NE0

Option 4 The spare ebay wheels have arrived with part worn tyres: the front tyre has hardly any wear, the rear is worn with just under half its tread left. The spokes are quite rusty and the rims are best described as a little tatty. However at £50 the pair I think it was a good buy. I've spoken with 'Owen' at manchesterExtreme, and he'll rebuild my originals with new S/S spokes for approx £130 the pair. I've now got to do a swap, but i might just put new bearings and seals in the ebay set for peace of mind. Then send mine off next week. There's very little in the way of 'small industry' down here on the South Coast, but i did find a one firm within driving distance and they quoted £130 PER wheel (£85 for the spokes and £45 labour). and a 6 week turn around. Perhaps they're platinium spokes! So even with postage to Manchester I'm better off.........thanks Paul for advice and link.

Good news....for me anyway! Managed to buy a pair of wheels including tyres for my 175 for £50 Tyres are ok and its got rusty spokes! However, the reason for buying them is to get mine respoked with stainless without taking the bike off the road for the winter. Might even just use them EVERY winter... its a new option

No OG I've not got a spare throttle cable, only a clutch cable mentioned in the first post The post with the 3 cables says..... heres my list of parts maybe to stock?? or I'd recommend to any biker.... All 3 cables :- Clutch, throttle and brake. It was my list before i dozed off...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

So far then nothing 'specific' ...only various bits. I've had a sleep since and was giving it some thoughts before i dozed off.......wife was already asleep#!!! .......had some weird dreams i can tell you!!! being chased by a spare tyre!!! heres my list of parts maybe to stock?? or I'd recommend to any biker.... In case of minor damage or failure you'd want to be back on the road ASAP without having to wait for stock to arrive All bulbs A pair of indicator lenses. A rear lens. All 3 cables :- Clutch, throttle and brake. Oil and oil filter (if your bike has it) length of petrol pipe Tyre valves and caps If keeping a bike long term and you've got space to store them Any chrome parts.....keep them wrapped up nice and dry or well oiled for protection, ie chrome mud and chain gaurds, a spare engine, which you've previously stripped and restored so it can be exchanged over at the drop of a hat! spare carb? A spare exhaust system........((my 400/4.unused OEM go for well over £1000 on ebay!!! they used to be about £200 I've since got a good spare now in the loft)) Wheel hubs front and back Spare wheels front and back (OG!!) Fork stanchoins...expensive to buy now...imagine the cost of these in the future! Long term storage of these parts might not be sensible... Brake shoes (the glue which bonds them on the shoe can distintigrate especially if kept in a dampish garage) Mirrors, if the damp gets to them the silver comes off. It's known that rubber doesn't store well, hardens over time so.....Engine seals, fork seals, Tyres, inner tubes, Feel free to added anything else........ I think i would have thought of a load more but i fell asleep.....here i think I've discovered a cure for insomnia!

Yes i did read option 1 .....just didn't remember it when i wrote the reply! According to the tutorial it would appear there are 4 different spokes per wheel: the inners have 2 different lengths and so do the outers. I'll await your good deed. In the meantime i took off the old tyre with levers. From start to finish. I.e taking the wheel off the bike to having the tyre off took 35 minutes...........whats the betting it takes longer to put the new tyre on........ready......steady............GO! see you in about 10 hours!!

One extreme to the other then with OG and Up.Y

yup! Ok OG I think it will be a combination of option1 and 3 .........do it my self...........next year! just got to find the right lengths of spokes to just purchase them.....where's me tape?

I had feeling you'd say that paul!!! .......you've got an entire bike haven't you?..or two?

With quite a number of us keeping 'older bikes' on the road, I was just wondering what does everyone keep in stock in their shed/workshop/under the bed! I've got a lot of bulbs and a spare clutch cable, a spare set of indicator lenses for my DT and I keep a number of oil filters for my 400/4 with a spare throttle cable but thats about it. I know that there are many spares available on ebay and the like, but in a few years time it might not be the same. If i keep my MX for another 8 years it will be 40 yrs old. Buying and keeping a spare set of seals might not be such a good idea as over time the rubber will harden and perhaps start to perish and all the time the spares are available it doesn't seem necessary to stock them. but what about more hard to get parts or the parts which can be stored and will last. Like bearings and cables...... Ideally i guess the ultimate spares would be to have an entire spare bike: same model and everything! but thats clearly not possible....or is it? what spares do you keep or recommend for any biker? NE0

yes paul option 1, I saw the tutorial a few days ago, it helped inspire me to do it myself. to be honest the guy at your shop didn't seem to be over keen on just selling the spokes, as he strongly leaned on all wheels are individual approach, but hey....he's far more experienced than i am. As regards option 2 its a very tempting offer,( geee i sound like Noel edmonds!!) If you lived just along the road i might say yes, but I'll have to decline. Although I make a counter offer ...is there a buy it now price for your wheels? i.e simply abandon mine and replace them!! However, I do have a plan c which is a cunning plan which you could brush your teeth with and call it a weasel........(blackadder 3) is to just put the new tyre on and leave the spokes until the summer when I take her off the road whilst I use the 400/4 again! then replace the spokes, i know it means taking the tyre off a second time but hey ho!!!......soon be summer again!

Great price on stainless spokes.........but Not so good news, no samples of Pauls found and they don't keep a record of the ones sold or fitted to Pauls. He suggested sending the wheels to him, which means taking off the tyres and posting them up to him I really only wanted to do one wheel at a time, and i wasn't looking forward to doing the rear wheel just yet. Don't get me wrong its not the money side of things its the time it all takes and inconvience of having the bike off the road again for another couple of weeks, I know it will be a proper job its just so full of hassle for me at this time! I was hoping to do one wheel at a time over a weekend and back to work on a monday i could do with a plan b.

I've just given them a ring , they would like samples but i said that Paul had his MX wheels done and had taken samples and that my wheels were identical to his (i.e standard yamaha 175MX wheels I assume they are not unique) (I hope they keep a record of what bike uses what size). Anyway, He'll look them up and ring back later...........

They certainly look the dogs dangly bits Paul. I didn't particulary want to take it off the road again and send the wheels away ,I was hoping I'd like to do it myself, even if it means replacing one spoke at a time and until its all done, that way it would all remain true? I'll give them a call, who do i ask for who knows you and this thread? thanks for the quick response guys

All powder coated and back together, along with new rings bearings and seals in the engine. All fixings replaced with stainless steel ones. I even made a new swinging arm pivot bolt from an M10 stainless bolt and put a hole in the side for the split pin. Whilst the special washers with the seals might not be available i simply reused the old bottom swinging arm ones, afterall the seals were still relatively intact and they fitted a treat on the new bolt. Remember they were missing before i took it apart so replacing them with something is better than nothing!!

Having just refurbished the motor with new bearings, seals, rings etc ready for the winter. I also decided to replace the wheel bearings, which I've now done so she's back on the road. I've already clocked up over a 1000 miles in 11 months, shows you i'm using it!! The MOT is due in february and the front tyre is quite worn (to be fair i was surprised it went through the last MOT) Nonetheless, I've purchased a new Michelin X to go on before february. Now on further inspection, I note the spokes are rusting quite happily and I could do with replacing them, even more so as I'll be taking the old tyre off (might as well do it altogether) I'd like to do both wheels, not necessarily at the same time so i'd buy both sets. it would be ideal if they were available off the shelf, I'd simply get on with it but I expect they're not. I've looked on ebay and whilst there are a number of S/S spokes none are listed for my bike. although other bikes must share the same sizes? anyone know? it looks like each set will cost in the region of £60 (incl P+P) So does anyone know where can I get new stainless spokes from for my 175MX? Any recomendations?

I've just done exactly the same as you on my 175MX and put it all back together without a problem. (although I've stripped and rebuilt hundreds of engines in my time) I renewed the main bearings and the gearbox bearings, all the seals and rings. Started 1st time and no smoke! other than the initial smoke on priming the oil pump. As you're aware from the posts, oil has to remain in the gearbox and not get into the crank area. Whilst there is no gasket between the 2 halves, I assume you put "instant gasket" on the exposed face before reassembly. (I took photos of every stage to help others). Plus..... I'm also in West Sussex!!

I'm a regular 'nodder' to bikes down here on the South Coast, including mopeds, sadly rarely seem to get a nod back. Back in the 70's and 80's there appeared to be a lot more bikes around and it seemed that everyone used to 'wave' or nod irrespective of the bike. By the end of the 70's i moved 'indoors' with a Reliant Regal 3 wheeler and all 3 wheelers and many bikers used to wave' or flash lights. However, these days my 400/4 gets more nods than my DT175 (i'm sure many think its just a 125!!) but there does seem to be a very noticeable lack of the friendly nod from others especialy over the past 15 years.

As Regards to your spelling...... I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdgnieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Incredible eh?

it turned out to be the same problem I had on my replacement ignition switch This post from shows it in detail..... Its just that I purchased a new ignition switch from yambits the other week, fitted it and the bike would NOT start, no matter what I tried. everytime i turned the key to ON it was being grounded, yet everything checked out fine until I turned the key... you can see the culprit arrowed, I simply moved the leg away from the solder and it all worked. whats the chances of it happening twice??? glad to have been of service!

Very kind of you OG, and I might well have taken you up on the offer if the seals were only a few years old, however, 20 year old seals won't last forever, and perhaps prevention is better than cure. I do recall, back in the late 70's, a neighbour who used to replace all the hoses on every 2nd hand car he purchased, and he never had any problems with leaks and coolant loss (something which many cars had back then) years later he went on to replace the cam belt on his new cars to reduce the risk of future problems and be reassured that the parts were new and fitted correctly, so perhaps a little of his philosophy has rubbed off on me! The latest news is all the engine parts have now arrived...just got to pick them up from the post office as i was at work when they arrived.

The good news is ALL the parts are now here (Thanks to Paul for the S/S tube) and the swinging arm is now back on along with the rear wheel. The bad news, and don't ask me why! but for some MAD reason i decided to strip down the engine and replace all the seals and bearings! The receipts I got with the bike show it had a rebore and seals replaced around 5000 miles ago BUT that was over 20 years ago, so whilst they might not be worn that much I think the seals may have become hard and brittle over time and I want it to be reliable for the forth coming winter, so i made a decision and its now it's being reverse engineered!.....full strip down .........its now in bits and waiting on more parts! doh!

Nice one OG, ...if he takes a brand new one apart it might be a miracle if it still worked after he puts it back together!

I wouldn't bother, its not really an issue. Nobody expects NEW clocks or replacement clocks to reflect the true mileage of any vehicle, you just tell them its go new clocks. But if you're really serious you could dismantle your new clocks completely into its components and manualy advance the wheels of the odometer...... but honestly you risk F***g it up!!! it really would not be worth it, However, before you start thinking shall i attach an electric drill and run it at high speed to advance the mileometer.....it doesn't work in the way you might be thinking.! i can assure you with the drill at high speed you might even get the needle to show 100 mph, But this means it will therefore TAKE 1 hour to advance the mileometer 100 miles!!! if you left the drill on for 24 hours the mileometer will ONLY read 2400 miles. To advance the mileometer to say 40,000 miles it will take the drill 16 days running 24/7 to reach 40,000 miles and a load of electricity and probably a new drill!! or several!!! the drill method is really an Old wives tale...........

George, I'm from Brighton, and living along the road, I'm sure I can spare some time to help you out... PM me and i can arrange to come over.

There is currently another thread of mine which is about refurbishing my DT175MX's swinging arm, and there is a photo of the earlier round tube version form 78-79. Is it anything like the photo i took or is it a square tube one? However, It might be helpful if you can take a photo and post it so we can see what you're referring to.