Paulwhite

iv been quite lucky and the worst iv ever been was a migraine from hell and extremely sensitive eyes for a couple of days! silly me too much in a rush forgot to flip the visor down b4 welding.....oops! but yeah i can only imagine the pain and its made my eyes water just reading about it! safe to say iv got a decent welding mask! its a dark greeny color so you can see, then goes dark as soon as a bit of light hits it, only problem is it goes funny and dont work properly when its sunny, plus it helps if its down when you start welding

BLOODY HELL!!!!!! are they takin the piss??!!! £104 for some piston rings! thats fookin ridiculous!......(*cough*)...soz thats just wound me up... right someone once told me that 125cc pistons are a standard size and that any 125cc piston ring would fit another piston, weather that is true or not im not sure but it makes sense! could you try getting hold of some cheep piston rings off ebay? and then we could try them . i know that the xvs 125 rings fit perfectly on the xv 125 but the pistons themselves are different. worth a try.

thats allot of polishing but nice bars! id suggest getting a wire brush attachment for a power drill and attack it with that to get most of the rust off, then some wet/dry sandpaper, start with a high grit then get smaller grit on it, then finish with some finishing paper to get rid of the scratches then autosol to bring the sparkle back....... either that or paint them black! but yeah nice bars and should go on ok!

want to know something funny? the misses is pregnant with our 3rd child (its a boy) and we are calling him Paul Junior.......

id love to open a custom shop but its a little on the pricey side for my wallet (got no dosh to start it up)lol oh and dont think ul b able to reach me on that number, the wifes puppy decided my phone would make a nice toilet. but if you pm me i can give you a different number till i buy a new phone next week.

yeah im not sure on that one, i was having trouble finding some. have you tried a yammaha dealer? normally they can order some in, and just a tip, it will save a bit of time if you could get pistons with the rings on them, unless you dont mind fiddling with the rings so yeah when you get them just p-m me and then i can go through it with u .

lol i have considered it and "paul white customs" has a nice ring to it lol as to the wow factor it all depends on the person! but it will definitely be different and "custom" if we were going to go ahead with it then id need you to send me your rear fender with everything but number plate and id need the cash upfront to go and get the bits. so if your still interested give me a bell when you get back, meanwhile il draw some pictures up then we can go through the design .

well thats the kind of seat that i would build for my bike, but if i had the original rear fender (i choped mine ....doh!) then i could mould it round that, so you wouldnt need to chop anything. as to cost it would only cost me what id pay for materials but if i wanted to sell it then id have to think how much id want for the work involved, il work it out £20 for fiberglass, and tape, and sand paper £20 for paint, primer, under coat, top coat, clear coat £20 for gel seat (could get one cheaper havent looked) £40 for all lights and weiring (nice looking light though!) total = £90 to £100 just for the bits, then id have to make it, probs take about a week to finish so say 2 hours a day for 7 days = 14hours say £3 an hour = 42 (call it 40) grand total = £130 to £140 then there is p+p (havent got a clue how much that would cost say £10??) thats the problem its gonna cost a bomb for one id want to build, but thats mainly cause of the new rear light, could cut 20 to 40 quid off if i could find a cheaper one. so yeah thats roughly what im looking at to make one like i said. and i will make one soon for mine, just got to raise some funds

the seat that i would want to make, would be a small, low profile seat that is also a rear fender, it would be black with a white trim. probably have some form of gel padding probably a pushbike saddle flattened and fiberglassed on, then it would have a set of ultra bright red L,E,D's for a secondary tail light fiberglassed into the back-rest (with a rear light setup moulded into the fender above the wheel) then some form of tribal "tattoo" design in white (painted on), or in my case the red and white racing stripe.

then id sugest buying one as it will be cheeper

im assuming you dont have the original chrome plates that go on? and no not the best idea to chop off the fender mount unless your doing something like what i am. hava a look on ebay for the chrome plates never know might get lucky........if you cant find any then i might be able to help as iv got a set, but i need them to mould the rear fender round them and im not too sure when im going to get round to doing it, but should get away with not putting it on. just a note when i took mine off the bolts had seized so i ended up having to cut the heads off (to take the fender off) then try to get hold of the bolt in such a way i could apply enough force to undo them (took about 30 min to get each bolt out!) so just to let you know you might need some new fender bolts.

i dont know about ape hangers so cant comment but you should be able to get another inch or two out of the wiering and cables if you un-wrap them from the yoke. i cant do a sprung seat unless you buy the springs but i was thinking along the lines of a small flat low profile fiberglass seat in black with some sort of tribal graphic (or a name or anything!) (i can mould it off my frame) or if you wanted the pimped factor i could put L,E,D lights in it (make it like a secondary stop light?) or if you show me a picture or drawing i could mould one from that, if you wanted padding then id have to price up the foam and leather to put on it, could even make the fender and seat 1 piece so the seat flows into a rear fender. so i say £30 but it all depends what you want, could be less or more

it is the same carb just differant jets and covers, and dont worry its just an overflow for the carb but normaly there is a drainage pipe connected to it. nothing to worry about just dont tip the bike too far!

1a. tell me what you want and il price it up for you but say £30 for now not including p+p 2a. its up to you could use original fender mounts but iv chopped mine off so iv got nothing to mould it from/ compare it to , but if you want one like mine then you dont need the mounts and id have to come up with a way to mount it (havent figured it out yet) 3a. havent got a clue! (but id do it myself lol) 4a. might do might not (not sure on that one)

on the 125 most of the weiring connectors are in the headlamp, could be some moisture has gotton in and soaked one of the connectors, have you tried to start it up by bridging the terminals on the solenoid? or even bumping it? could be a number of things, if its electrical. as to the reg/rect it should be somewhere near the battery, im not familiar with the 650 model but there all similar.

could do but its easier to get a rear fender and chop it (buy one 2nd hand off ebay) the fiberglass alone costs about 20 quid then there is the sand paper and the paint then whatever i decide my time is worth lol so i think the cheapest option would be to get hold of a fender then i could cut and shape it to what you want , also the paint would match i could make you a close fit seat, but it would be a hard seat as i dont know where i can get the padding from , not sure how much i would charge for a seat probs £30 - £40 for a hard seat with a decent decorative paintjob, but the fitting would be slightly different but i could include instructions ....yeah id defenatly be interested.

if you want a lower ride then get rid of the seat for a thinner one ( or make one ) this will make the rider lower by about 2-3 inches, as to lowering the frame, you would need a new rear fender (or if you feel brave chop the old one) to give you the clearance, then you need some 230mm shocks, this wil lower the ride height quite a bit but wont compromise on safety, as to the ape hangers i know what you mean, they are huge compared to the originals. but the original bars give a good look for a little price im not keen on the ape hanger look (its just not for me) dont fancy a bee hitting me in the arm-pit while im doing 60mph

why not just use the original ones and just bend them in slightly? if you loosen up the clamp you can put them bolt upright, dont look too bad either, then you could heat up the bend and bring them closer together by about 5mm. thats what id do / will do but then again im seriously thinking of putting drag bars on mine oh and either taskmaster or o.g suggested raising the frame to make it look like a street fighter a while back and to be honest it looks mint! also if i do the rear fender right all id have to do is swap the rear suspension to make it look bobber again il have to post a pic. only problem is id have to cut a part of the swing arm to get the angle that i want. soz christoffeser for wittering on lol

as long as the movement from cable to carb is ok then it wont matter if its a different throttle setup, but saying that the drag uses the twin cable setup, why is the bike not running properly? whats it doing?

cheers lol.yeah its not a grand in total just something like £800 for the 125 engine (brand new and tuned to 15 bhp with a 140cc bottom end) and everything i need to convert it to a 140cc 19bhp race tuned engine, plus custom exhaust's, stator and wiering loom. i am aware that the engine is going to be small but i would say it would be lighter. plus will leve room for a custom air filter cover.......or even a turbo..... im gonna go do some research on them engines to see how good they are in terms of reliability, power, and parts availability / cost and il get back to you, cheers for the info! oh and dan28 il most likely re-make the rear fender so once thats done il pm u

and how much did you pay for it? (thinking of selling mine eventually)

if i remember right there is the top pipe which connects to the top muffler (rear cylinder) then there is a little pipe going from that to the bottom muffler (think its your "balance" pipe) then the bottom muffler (with all the exhaust above) slides off the bottom pipe. now if you cut the pipe leading to the top muffler about 2 inch from the back of the muffler if need be you could repair it for the mot with an exhaust fixing kit, if you take the covers off then you can get a better look but be warned the fixing brackets might snap off (but new ones can be welded on) if i remember rightly without the cover the rear cylinder exhaust pipe is tiny compared to the front exhaust, which could cause a problem! and i dont think the 650 exhaust will fit the 125 due to it being a massively bigger cc.

yeah i havent attached the mudguard yet its just resting on the tire lol, i might re-think the rear fender though, iv sen a nice idea in this months B,S,H magazine, where the seat is also the fender, iv also decided not to use a springer seat (now makes the ride hight lower) as iv said im going for a "light as possible" frame without compromising on safety, so instead of having a fender and a seat im gonna combine the two, should save a little on weight i hear what your saying about the pitbike engine there not all that reliable but if you weigh up reliability verses cost and power then there a very good engine, but thats the point of this thread! im still undecided about the pitbike engine but unless someone can come up with a good argument why another engine would be better, then its the one im going to get

yeah that is true the cagiva mito 125 engines are about 37 to 40 bhp and can do over 100mph BUT and this is a big but! they are like a 16 year old on a nicked apprilia rs 125!! (they braek down and need re-building every 2 min!) but yeah they are a mint engine if you want to keep re-building the thing, but i dont want to have to strip it down every 2 min! and no it dont have to be a yamaha engine. im looking at the pitbike engine as there cheep as chips and as long as you look after them they can last a while! say for instance the bottom end goes.....it would only cost 150 quid to buy a brand new one! most of the time its 150 quid just for the gasket set! plus the power is quite good for a 4 stroke! and nice bike ( well from what i can see) any chance of some pics? i havent seen any modded dragstars (and i have looked for ages!) if you wanted you could have a look at what im trying to do... just search the forum for "xvs 125 bobber update" and you should find it. soz if there are any spelling mistakes iv hijacked me m8s comp and he hasnt got the spell check lol (plus spelling isnt something im good at lol) cheers. Paul.

hi i havent done it b4 on a 650 but would the mufflers come off the downpipes? think they might just unbolt and slide off then you could see about getting some slash cut exhaust ends, would save hacking away at the exhaust, but if they dont and you still want to go through with it then your best bet is to cut them off about half way to start(i dont know how big the baffles are so half way on the muffler should clear them) then cut the "slash" at a 45 degree angle, then if you wanted you could wrap them in exhaust wrap to give it a more "custom" look (would also fill them out a little more) hope this helps .Paul.