Paulwhite

u jammy f****r lol

i know m8 iv got quite a bit of experience on these engines and the black knob connects to the throttle stop via a black covered wire. but yeah so you have tried the basics. next step would be to check the spark plugs, have they got a good spark on them? and also what voltage is ur battery pumping out? also what colour are the plugs? im going through the checks starting with the simplest....if ur plugs and battery are working fine then next step would be to clean the carb.....but that means taking the tank off and disconnecting the hoses ect. i think if everything is workin properly then its the pilot line in the carb (its the bit in the carb that sorts out fueling for starting the bike and the 1st 1/4 throttle) but if you strip the carb down and give it a clean then if the problem is still there you can rule out the carb which narrows it down loads. if its not the carb then its either the tank itself (il go into more detail if i need to) or the fuel pump.

turn ur idle screw up its the one that connects to the round bit of the throttle (on the carb) well it stops the round bit from turning all the way. (soz but i dunno if you know whats what ) then check/clean ur air filter. when uv done that see if its helped... (should do the trick) it could just be the idle is set too low for the bike to catch, or that ur air filter is blocked......best check the simple things 1st. the only other thing i can think of with the symptoms uv described is the fuel pump(or carb) might either have a leak or needs a good clean.....but i can go through how to check/ do that if we get to it.

cheers barky love that song!

cheers lads iv had a day of tinkering with the bike without the misses in my ear lol gonna have a pint or 3 later on cheers and can i get a song choice? not sure what its called ....the saultans of swing? or sonmethin like that.

ha .....cheeky fooker (made me smile though) it dont look like that now .....its an old pic..... il have to post an update sometime this week

just a bit .. ..

just got a tex today from the local yamaha dealer (CMC) just thought id pass on the message its short notice i know as its tomoz (wed 23rd march) but only got the tex today. yamaha racers Eugene Laverty, Chaz Davies, Jamie Whitham and Sam Lowes t our new CMC Clay Cross shop this wed 6pm. Prizes, offers, and cafe open late. CMCBikes.com

no ....its mine

i should of said that....has more impact

if its on the right hand side in the crank case....it could either be the oil pump or a bearing... either is not good, but then again i cant give an accurate answer without seeing the bike for myself hope its not serious for you m8 good luck

i beg to differ! but you need to know what ur doing

yes but...(lol) you will mess up the air/fuel ratio and the xvs engine is an absolute pig to get spot on! if you take them off then ur gonna have to fiddle with the carb....and im tellin you now m8 its a ball ache! just write down what you have changed and by how much then if somethin dont work you can put it back to the point where it did work

could be absolutely anything! from a leaky air filter, to the cam chain! best thing to do would be to try and locate an area where its coming from , like for example in the front cylinder on the left hand side.....(would result in ur cam chain being loose) or if its coming from under the tank in between the cylinders/heads .......(would be carb joint has a leak) ect ect... and also does it only do it when riding? or is it doing it stood still? either way it dont sond good and definatly something to get looked at.

it should do it if you take it steady....and make sure the oil is in good nick (say a week after a oil change)

yeah its a breather/overflow pipe m8 it is supposed to go into the left air cleaner thing but you could put it anywhere or just take it off. nowt to worry about as to your build any help you need with the engine ....give me a bell iv rebuilt mine a couple of times (including a crank replacement) and know them inside and out il give you some tips, the engine is very temperamental so you need to get the air/fuel mix spot on, and make sure u have good oil! the crank seems to be a weak point for these engines. and last but not least piston rings are as rear as rocking horse poo so look after them

check the plugs! what colour are they? (think neversaydie is tryin to scare you lol) if when idling it revs up and down on its own, its cause the mixture is a little lean. warm the bike up , turn the throttle stop up so the revs increase (on idle!), you want it to sound like you have the choke on. (just follow the throttle cable to the carb and ul see a screw that will make contact with the round bit...that screw is the throttle stop) there will be a small screw on the side of the carb (on the left i think ) that is your mixture screw. you want to turn it in till the revs drop (but dont let it stall) then slowly turn the screw out, you will hear the revs increase, then you will hit a "point" where the revs drop again. (after each full turn just blip the throttle) you need to then turn the screw "in" very slowly (about 1/8th a turn at a time) as soon as the revs increase again stop. you need to set it bang on the pivot point between high and low revs (but you want it on high revs). once thats done turn down the throttle stop....it should be spot on! i managed to lower the revs on mine to the point where you would think it was going to cut out lol but it sounded goooooooood. and ur electrics should be ok for heated grips just dont do alot of riding in the dark with them on full blast lol for the brake check the pads if there new then they will squeak, but it could just be the piston in the caliper is covered in grime, i can go through that one, when you get to it lol think the idle mixture will keep u occupied for now

i think the starter motor is just the start of your problems my freind. it dont explain why the bike died on you as it is a seperate componant(in terms of it dont do nowt till you press the button) but it could be the efect of the problem...... best ask your mechanic to dig deeper and find the fault.

its a bad idea m8 ! save ur money and buy a 250cc engine to put in the beast! the crank is a week point in the engine even as a 125! so boring it up to any amount is goin to put more strain on it. the problem is the bottom end of the crank where the conrods connect...its just metal on metal so is slowly grinding down which eventually causes too big a gap between the conrod and crank, this lets the conrod move side to side and knackers up the engine! with it being a 125 its not bad and will last you a fair few years (as long as the oil is good) but with the added "boom" of a re-bore it will wear down a HELL of allot faster! but by all means do it if you want but il be taking bets on how long it will last! and my bet will be 2 weeks ....if your lucky! iv put a honda cbr 125 (2004) in mine, cost about £900 all in all but iv done all the work myself including making custom mounts, air filter, and wiring. its a big job and not one to be taken lightly but i can add a 150cc bore kit to it for about £200 which wont damage the engine. (cause the engine is originally designed to be a 150cc but for the uk market they put a 125cc barrel, piston, and head on it) at the end of the day it will be cheaper (and more practical) to put a new bigger engine in there...rather than spend money on a mod that will not last 2 weeks. try this link My link they have decent engines for sale and the parts are cheep enough that you dont mind if something goes pop. it was my 1st choice for an engine but since i only have a provisional license i wouldnt get value for money (in terms of bhp) im sure if you give them a ring you might be able to get them to fit it all for you! (for a cost of course) but its probably ur best bet.

well im not up to scratch with my oils but ur bike isnt an "old" engine so to say....its only classed as old if its like 1970 which would need mineral oil. as to your xv 125 it has practically the same engine as the XVS 125 so id go with neversaydie's choice of oil and last but not least id recommend flushing the engine with some cheepo 10w40 (cheeper the better)but only flush it for a day or two (using the old oil filter) then drain it and put the good stuff in with the fresh oil filter. if you let it drain overnight then you know its all out

ha ha!!! OWNED!

ahh dont worry about the end if it dont fit then file it down its only made from soft metal. think mine snapped so i just tied a knot in the end of the wire....dont do that by the way as its a pain in the backside! just file down the end till it fits either that or you could see if you can swap the virago cable with the honda cable..(not the push pull knob...just the cable) but personally i wouldnt bother ....too much fartin aboot. oh and check these out click me

if your not too fussed about the user end of the cable id recomend a honda cbr 125 cable.... its a simple knob that srews to some form of "hook" its got a sort of bolt with nut attachment....all you would need to do is either find a "hook" on the frame or you could use tie wraps to mount it. and its a simple pull and push. the only thing you might need to "mod" would be the cable sleve to make the cable slightly shorter but that can be fixed with small washers . here is a link to one click me oh and kelum put a post in the customs section (virago service manual) with a xv 125 manual not so long ago.

hi squigmig and welcome to the forum! i hope you will become part of the comunity and not just get ur answers and go... rust on the exhaust is a normal problem for this bike. watch out for the "box" connected to the mufflers, that tends to be where it starts 1st then on the front pipe. i ended up buying a new exhaust and painting it straight out of the box with some high temp exhaust paint....but there isnt owt you can do to cure it fully im afraid. as to the choke it goes from the lever/knob to the carb. its hard to identify for a novice but if you follow the cable to the engine you will see it disappear into a nut, you might have to take the carb off to access it but the manual will tell you how to do that all ur gonna need to replace it is a couple of 13mm spanners (or a 13mm spanner and some small pliers) its a bit fiddely but you use the spanner to turn the nut then grab it with the pliers to keep it in position so you can take the spanner off to put it on again to turn it. if you dont grab it with something then every time you take the spanner off it will thread itself back in! once its undone gently pull it out (with the cable attached) then you will see a spring connected to a cylinder with a point and a rubber ring on it. take the cylinder off (dont loose the spring), pull the old cable out of the nut, put new cable in, connect to cylinder, then put back together!.... done! if you want to see if its working properly then take the "round" cover off the carb (will be 4 screws), gently pull the rubber out, and just below the big hole where the plastic bit (with the needle on the end) comes out of is a smaller hole with somethin in it... that is the choke cylinder! just pull the lever for the choke and it should slide the cylinder. oh and one more thing check ur oil every 6 months!!!! if your not sure how old it is replace it! ... i cant stress that point enough! if you dont then you could be looking at the crank shaft going pop ........and that means buy buy engine! hope this helps u out and soz for the legnthy post ......

ahh iv just re-read the post by speedshop... (forget what i said it wouldnt work) you could do with an extra earth on the l,e,d lol