NE0

hi Gingerchili, Have you considered joining the R1 forum? a quick google search brings up similar questions within their forum... https://www.r1-forum.com/threads/2009-r1-big-bang-various-advice-needed-please.634158/ Hope that helps.

Hi there, as Snake above has said, he'd be surprised if it didn't offer the ability to alter the height, so i took a look at some promotional photos on google. As it's a brand new bike, there's some interesting photos of the bike on various websites. https://www.appleyardmotorcycles.co.uk/used-motorcycle/yamaha-yzf-r125-world-gp-60th-anniversary-2022-32629 https://www.motogb.co.uk/used-bikes/yamaha-yzf-r125-world-gp-60th-anniversary-2022-32128 in the gallery sections I notice the top of the pedal is just below the support bracket seen behind it. The first question is, does yours match the promotional photos? or is yours set higher? if it is, then it should be adjusted to match. The place you bought it from should be able to reposition it. In this utube video, pause it at 2mins 53 for a nice view of it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaDkByqGPiE Secondly, and no disrepect implied here, are you riding it in the designed foot position? I notice the riders in the photos have their mid foot on the peg and their heel over the exhaust, are you for example riding it with your foot too far forward? or are you too tall for the bike? I say that last bit for a reason, you see my 400/4 is designed for someone shorter than me, I'm six foot, some say I look too big on it but it's a lovely bike and I don't care if I'm technically too tall for it! but with size 12 feet it does mean I had to alter my foot position to ride it, in the end I too had to alter the angle of the brake pedal to ride it comfortably.

Hi there and welcome. If your're moving the handlebars and it's causing a change in something that's being run by electricity, then for sure you've got a wiring issue!! The wiring loom runs down past the steering head, and has all the wires from the handlebar switches within it. However, it's also designed with a bit of slack to help it move with the handlebar. Unfortunately, your bike is already over 40 years old (1981) and the wiring loom will be breaking down. Nothing lasts forever and plastics and rubber are the first things to go brittle and become cracked as the years become decades. The loom will no longer be as flexible and will now be quite stiff. After 40 years of movement you can expect exposed wiring and broken wires from all that motion within the covering. A repair maybe possible by stripping away the covering and finding the fault but putting it back together and expecting it to last is another matter. The likelyhood of this happening to another wire in the same area will be very high. The most sensible solution would be to replace the aged loom for a new one, but that requires stripping the bike down. Regretfully the loom is often the first thing that gets attached to a bare frame in manufacturing and everything else is bolted on around it! How long do wiring looms last for? a difficult question as some will say they know of 100 year old vehicles still working, however, the manufacturers never designed them to last or even expected them to last! The fact you're having issues with yours suggest it's starting to reach the end of it's serviceable life. You can probably get it repaired, but you may find a previous repair.! either way it won't fix itself. kind regards NE0

Hi Ben, Welcome to the group and to this side of the Planet! To get free MOT and free road tax you have to first have your V5C registration documents issued by DVLA to state 'HISTORIC' in the taxation class. I can't help you how to obtain the V5C in the first place though! Someone else will hopefully explain how you go about importing a bike into the UK and getting your V5C. Here's my actual account of how I changed my V5C to HISTORIC. as mentioned in the text , it's not an automatic process just because its over 40 years old. From DVLA's point of view they are quite happy for you to pay Road Tax, they won't tell you that you can get it for free, nor will they tell you the Bike is elgible. Incidently, whilst the road tax is 'free', the MOT side of it is; YOU are declaring that it is SAFE to be on the road, and are taking full responsibility for it meeting the road safety standard for an Historic bike. Although there is nothing stopping you putting your bike through for an MOT and paying for it. You also mention you'd like to do a 12v conversion, well I too did this to my DT175MX over 10 years ago and here's the indepth account on how I went about it, have a read if you haven't already. Usual disclaimer applies. This was my bike, no idea if it would work on yours! https://yamahaclub.com/forums/topic/25945-dt-175-mx-12volt-conversion/ well, there's a start for you, once again welcome to the group, whilst your here, why not pop over to the new members section and do a brief introduction,which always goes down well. All the best NE0

Excellent Grah, Glad you got it sorted out. just got you a Gold medal on the leader board!

I learnt along time ago to take loads of digital photos with my camera, saves a lot of hassle a year later!!

and this photo shows the little tag poking up just behind the brake pedal https://www.thebikespecialists.com/vehicle/yamaha-dt250-mx-classic-iconic-trail-bike-excellent-condition-in-sheffield-43b7fe63-9b9e-4049-9742-c35103cd06e9 one of the photos shows a close up of the brake side....you can just about make it out. This gives an indication that the tag has to be uppermost. Yes, there looks like a small spring attached to that arm, do you have that?

Heh Graham, Done some further searching and found this image of a DT250MX rear brake switch and looks like you might be missing a bit!

just looked on ebay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284624724360?var=0&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338268676&toolid=10044&customid=EAIaIQobChMIk9DGgdmH9gIVj77tCh376gD1EAQYAyABEgJvyvD_BwE this one comes with a spring? and others also.... https://www.rexs-speedshop.com/product/yamaha-rear-brake-switch-with-spring/ and this one with a rod for a single shock DT250MX https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/154575520731?hash=item23fd6b43db:g:LMgAAOSwF7BhHi47

hi Graham Not sure if this helps but this is my 1978 DT175MX rear brake light set up. and the other end of the spring goes on the top part of the brake pedal the switch part points down towards the pedal, and is held on by the plastic nut. It fits in a welded ring on the frame. The long spring attaches to the 'pull out' plunger and the other end attaches to a hole in the top of the brake pedal. When you depress the rear brake , it pulls the plunger out and this makes the internal switch close and the rear light goes on. I appreciate yours may be different but it may be helpful. NE0

Hi Blake I own a 1978 MX with 7 wire cdi, there is a wiring diagram available in the Haynes owners workshop manual .Yamaha 100,125 &175 trail bikes. Brown cover Book 210. On page 167. hope that helps.

Hi folks, Just thought I'd take the time to wish you ALL a Merry Christmas and hope you all have a better 2022. The forum has got a lot quieter since I first joined ten years ago, nonetheless I still visit every few days to read whats going on with you all. I still enjoy the banter, even if the bikes don't do many miles at all these days. Have a great time and enjoy your family time. NE0. Apparently I've got a new film out!..... Might have to go and watch it over the holiday period.

...and originally posted by a One Hit Wonder.....and replied by another One Hit Wonder. Neither ever seen again!

Good work, especially under the seat. I had similar problems with my wiring loom and ended up replacing the whole thing with a replacement loom from the bay! It's no fun working on a bike in the cold weather, been there done that! mind you, when they do break down, it's normally in the winter, after the sun has set and miles from home!! You can ride for miles in the summer without so much as a hint of trouble, but come with winter...different story! Keep up the good work and enjoy.

Did you get it going?

I'm sure you've all been there but I had a sleepless night last night, mainly with my brain popping up random thoughts that i couldn't get rid of....and it kept me awake! One of them though was "Why DID early Yams have twin spark plug holes!!?" I came to the conclusion that it was either for 'Performance' or 'Diagnostic'...... "Performance" to make it better or worse! or "Diagnostic" to see what was making it better or worse! yup not the best discussion to have with yourself at 4 am....but.... It also got me thinking about what was available back in the 70's to do either of them...As regards to 'Diagnostic', there was Colortune sparkplugs, which were a popular 'accessory' that found their way into many a christmas stocking for dad who had everything. It was a plug with a glass inspection construction so you could 'see' the colour of your spark!.....oh joy!....come on... it was 4am!! but would Yamaha construct cylinder heads just for this purpose?....unlikely I thought!...unless it was a high performance engine......not your run of the mill Trial bike... it was probably 04.15 by now! Which made me think of 'Performance'. Was there really a need to equip their cylinder heads with dual spark plug holes to run twin plugs? Presumably that would mean twin HT Coils and maybe twin contact breakers? makes you think doesn't it? it was probably at least 04.30 by now! I don't recall my mate who had twin plugs on his AT ever having twin coils, true he had both spark plugs inserted but only one was ever connected at a time. He would change the HT lead over to the other plug if it got too fouled up...but thinking about that today (04.40) the chances are the carbon fouling was probably all over THAT spark plug too!!....but heh we were just 16!...it seemed to be the 'right thing' to do, swapping HT leads.....wow...the performance change...Not!! Anyway, (04.45) I came to the conclusion that dual plug holes was probably related to performance more than anything else......mass produced?...domestic market vs sports market?.......then just blank off the hole that's not in use and make use of the twin holes for the sports related performance. Seemed logical, and probably not untypical of 70's thinking. No I didn't drop off ...I still had Quantum and String theory to discuss with myself along with what am i going to do today?, what I'm going to be ABLE to do today with so little sleep!!.... what's that ringing?...it's the alarm......time to get up! Then I thought "Why don't I google it? " Twin spark plugs on Cylinder heads.... I was right after all....its performance related... https://www.rediff.com/getahead/report/slide-show-1-biking-and-motoring-why-twin-spark-is-superior-to-single-spark-tech/20140104.htm So I just have to answer one final question.... Why didn't i get up at 4am and look it up? ...would have saved myself all that 'deep thinking"! Gee ...i'm tired!!!

Anything must be worth a try if you've tried everything. But i just did a quick google search for timing with unleaded vs leaded, and apparently you retard the timing slightly. One guy writes that for his classic bike engine he normally sets the timing where it "should" be and, providing he gets it going, goes for a ride up a hill, if it pinks he retards it a bit, if it doesn't he advances it until it does pink then winds it back very slightly. Remember it only takes a fraction of adjustment to alter the effect it has. Like I said it might be worth altering it, you can always set it back to 'normal', if it doesn't work. it's only a screw adjustment afterall, but having said that, I'm not so sure I altered my DT for unleaded! .....I may have done , it's so long ago though!.......good luck Phil keep us posted.

if its only done so few miles it won't be a choked exhaust then. However, you say the timing is 1.9. is that for leaded 4 star fuel? which it was designed to run on back in 1984. Now your using unleaded. I'm wondering if you need to advance the ignition timing slightly to compensate.

Okay, heres another thing to rule out..... What about the exhaust? if its choked it won't run. Try disconnecting the silencer, it will be noisy....but unchoked. 2 strokes rely on a bit of back pressure to run successfully, so you won't be able to ride without it, but it would give you an idea if it's choked up too much. if it doesn't start you know its not that.

Might be worth ruling out the petrol cap.... they are vented to stop a vacuum forming inside the tank, which can cause the engine to stop with fuel starvation. Had this happen on my 400/4. Sometimes the seal sticks or the outlet tube on a trial is blocked.... Rule it out by seeing if it will run with the cap unscrewed/off. ....if it still won't start/run you know its not the cap. it's a simple enough test with no cost involved....unless it's the cause!! The seal acts like a one way valve, it lets air in but stops petrol leaking out.

and oddly enough...I answered a similiar post a few years ago on the very same subject. I also gave the process of how I got mine reclassed as HISTORIC. Have a gander, it may help.... P.s. I have a multibike insurance with CIA for my two classic bikes DT and Honda, limited to 2000k miles per year. It was £120 fully comp this year for both.

Oddly enough I answered a similiar post recently, when another member asked about the two spark plug holes on the top of his DT head. He posted a photo of a cylinder head with two plugs screwed into the head. Here's the text from my post... I know the early 70s AT2's (125 &175) had dual spark plug holes. As far as i know they weren't designed to run with twin plugs as one thread hole was often plugged. However, my mate had one and had both holes with spark plugs,(like your photo) when one became fouled up he'd pull the HT lead and put it on the 'spare'. It doesn't look like an AT2 though as the plug holes were either side of a central fin. Your photo shows one directly in the centre and one offset which means its from a dual shock DT175. Here's a brand new one on ebay. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334146920758?hash=item4dccb56136:g:3E0AAOSw6fBhPx2o I appreciate that my "answer" doesn't answer your decompressor question but it may be of some help.

Hi there Johnners, As a big fan of all 70's/80s bikes and having restored mine several times, the biggest problem you will have will be that old fuel thats been sitting there especially inside the carb. Old fuel not only makes rubber seals turn solid it also leaves behind a dark brown shellac like coating which is just as hard and is difficult to remove! The fuel evaporates and leaves everything stained brown, at best it can be wiped off like a dust, but it does tend to block up the carb jets and float pivots. (unless of course you drained the carbs before putting it away?) If you didn't you're going to have to strip the carbs and clean them out, which means you're going to need carb rebuid kits to replace all those dry seals. It's false economy to trust them (after so many years) to be honest, even if they do come apart and look intact. Is it worth trying to start it without stripping the carbs? I don't think so!! I did it once, fuel everywhere!! floats jammed up, fuel coming out the overflows, a right mess. Then you have to strip the carbs anyway!! and everything is wet with petrol! You'll also need to put in new plugs.! keep us up to date, wish i was there to see to it spring into life,....its very satisfying when that happens.

hi there, welcome back, although i didn't know you'd gone. As regards to posting photos, it seems the best way is to open a free Flickr account, upload your photos to it, then it gives you a code to paste in your text message, which then shows up in your message. I did it, and it seems pretty easy to do, I just followed the instructions here https://yamahaclub.com/forums/topic/45201-uploading-photos/ it's a little out of date as the sequence has changed slightly but its pretty straight forward and i was up and running quite quickly. Once uploaded, you preview your photo and the code is automatically produced so you can copy and paste it. hope that helps. and once again...welcome back.

Trouble is he states:- the only thing working is cut off switch, start button and the bike still starts and runs fine. Which implies the battery is working if the start button turns the engine over. Hence why I thought it might be Earth failure as he's lost everything else.