Cynic

Its a peaky 16hp, on a flat it will romp 60mph, but a headwind or a grade will hurt it. A sprocket change won't help all that much as you will either lift the gearing out of the reach of the motor or on the days the wind drops she will be spanking the limiter. Same as the DT175 really, that officially has around 15hp but anything over 60 is possible but dangerous for more than breif periods. 50 is about it on any real grade. A liquid cooled DT125 of any age would destroy it performance wise.

The place to go for the real experts would be the Aircooled RD club, what they don't know you won't need to. They may have help with the parts too. As to the 200 barrels, i may be wrong but my understanding is the 125 is a 200 with smaller pots so in theory the 200 head and barrels (with proper jetting) will give you the 20 odd hp a 200 did. Bit like a Dt125 mx and a Dt175mx, bar the head barrel and piston its the same bike almost exactly.

Back in the stone age i lusted after one of those little 125's. The favorite tuning method was a 200 motor but thats a little naughty. The difference between the old stuff and anything 83 on is astonishing. Yamaha REALLY sussed out the 2 stroke with the water cooling and the powervalve etc the engine make massive power for their capacity. Tuning, strictly old school if you skip the 200 barrels (which swap i think cough cough). Pair of microns or allspeeds would be sweet if you can find them and sound superb, make a noticable difference too. Matched with a set of hi tec or boysen reeds (not the 2 stage gimmiky ones) and a good filter you could gain maybe 5 solid hp. Nev, he's talking about an RD125 DX a twin cyl road bike , not a DT.

As far as restrictions go on pre 1980 stuff, nothing. The restrictions came in around 1981ish in the UK. There may have been none at all your side of the pond.

Ok check the pump next then, best to work through logically or you get lost and miss things. Its normally something small that causes the problems. Did the bike run ok before storage?

Yes but does it inhibit the bike starting when the wires are connected together, or not connected together.

You might want to confirm what it does, depending on the wiring you may have made it definitely not start.

Holiday booked, have the confirmation sheet in my grotty mits as i speak.

Speaking as someone who was parted from his motorcycle going over the bars at around 30 miles an hour, on a country road no less and landed face first removing my visor and leaving numerous deep scars in the front of the helmet, my jacket and my gloves ruined, odly ripping the toes of my boots too. My bike was smashed after flipping end over end which funnily enough didn't do it a great deal of good. I was completely unscathed, and to this day i will never ride without jacket gloves and helmet no mater what the rules. Fate let me have one for free, lesson learned.

Never done a XJ, as far as normall practice goes its an old bike which is a plus. The carbs won't be all fancy they will just be regular cv carbs so they should come off together mounted on a rail of some kind. May have to pull the airbox to get room? Be worth having a look around the float bowls though as the older stuff quite often had a drain point on the float bowls so you could drain the carbs down, my TDR has and that is a 88 bike.

Unlikely on a 20year old bike, worth making it habit to hold the front brake and the clutch as you press the button though. 2 reasons, 1 Pulling the clutch reduces the load on the starter as the clutch will not transmit as much load, some but it will give the starter and battery an easier time. 2 If it starts and you do have an issue holding the brake will help stall it, the back brake may work as well but in my exp if something happens you grip tighter,and both feet on the floor is always better. If you didn't drain the carbs even though you added new fuel you still have the 2 year old rubbish in the carbs and much as you might hope you won't draw the new stuff through. It will gradually dilute as it blends. You would be cranking it for hours before it will go if thats the cause of the prob.

You did drain the old stuff out of the tank and carbs first?

The early bikes had 2 coils for the ig and one for the lighting, the later had 1 for ig and 1 one for lighting with a different more advanced cdi. I agree with Paul, its sounding more fuel than electrical. Did you note the jet sizes etc when she was apart. Have you changed anything in the carb. Like the float height or replaced any components for example.

Has about 2 gallons, from bone dry? Will she go if you use reserve or prime? How old is the fuel in the tank, modern stuff is crap and an engine that hasn't run for a while may need some fresh stuff to run. Where when its in regularish use it will be ok on older fuel. Like its used once a month and the fuel is 6 months old before its filled.

Job number one on any 2 stroke problem, change the plug, and more than often change it again.

Ok, now the new members section has a FAQ or frequently asked questions area, guess what the very first one is.

I don't think we have a psychic section. Why not give a bit more info on the bike and introduce yourself properly in the new members bit and then well see eh.

I remember them, looked real good in the red and white. As i recall the biggest problem at the time was the RD350. Both red and white both 350 and the diesel got wasted proper by the RD. Performance aside they were crackers, ok brakes, comfy, nowhere near as stuffy as the super dulls dream out at a similar time. Nice one, make a cracking first bike.

And there speaks the reverend Pat. Where did all that bololocks come from?

What was actually wrong with the reeds, with all the 2 strokes i have had its something i have never had issue with. They just work. The stutter just at the valve is intreging me more?

+1

What are the plugs like. You still haven't answerd the pv question. Are they both working as a pair, same with the carbs are they properly balanced, any leaks at the exhaust. You really need to be thoughrough, when these bikes were new their power output and torque were off the chart compared to everything else. A few of the opposition made a bit more go but at the expence of most of the engine's torque. Your carbs, exhausts etc need to be absolutely right. Not nearly, or somewhere near but bang on. You have questioned the main jet in the past did you sort that out?

Heh, had mine since i was 16, she has always been a quality example of triggers broom and long may she stay that way. Detail, um not really sure whats original but she's been the current assemblance of parts for a while now.

Sounds like carb to me still, my TDR went off the boil and all it took was 1 quarter of a turn on one throttle stop screw. Wasn't even enough to affect the idle speed but it made a big difference in the way it rode. Are you sure the jets/carb are clean, ( i have known people clean the outside before )

It gets really scary when you realise you have reached the point that you have lived together longer than you have lived apart. Congrats Ttask,