinion that its carbs. Overall, cleaning the carb, changing the fuel, sparks and filters has made her run better, but she is still not right. Oil is out at the minute and to me she sounds a little tappy (but again I have limited experience) so I am hoping to check the valve clearances and make sure all the timing marks are lined up later on today. The presence of an updated cam chain tensioner makes me a little nervous, along with the fact the air filter screws were completely seized (like they had never been off!) and there was quite a large dome of filings on the oil plug magnet. The one thing going in its favour is the fact that it is only 8.5k, though I shudder at the thought of how many years.  Hopefully there isn’t anything there that can’t be put right even if the servicing has been questionable.

All in all I love the size of this bike, and am excited about working on it, learning from it, and ultimately riding it! This is not a project I take on myself either. My son and I will be working away at this with a view to me passing my test on it and then being able to then give him a sorted, learner legal bike to run around on when he turns 17. Hopefully the nice folks on here will be able to help steer me in the areas that are a bit grey for me, and likewise I wiĺl be happy to help out where I can from my own experiences.

Thanks for listening guys. Looking forward to the ride…🏍

 

[♠️ M77]

Hey Iain!
Quite the intro but what a story lol.

To speed you up literally, as you are “officially” the new owner and it’s day zero with her (however old she is) , the best maintanance tasks performed to these twins is:

– Oil = Must be JASO MA2 on the bottle (no matter how polished the sales man is!)
Ester oil is better , GP bikes use it and these little twins run high rpm lives, so spare no expense on good oil!  (Motul ,  RockOil TRM UK,  Silkolene are who you should look at, period.)

– Ignition coils /  Regulator  = They cause all kinds of drama, sadly these 2 are #1 on electrical woes.  We tend to change em to better ones,  the 650 folks have it worse  (they even change over to a Kawasaki stator!)
I’m always fixing someone’s hyo every month , i know full well my swear jar is full lol.

However, there is a couple of topics in the technical section where i went quite deep on how to check parts like: Battery , Charge system (stator/regulator) , coils n sparking (plugs) , fueling  (carb and all piping)

I was replying to the other topics to troubleshoot rough running ,  if not i can always link you to whatever question you have to ask , chances i probably have answered it nicely.

Away from the engine bay ,  the next checks are:
– Fairing screws  (stainless please) – Ditch the cheese ones , as they are known to seize up in the brackets!  (GREAT FRAME but bolts need to be stainless!)
– Tyres. Michelins and Bridgestones are made for these top heavy bikes and critically you want sticky tyres not suicidal bricks like “Shinkos , Avons!”
– Chains = Get a 520 set. There have been enough drama on the facebook group about snapped 428 chains and they make the bike slower on hills 100%.
– Brakes =  Stainless lines even just 1 at the front is night & day. I never looked back, not many do, that’s as blunt as i can say.   As per manual “any hose” air brake fuel etc…. must go in 2-4yrs or it rots inside.   Stainless = a decade plus even, so fit & forget lol.

– Brakes = Again, yes, the hyos will happily eat chinese pads in weeks.  You will want to only use EBC HH or my fav “Goldfren Carbon Ceramics”  = Ceramics last ages & they like heat.  So wet braking stays strong  , compared to a hot organic that’s just glazing over the disc! (& organics really mess up wheels! = too much brake dust.)

Lucky for you it’s summer soon lol , so be quick and get her to speed!

[Madcoop]

Hi Marcel, and thanks for such a concise reply. I have in actual fact already read through a lot of the posts on the forum. Particularly those that I thought would be relevant to me.

So far, I have changed the plugs, stripped and cleaned the carb, swapped out the fuel and vacuum lines as per your guides and have a fresh filter and oil to go back in when I get to that point.

Unfortunately I have already come up against a stumbling block, leaving me with the valve covers off and scratching my head slightly and unwilling to rebuild until I am happy with what I am seeing. I am sure I will get my head round the problem but please look out for my post later in the relevant section regarding today’s findings. 😕 Perhaps you will be able to clear up a few of my questions.

Thanks again for your reply, and I look forward to chatting more during my journey with this lovely bike.

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