Matt N

so to sum them up theyre pretty sh*t then? lol I've been looking for a YZ as I had one years ago but theyre too expensive, even the late 80's bikes are.

yeah i just read a few reviews about chinese bikes and they say that most the bolts come loose and bits fall off. I'm going to have a look on ebay and see if i can pick up a spares or repairs bike but a genuine one and then fix it using 2nd hand parts.

I've been looking around for a cheap off road bike that i can ride round fields etc and I came across a few copy bikes like apache etc. Are these any good? if theyre reliable enough then I'll get one as theyre a few hundred quid cheaper than genuine bikes but they still use genuine honda & yamaha engines.

Thanks for the write up Jim, that's been really helpful. I did what you said and placed the spark plug near the cylinder head and there was no spark at all. Im going to buy a new plug and cap to see if that eliminates the problem. My dad checked the compression last night and he said it seems fine. If its still not working after I change the plug and cap I will clear out the carb and then look into changing the loom as it looks like a very simple one. Thanks again for your help mate, much appreciated Matt

I've got a 1980 yamaha RS 125 and its totally dead. When i first got it it worked fine but now there doesn't seem to be any life in it at all. I replaced the battery and kicked started it and it sound like it was going to turn over and then after that nothing. I tried bumping it for ages but no luck! I know the bike has got some bad earths and I was thinking about replacing the entire loom as I can get a 2nd hand one on the cheap. As I'm not very clued up with bikes so is there anything I should look for, change etc? Also is the battery 6v? Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated? Here's a picture of my bike: