Variomatic

I'll probably be gentle with it anyway, maybe not the full 500 miles, but probably just be gentle for a few days or so till I know all is well, then go back to spanking it as usual. Since I have a hone I may as well, just a light one, obviously.

If there's water in the oil it's probably a dead gasket (if it's water cooled that is, and as far as I know these are), but on the other hand it might be water getting in through the air intakes. If a bike sits for that long then seals dry out, bearings rust, gaskets can become damaged. Take your manual and work from the front to the back, a bike that's sat for 3 years will need to be gone over before you can ride it anyway, if a bike sit's for years it's usually for a reason.. I'm gonna guess it's a gasket and your coolant is leaking into your engine, but it could come from many places. If you're unsure, take it to a mechanic, there's nothing worse than not knowing what you're doing and making things worse or breaking it, I've done that multiple times before.

Just go to a mechanic, it's either a compression problem, spark, or fuel. A mechanic will be able to tell you which one of those it is in just a few minuets, then you can go about fixing it in whatever way you want. The chances are this is an easy fix, it usually is. Like Blackhat said, it's more than likely old fuel blocking jets and stopping the rear cylinder from getting fuel. You need to rebuild both carbs, clean them out with a solvent and reassemble as the owners manual dictates. Machines do not like to sit, engines. cars, bikes, even lawn mowers don't survive well if you let them rot, an engine lasts best when run reguarly, otherwise fuel goes bad, seals dry out, ect ect.

It takes a lot longer for the new rings to seat on a used cylinder, since I'm honing it do you think that'll still be a problem? I'm thinking since the bore would have fresh hone marks it'd probably be the standard 500 mile break in. Last tine I put in new rings and didn't hone (admittedly this was a chainsaw but still)I managed to damage the rings and it was just as bad as before, but I was £60 down.

Ohh that's fine then, I would've been quite concerned if it was an old rebuild thought It'd be shit to seize it on the first ride of the year Dumb question, but this is the DT right? Not the TDR?

Exactly what I was thinking, ordered a hone and it's on it's way. This is quickly turning into a "lets do it and hope" job, but we've all done one of those in the past. Like Cynic said, I should really inspect it, but I don't have the measuring tools to do that

I've gotta say, sometimes it's fun to do something so wrong like that when in a pinch. I once got home after my exhaust fell of (like totally fell off, on the floor 50 ft behind me) by hanging it from the bike with steel wire so it looked like it was still attached. I admire the ingenuity shown here. You didn't damage anything holding it open for so long did you?

I've got the cylinder if and was very pleased by it's condition, you can still see the factory hone lines, however, one area at the read (intake side) of the cylinder has some very lite score lines, you can't feel them when you run your nail over them, so as far as I can tell I could get away with a cylinder hone, but I want to be 100% sure so I thought I'd ask others, below are two links to pictures of the cylinder.

Absolutely eautiful bike, lucky to have it. I'm a little in love with the front end.

That's a fantastic idea, you can pick up a second hand Chinese pile of shit for £800, it'll be more than good enough to learn on the road. He could try a Sinnis Apache, those are cheap second hand, and I've heard they're fun.

I wanna say stay away from the YBR, but that could be my prejudiced. I'd say try a DT, I've heard they're tonnes of fun, and the YBR really isn't.

Great news, managed to get the entire bike into the house, remove the right hand head bolts, the left hand bolts wouldn't come all the way out BUT cleared the cylinder (just) so I could get out out that way. In other words, the head is off, as is the piston and cylinder, but the engines in the bike still. So the problem is solved, all I've got to do is hope I can get the thing back together again

UPDATE After probably damaging my torque wrench (beam type so likely ok) by using it as a 1.5ft breaker bar I managed to get every single engine mount bolt undone. Hoever, right at the bottom in the rear there is one bolt, one fucking bolt, the nut has come undone, but the bolt is stuck in the engine, and through the frame, so, now the engine is hanging from the frame by one bolts that's rusted in. Also it's so rusted in, after putting about 100ft-LB of torque though it it's still stuck solid, and rounded. Thankfully it's not threaded into the engine so it's a case of hitting it hard enough on the other end. I'm so close, and at the same time I want to burn this metal bastard to the ground. Thanks for so much help guys. Without this forum my bike would have been scrap long ago. If I ever buy a new bike, every single nut and bolt is gonna have a coat of silicone before it sees the road.

I really can't afford to fuck about with this, I'm gonna try some bigger tools and more torque, if that chews the head of the nut, the grinder and the drill will come out. Every other bolt on the bike is fine, but these motherfucking mounting bolts, Jesus Christ I need a new bike.

Not quite got me yet, the engine is still in the frame, the head bolts are easy. The engine is in the frame but the engine mount bolts won't come out.

*sigh* Engine out, engine inside where I can feel my fingers, fix engine, engine back in bike. And yes I'm awake of bolt locations, I'm not a retard. The problem is that none of them will come out. And yeah Malleus, decent set of wrenches/sockets, lot's of penetrating oil and heat. The ideal solution seems to be to just leave the engine in the frame and do it within the confines of the bike. Looks like I'll be sitting in the cold for a long while.

I've spend the last 3 hours trying to get the engine out of the bike, every single fucking bolt holding the bike in is totally stuck in the bike, WD40, physical violence, high heat and a lot of time didn't get them out. As far as I can tell this engine is stuck solid in the frame. Any tips?

Tell him to shove his service up his ass, he's taking you for a ride, find a new mechanic. Buy a Haynes manual and learn to fix things yourself, you'll save hundreds or maybe thousands over the lifetime of the bike. Or if you really want to go to a mechanic, look around for a new one. Admittedly the parts he'll use aint eBay crap, he'll (probably) use genuine Yamaha parts which are expensive

A Yam dealer will charge you an arm and a leg for a very simple job, take it to a decent bike garage in your area, or even better, learn to do it yourself, it's very simple.

Thanks, I know this isn't ideal but we've all been in this situation before

Right, I /NEED/ a new barrel and piston, as in I can't get to college without my bike. A new barrel and piston from Yamaha (sit down for this big fucking surprise) is gonna cost well over £300, obviously I can't afford this. There are other, aftermarket barrels available on eBay, generally range from £38 to £50. What do you think of them? Obviously they're shitty Chinese rubbish, but how bad do you think they really are? Keep in mind that without the bike I'm basically stranded on top of a tiny village in the middle of bum-fuck-nowhere in north Wales. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cylinder-Barrel-Piston-Kit-For-YAMAHA-YBR125-YBR-125-Cylindre-/321946041092?hash=item4af57abb04:g:Yq4AAOxyItRTdLcY EDIT: Would it actually be better to buy a second hand barrel from a wrecked bike or something and get a new piston and ring kit from a decent aftermarket manufacturer? It actually works out at a similar price.

It's electronic, not mechanical, might be difficult to find a way to make a classic mechanical speedo to play well, maybe there's an aftermarket part?

Perhaps your idle is set too low? Clogged fuel injectors? Need new plugs? Low compression? I'm not sure, hopefully some of the more experianced guys will have a better idea than me

Buy the owners manual, they Haynes ones have literally everything you could ever need to know.

Yep that's me, I have literally 80p to my name right now. I'm probably work out some transport in the mean time and rip it apart as soon as I can get my hands on a torque wrench to nip the head bolts down with. I'll probably go with a new set of rings, new piston, kick it and see what happens. A new piston and rings is only £25-30 (for shite Chinese parts but they'll do), can't get any worse I suppose...