Paulwhite

hi and yes i have looked for some, the problem iv found is you can get smaller shocks but the fixing bushes are either too big or too small plus they will cost over £40 and im trying to spend as little dosh as possible, i have found some that would be a perfect fit but again the price tag is way too big (£120) the other factor would be the spring rate compared to the weight of the bike, all the smaller shocks iv found are too small for the weight of the bike with rider. i was looking last night at the idea and it wont cost more than £20 to do it, but as iv said i just need to know if it would withstand the stress before i go ahead, im going to get all the bits from the local B&Q but cant really say there renowned for their high quality steal.

hi all iv been looking at the rear suspension setup on me dragster bobber and wouldnt mind lowering the rear shocks ( finding it hard to find new smaller shocks!! ) and came up with the idea of using the rear wheal spindle as a hook up point for the rear shocks (if you get what i mean.) im thinking of making a new spindle out of some studding then put a steal tube over to get it to the right thickness sort of like a bush, if i make the new one longer then il be able to mount the shocks to it, but i need to know if it would be safe to do this? in theory it would all work fine as the spindle just holds the wheel to the swingarm but saying that there is allot of pulling power and stress that gets applied to it so im unsure. plus to make it fit iv got to cut off the original swingarm mounting points for the shocks so i dont want to go ahead and do it to find that it wont work or its not strong enough and snaps or bends, cause then i would of wasted a perfectly good swingarm so yeah any advice would be appreciated cheers. Paul.

which dragstar is it? 125cc? 600? but its sounding like the pilot jet is clogged or the mixture screw isnt set properly, is it bogging down when you turn the throttle slightly? is the cable tight? is the air filter clean? do you have a crack/ split in the carb manifold? how old is the battery? and when did you last change the plugs? (you need to be more specific to get a good answer ) plus it would be nice if you joined the forum, said hello and filled out your details as ppl are more inclined to help if your not a one hit wonder. .Paul.

dunno but would need a bit of organizing e.g need to sort out ppl to make sure that no one gets left behind or lost lol also would b handy to have a few navigators (for 125cc, 600cc, 1000+cc ect) and a cb radio or two also need to see where we could camp and check up on french law ect ect but im defiantly up for it in a couple of years (need to wait till the kids get a little older) also would be handy if we knew someone who could speek french (and i dont mean english but louder lmao) either that or do a yoc-uk rally to go find some good roads/ pubs and bike meets i.e matlock bath (sunday) M.F.N (monday or wednesday) cat and fiddle (dry/sunny an not windy!!!) just to name a couple down my way.

we should set up a rally to france say over a long weekend (day 1= get to france day 2 = sight seeing day 3= get back home) bring some camping equipment and a sat nav and the 125's can join in was thinking of doing this with me m8s when they hav there quads and 125's in a couple of years then i could take the misses and kids (they would go in the car with the camping equip.) be a mint ride

id love to come but im still building mine lol

nice m8 wish i managed to do it to mine b4 it blew up lol have fun

yeah i think they do. best to take the whole thing off then you can have a propper look .

what you need! there you go thats the stuff i used but dont use the stainless steel ties that come with it (there crap!) best get some circlips. oh and were long sleeve clothing and gloves (or dont and just jump in the bath afterwards) cause this stuff irritates and itches something chronic!

you want graphite exhaust wrap think its about 20-30 quid but will help exhaust flow, and make it look mint, might want to get some high temp exhaust paint to put on the pipes b4 you wrap them to make it water proof otherwise the wrap will get soaked and will make rust on the exhaust that will eat away at it. il have a quick look for you hang on

well just to let you know iridium spark plugs wont make any noticeable difference in a 125 engine, yeah they might ignite the fuel better but as i said you wont feel any difference in the engine or get any performance gains so id say save yourself 9 quid and get standard ones. think the standard ones are cr7hsa? try putting the slightly hotter ones in, im not sure if its up a number (like cr8hsa) or down a number (cr6hsa) but that would make the sparkplugs better without spending a small fortune on iridium plugs!

"your all insane" YUP

sorry should of been clearer id say you need to put a 97.5 or 100 size jet in and by performance re-jetting i mean sticking something like a 120 main jet in to try and get more power, but as iv said it can do more harm than good so bet not go over a 100 size.

just pm me when your ready m8 and il go through it with u have a nice trip have fun

hope you dont do that to everything in your life lol a bike is like a pet! you wash it , dry it, keep it in its own little home, feed it , take it to the mechanics or look after it when it gets sick, and all bikes have there own personality so its just natural that some people give them a name! whats so wrong with that? and anyway if you talk about engines to someone who hasnt got a clue it sounds sooo wrong anyway. lol "i need to grease up the crank shaft to slot the bearing into the hole" lmao or my sparks gone i was doing 50 then smoke started comming out then it splutterd and died on me.

best not use wire wool its not ment for it, get some proper stuff it might cost more but its made for the job!

if you have the highway hawks on then best put a 97.5 or a 100 size jet in so the engine dont run too lean, all it will do is compensate for the "free flow" of the exhaust so no noticeable power gains, plus if you did re-jet for performance all you would get is a little more torque and probably do more harm than good. (iv managed to re-jet 2 engines and both the cranks have gone due to the engine not coping with the extra force) but do a plug check and adjust your carb to suit!! otherwise ul have loads of problems later on!

ok m8, it wont hurt to try, might be lucky and it is just the carb was clogged (fingers crossed) only reason why i think its the piston rings is mine did exactly the same thing id try and start it with no luck and even with choke on full and me twisting the throttle it wouldnt catch and there was no smell coming from the exhaust and the plugs were dry, after cleaning the carbs and re-jetting, checking/cleaning ALL the wiering and getting a new battery the problem was still there, it would start if i bumped it and start on the switch when hot but if i left it for 3 min or more to cool down it wouldnt start on the switch and id have to bump it again. eventually it just wouldnt start at all, so decided to strip the engine to find the rings had gone and the crank was on its way out, (front con-rod had a little play in it = not good) fixed it up then the conrod went so had to strip the engine and put a new crank in it to find the head had gone (i did put dragster heads on it though) so yeah im left with a decent bottom end and no more cash to get a new head lol just got a new exhaust as well. and iv had a play with the exhaust and made a straight through single muffler pipe out of my old exhaust sounds well and seems to help the engine slightly (just cut the top muffler off and chamber then take baffle out and welded a plate on ). so yeah put it back together and give it a blast hope its ok m8 keep in touch. .Paul.

hmmm im a little unsure its a good engine dont get me wrong but it needs work, and it can only get up to about 17bhp, where as the pitbike engine comes in at 15bhp tunable to over 19bhp, plus its new verses 2nd hand, and another note is parts availability and cost, the dt engine parts are more expensive and i cant seem to find anywhere with a good parts list (probably looking in all the wrong places) and iv had a look on the ty trials website. here is a link to the pitbike engine iv found take a look and tell me what you think. PITBIKE ENGINE

lol soz was typing in a rush lol have you ever done piston rings b4? and do you want to do it yourself? if so il write it up for you then you can print it off or something when you get round to doing it .

yeah its defiantly sounding like your piston rings. (having choke on when trying to start but no fuel getting through, cause your rings are shot its going into the sump) its up to you but you could either put it all back together or you could leve it striped and sort the rings out. its not a big big job to do them yourself just a little awkward if you have never done them b4, but your in luck i can go through it with you step by step if you want to try it yourself. all you need is a decent socket set ( 10mm, 12mm and 17mm ) a srewdriver (flat head) and a set of allen keys (not sure what size think 5 or 6 mm ) some needle nose pliers and some liquid gasket then about an hour per cylinder (if your quick) or 2 hours per cylinder (if you take your time) if you have a torque wrench then that would b handy (but i didnt use one) but yeah get back to me on this one.

glad you managed to get it out lol do you think it would be worth taking the airbox off to put it back in......itl make it allot easier now the choke cable is either a little bracket with a plunger (like on the dragster chris) or its just a wire going into what looks like a bolt (you undo the bolt all the way then slowly pull it out) right if you put it all back together then turn the petrol tap on. look on the carb (should be the side where the jets are) there should be a like spout with a screw on the bottom of the carb body, further up should be a line on the carb that shows the float bowl level, attach a clear bit of tube to the spout and hold it up then undo the screw, this will release the petrol from the carb into the pipe and should go up to the line marked on the carb. this is the float leval and it should be bang on. then if thats ok turn the screw back in (so you dont loose fuel) and then put some oil in the cylinder and bump it, you need to bump it cause the switch wont work if the rings have gone, if you can get it started listen to the engine if you get any loud knocks then turn the engine off and get back to me.

you should b able to undo the metal clips top and bottom then just pop it out (it just slides out of the rubber)

hello there and welcome to the forum, the xv 125 engine are very temperamental you need to make sure that the battery is fine, the sparkplugs are ok and that the carb and air filter are on properly. you said something about the front cylinder having low compression? open up the cap for putting oil in, if you can smell petrol or get a creamy substance then the piston rings have gone, after you have checked put a little motor oil (say a tablespoon) in the sparkplug hole on the front cylinder. if it is your piston ring then this should seal it temporarily, then you need to bump start it (with choke off give 10 twists of the throttle then push in 2nd gear down a hill whilst turning the throttle till it catches and starts) this should at least get it going for now, let it warm up for 10 min then turn it off and it should start with the button, then turn it off and let it cool down for 30 min then try it again with the switch, if it dont start then you know that you need some new piston rings!. and lets hope that it is just the piston rings! mine decided to blow the bottom end .....again and it always seems to be the front cylinder. but its a simple job to change the rings (iv had to re-build the whole engine last week) hope this helps for now keep in touch .Paul.

nice one well its beaten the pitbike engine for reliability and power lol (not to mention price!) the 8000 rpm sounds a little low compared to the 1400 the pitbike engine was boasting but as iv said im looking for power with reliability so the dt125 engine is looking the better option! sow how much were you looking to sell it for? and what parts would come with it?