Paulwhite

have you checked where the yoke attaches to the frame? might be loose or might need new bushes or bearings.

adjust the jet needle in your carb as the mixture is week, should have a black plastic bit on the end (pointy bit facing down), if you put that down a notch then that will make the mixture richer might take 2-3 attempts to get it right but should sort it out then check your spark plugs, white = week mixture, black = rich mixture, orange/browny = spot on

yeah its always fun riding with you knee down on a straight lol

lol it was inevitable ! but yeah just payed for a new crank and a fast flow oil filter from e-bay just got to save up for the gasket set now anyone know how to take the round magnetic thing off? and the clutch? i need to take them off to split the engine plus anyone know about the gear ratios of the xv and xvs ? was wondering if its worth swapping some gears over.

yeah i am sure, now iv had a look and it goes through the oil in the sump and the pump looks like it cleans the oil and pumps it up to the heads, then back into the sump again.

i cant realy say if it was good or not as iv had it for 2 years and only rode it for 6 months due to the piston rings failing. it started and road fine but wouldnt reach 60mph so thats when i re-jetted the carb and it went boom. but i think the filter might of restricted the oil flow as it looks like it hasnt been changed in a while. but surley that would mean that there was hardly any oil getting to the heads as the crank goes through the oil in the sump? i havent touched the oil filter since i got it but i have changed the oil. as to the pump im not sure if its working or not but it all looks ok.

right iv whipped the engine out and took it to pieces and my fears were right the bottom end is knacked! so gonna try and sort it. iv put a post up in the workshop to try and figure out what i can do to stop it from happening and to see if i can make any improvements.

jalapino peppers normally does it for me lol but yeah so were saying that a lack of decent oil could be the main cause of the failure? see i thought that it could be the extra power caused by the different heads, timing and carb settings that caused extra stress on the conrods causing them to wear down at an increasing rate. so in theory if i put it back together with a new bottom end and a better grade oil then it should last? do you think it would be wise getting a fast flow oil filter? or even putting the dragstar oil pump in? i know the filter that was in there was pretty much fooked and the oil was drained then filled up with fresh 10w40 a couple of days b4 it went but when i came to drain the oil again it was black and not as thick as it was.

well iv taken the engine out and dismantled it to see whats gone off, the conrod for the front cylinder has worn to the point where it will happily wobble and can be pushed up and down by about 1-2mm (with the crank being perfectly still) from just looking at it, it seams that both the xv virago (thats in the sachs) and the dragtar 125 engine internals are exactly the same appart from the cam timing and the cam chain. the oil pumps look identical with regards to size but the dragstar one could be more efficient? im in the process of trying to take the round magnet that goes round the stator off but am finding it difficult as its a tapered shaft with a keyway and just wont budge. im gonna get a second hand bottom end but dont want to have the same problem a year down the line. plus when it went i noticed that some oil was burning as white smoke filled the crank case but the pistons and barrels were fine and there are no marks on the valves. what do you mean by shells?

hi iv had 2 bikes (4 stroke 125cc v twins) and both have had the bottom end fail so just wondered what can cause this? i know the 1st one decided to die cause of the oil....well...lack of it. but as to the second one the only thing i can think of is cause iv re-jetted the carb??? but surely the crank and everything connected to it shouldnt fail cause of that? both the bikes were under 10 years old so i cant get my head around why they died. could someone shed some light on this problem? cheers. .Paul.

well the cam chain tensioner locks in place when you tightern it, and i did put it on properly so im praying to god that ur right. but it starts fine its just got no power and there is a loud knock comming from the crank case when you put some revs on so sounds like bottom end has gone but im gonna have a proper look today to see if i can see whats happening with it and if im right, but it dont sound good.....any one want to buy a sachs roadster 125? just passed its mot on friday, just taxed yesterday, oh and it needs a new engine.

iv come on here to have a rant and to vent my frustration and anger!!!!!!! iv got a sachs roadster 125 which uses the virago 125 engine, about a year ago the piston rings went after i spent £300 for new exhausts, tiers, chain and sprockets. so this year i thought right im gonna get it sorted! i started work last week, spent 2 days stripping the engine and changing the pistons, put it back together and then the cam timing sprocket went so i had to get a new one of them and also the rear exhaust which cost me £110, put it back together to find the pistons were knocking against the valves ( i put some spare dragstar 125 pistons in ) so i thought right im gonna put the dragstar 125 cylinders and heads on. after 2 days of trying to figure out the timing i got it to work just to find i had an oil leak, now because its a sachs roadster you cant get to the oil drain plug cause the frame is in the way! so i had to take the side of the engine off (the stator side) fixed the leak then began work on the carb. i swapped all the components of the virago carb into the dragstar carb then tuned it. the bike ran fine and started so i took it for an mot on friday and it passed ..yay, but it wouldnt get to 60mph on a straight. so today (tuesday ) i went and got it taxed then set about sortin the carb so i could get 60mph. re-jetted the carb, sorted out the fueling went out for a quick spin and it was spot on got 60mph woo hoo ! took it out for a ride then all of a sudden it bogged to a stop about 1/2 a mile from my house so i pushed it back took the plugs out to find they were black, cleaned them and popped them back in started the bike, revved it and heard a loud knocking and the bike wouldnt rev properly .......shit! the bottom end has gon!!! so thats £450 and a weeks worth of hard work down the shitter. so now im pi**ed off f***ing thing!

ok then thats a good reason lol but i dont need insurance now the bottom end has just blown on me so looks like a new bike on the cards.

i know its a long shot but have you checked your battery connections? mine did something similar ! would start and run fine but a mile and a half down the road and it would cut out found out that the earth from the battery wasnt on properly.

have you done a spark plug check? to see what the mixture is doing? if you know the mixture is fine then the next step will be sorting out the air screw. but if it wont stay on idle then the jet might be clogged. if you take it out and blow into it then pop it back in and see what happens or are you sure that its clean? if its not that then you need to adjust the air screw i normally do mine to the bike and not what the manual says, but il tell you my way then im sure someone will give tell you what the manual sais. right. warm the bike up then turn the idle screw up so the bike is at say 1000-1500rpm then turn the air screw in as much as you can without the engine stalling, then slowly turn it out till the bike revs up as far as it can (just listen to the engine). the idea is you set the screw to just below the point where the engine is at its highest rpm and this could mean 1/8th of a turn! then turn your idle screw down to a comfortable Laval then go for a quick ride to see how it is. should sort it out lovely

i dont see the need for anything else other than tpft. unless you know of a good reason to get fully comp ?

yeah i wasnt too sure about the stripes at 1st so decided to do a mock up and they look quite good but the quality of the paint job is shocking by my standards as the paint bubbled up and creased in a couple of places so im going to have to re-do the whole tank but yeah when iv sorted it il post some more pictures up but im going to start work on the fender to get that sorted 1st b4 i attempt to do the tank so give me a few weeks

well iv been looking on the internet today and iv managed to get a quote for £62 for tpft the funny thing is its exactly the same insurance company as what iv got already lol so im gonna have to give them a ring and see what happens but im sure i can get it close to £50 for the year

hi im a 23 year old male with 6 years no claims riding on a provisional license and cbt and my quote is £86 tpft for the year for a sachs roadster 125. iv heard if you find a cheaper quote then the insurance company your with will match or beat it but i havent tried it and just wonderd if anyone has?

the fender is 2 pieces its the fiberglass one on the bottom and the original fender(cut down) on top with the chrome bits off the rear fender on the sides, its just stuck on with tape to see what the lines are like but im debating if iv got the skills to turn it into a little compartment for some gloves or somethin, the idea is fiberglass the bottom fender to the top so that its one piece with the rear light sticking out of the gap between the two then run a couple of thin metal bars inside the fender from the frame to support it , the Fiberglas seat wasnt hard to make i used the metal off the side of a computer case to cut and shape a template then covered it in decorating tape (like masking tape but has a waxed surface on the non sticky side) then fiberglassed it and trimmed it with a grinder (with a cutting disk on it) the hardest part was finding and attaching the springs probs best buying those. i could go full bob but the roads are shocking down my way so itl be allot better for my spine if i put shocks on it its just a case of finding some 230mm long shocks with 16mm bolt holes which are proving hard to find but i have found some 230mm shocks but i will need to modify the bolt holes as there only 10mm so should b a case of boar it out and put new bushes in. for the pipes im going to have them custom made so they split into 2 exits 1 exit either side of the bike running along the frame and a shield kinda like what you see on kit cars a full exhaust system for the engine im getting is only £30 so il get 2 and get someone to sort it for me there is a little place down my way that do engineering and fabricating so il give them a bell

soz but im not going to use them shocks as there too long and yellow lol im planning on getting some shorter ones in either black, white or red, (prefer white ) and the tank needs re-doing as im not happy with the racing stripes (need to be thinner ) but the idea is put the stripes down the whole bike so as they are, they would swamp the rear fender so thinner ones would look better and christofeser yes.....yes i am

which bit are you looking at lol? if you look at mine there an orrangy brown colour (at the point where the spark is) if yours are lighter (closer to grey or white) then the mix is too lean and if there is any black then ur mix is rich. if its lean then try not to rev the balls off the bike cause you can damage the engine but if its rich then itl b ok till you get round to adjusting it.

i dont think you can get one for the xvs 125 but have a look for a bbk for the XV 125 virago cause the cylinders are exactly the same but you will need to sort out the timing on the heads, but they bolt straight onto the xvs 125 bottom end as to where to get them from i havent got a clue but normally ul find that the bbk reduces reliability quite a bit and can sometimes cost more than a new engine so shop around.

hi all just an update for u

lol ok m8 dont blame u lol but iv taken some pics of what they should look like if there darker then dont worry about them but if there lighter then you need to sort it