Newly turned 16 and have already worked on 3 of these great bikes, apparently my dad picked up over 10 different broken exapmles to pick them apart for the usable parts while i was barely born so he could build them with me when i became old enough to ride. He got all the best parts together and got them painted in the original colours and the original stickers custom made to fully restore them. When i turned 14 we built our first one together with everything stock so it only made 2hp. It was the perfect starter bike for my age. We tinkered and tried different engine setups over these 2 years and to this day they are one of the most fun bikes ive ever ridden. They love staying on the rear wheel and make such reliable power with only a 60cc cylinder, bigger carb and opened exhaust. Forever grateful that he did this for me.
Oh yes,thank you for this video..Brings back very nice memories..Nothing can beat the smell of a two stroke..When I was 16,my weight was 50kg ,so it was flying..
Great little bikes I learned to ride on an MT5 at13 when my old man bought it off a mate of his as a field bike for 30 quid. Many happy memories of ripping it apart for no other reason than having something to do and it always, always started after I had arsed about with it. I had years of fun on that bike down the fields in all weather miles from any adults, no mobile phones and nobody would have worried where I was until it got dark. Bloody shocking to realize how free we were back then. Cheers for reminding me :-)
Bought mine (model '85) new in '86. And still got it. With a great Zeta 70cc (5 speed). Drove most of the time with a 100cc MT8 engine. Just to save the original engine for later. Now 35 years old. You did a good investment!
My first bike was a MT5. I couldn't get over 15 mph up a hill, but the exhaust was blocked. Soon as it got it cleared out, it was a nice bike. I really wanted a DT50r though, so i got rid of it and got one. best choice i made
They were terrible for bunging up the exhaust, mine was like that, it would literally stall going up hill, once the exhaust was sorted it was a lot better, I would spend all day bombing about in the local woods thinking I was Dave Thorpe!
Just read an interesting article in PracticalSportsbikes magazine on a father/son duo who restored an MB-5 & MT-5..👍🏼 I would love to find buy the first bike I ever had back in 1989, Honda NS125F, but they all seem to have disappeared 🙁
I had one of these brand new on a D plate D691PYB. I had so much fun on up on the Quantock hills. Mine was red and white. It was forever eating rear wheel bearings but it was always covered in mud and underwater lol.
Thanks the vid and trip to memory lane, I had the red, white and blue version. I bought mine at 16 in 1986, and was informed by the seller it would do 47mph. All my friends had DT’s, X1’s and AR’s and would the rip the pee, yeah 47 off a cliff 😆
I had one when I was 16, I'm 54 now! I tuned it up to do about 45 on the flat, the reed stops were one of the main restrictions, as standard the reeds only open about 4mm! Anyway I've just purchased (as in literally tonight) a shed of an MT5! I know a fair bit about bikes and mechanical stuff in general now, I'm going to strip and rebuild the bike. As I can't help fiddling with stuff the engine is going to be ported correctly, head skimmed and anything else that I can think of doing, the restrictions will be cut out of the exhaust too. I weigh a fair bit more now than what I did when I was 16 so it will probably struggle to do 35 let alone 45 but it will be fun trying! I could go for a big bore kit but somehow that feels like cheating!
Quick update! I really went to town on my new MT5 'ped, I've carried out a nut and bolt rebuild, it looks like a brand new bike but I could not resist fiddling with the engine, it had a new crank with all the other engine bearings replaced, I fitted a MTX80 six speed box into the MT5 engine the neutral light switch needed fiddling with, it's running a Airsal 65cc big bore kit which I have also ported (in fact it's the second barrel that I purchased, I went a bit to far with the first which meant it wasn't nice to ride). The second one is ported fully (all the ports modified, I have the port timing written down somewhere). I aimed for a peak RPM of 9-9.5k RPM. The transfer entries had a lot of work done to them and the crankcases were opened up to match the transfers. The head has had a lot of work, its been opened up to suite the larger bore and has a 'proper' squish band, the gap is around 0.6mm. The CR is up around 13.5:1 (uncorrected) from memory. The exhaust is stock looking but aftermarket, I removed the baffle plate at one end of it and made a proper baffle cone and stinger, its welded inside the exhaust and then the exhaust was welded back together so it looks 'stock'. Its running a cheap 18mm carb which needed a re-jet of both the main and pilot jet, I also cut extra clip grooves in the needle to allow more adjustment. The stock ignition system runs a 'spare spark system' not many people realize this, the result is that at about 7500 RPM the stock system starts to misfire (The CDI is running at 15000 RPM when the engine is running at 7500 RPM). I modified the ignition pickup so that the CDI only fires once per revolution, not twice. I rigged up a test rig to test the retard curve with the new setup, it worked OK with the timing backing off as the engine RPM went up, its also running fibre reeds but I'm not sure what make they are, the reed stop has been bent back and the inlet manifold has been opened up to match the carb. The inlet rubber in the airbox has been opened up as that is part of Honda's restriction method. Obviously the final drive gearing has been changed in order to suite the mods and the ratios of the 6 speed cluster. I had big problems with the battery being over charged, the bike was just running a rectifier, in the end I modified the loom so that it runs a proper reg/rec unit, the battery voltage is still a bit higher than I want, its around 7.5-7.8 volts but so far the old style 'wet' lead acid battery seems OK, before I fitted the regulator it boiled up a sealed 6 volt battery, this caused the DC voltage to go high, this blew all the DC powered bulbs, the AC side also went high which blew the AC bulbs!. Anyway the bike will sit at 55MPH all day on the flat which is great, its running at about 9k RPM which isn't stupidly high, its not shown signs of being stressed, I run a head temp gauge which sits at around 150-180 degrees C. So to sum up, I think that the bike looks great but I don't have to put up with the hideous 30-35MPH top speed that the UK bikes were stuck with. (The brakes are not quite as good as the engine, the front brake is a four finger job, not a one or two finger affair!)
Just watched a video from NZ (restoration) it was the unrestricted MT-50 and he was pulling straight up to 65mph without a problem. Mine, here in the UK, was gutless! I even tried to tune it, but never made much difference (45mph). Wonder what they did to restrict it?
I remember those little beasts, back in my 'ped' days there was a few going about. My first 50 was a Kwaka AR50, funny little bike that was. Bit of a random question, wouldn't happen to be Rob Watts who sourced that bike for you would it?
I had a red white mt5 when i was 16. My grandfather was looking through the auto trader and came across ghis bike it was 2 months old 3 miles on the clock and they wanted £600. It was a lovely bike just one thing wrong it flat as piss
That brings back some memory's.. I had a white mt5 when I was 16.. 31 years ago ha... nice bike to throw about, but like you said "gutless" Haha... 10/4
i remember those, you had the MT and MB, and later on there was the MTX and MBX with comstar wheels and disk brake. The MT and MB were very popular over here in NL and they were often tuned with larger carbs, 80cc kits and expansion exhaust. Some ran 100km/h, highly illegal for a moped. Fun times. Other popular mopeds of that era: Yamaha RD50, Honda SS50 4stroke, Zundapp KS50 and Kreidler RMC 50 electronic All very collectible now. Unfortunately there are voices withing our government that want to completely BAN petrol powered mopeds...!
What you appear to have is a Dutch imported Honda MT-5 from like 1983 or so... The rear swing-arm was replaced with an early model version. The cylinder is a cast-iron type which was specifically produced to allow legal use on Dutch roads, not as a motor bike but as a moped. The cylinder is not original. It is a de-tuned version of the Honda cylinder (cast-iron core and aluminium shell with less and larger fins ). It also is probably a 4 speed and not a 5 speed?
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #30 ДВА В ОДНОМ [Один человек]• Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nrXy15orKhY/mqdefault.jpg)
Newly turned 16 and have already worked on 3 of these great bikes, apparently my dad picked up over 10 different broken exapmles to pick them apart for the usable parts while i was barely born so he could build them with me when i became old enough to ride. He got all the best parts together and got them painted in the original colours and the original stickers custom made to fully restore them. When i turned 14 we built our first one together with everything stock so it only made 2hp. It was the perfect starter bike for my age. We tinkered and tried different engine setups over these 2 years and to this day they are one of the most fun bikes ive ever ridden. They love staying on the rear wheel and make such reliable power with only a 60cc cylinder, bigger carb and opened exhaust. Forever grateful that he did this for me.
Oh yes,thank you for this video..Brings back very nice memories..Nothing can beat the smell of a two stroke..When I was 16,my weight was 50kg ,so it was flying..
Great little bikes I learned to ride on an MT5 at13 when my old man bought it off a mate of his as a field bike for 30 quid. Many happy memories of ripping it apart for no other reason than having something to do and it always, always started after I had arsed about with it. I had years of fun on that bike down the fields in all weather miles from any adults, no mobile phones and nobody would have worried where I was until it got dark. Bloody shocking to realize how free we were back then. Cheers for reminding me :-)
Great to see someone else into the classic peds from our youth!! Mt5,dt mx and the classic ts50x,great bikes!
Benn out on a run today, i must do something with the black MT5 as it has just sat there since i bought it, shame on me
Bought mine (model '85) new in '86. And still got it. With a great Zeta 70cc (5 speed). Drove most of the time with a 100cc MT8 engine. Just to save the original engine for later. Now 35 years old. You did a good investment!
Awesome!
My first bike was a MT5. I couldn't get over 15 mph up a hill, but the exhaust was blocked. Soon as it got it cleared out, it was a nice bike. I really wanted a DT50r though, so i got rid of it and got one. best choice i made
They were terrible for bunging up the exhaust, mine was like that, it would literally stall going up hill, once the exhaust was sorted it was a lot better, I would spend all day bombing about in the local woods thinking I was Dave Thorpe!
I was the same as you, My Dad bought me a white Honda MT5 for my 16th Birthday. Dont think it had a red seat, but i did love that bike
Thank you for this video, I am from Greece and this is the first bike I plan to buy.
Despite how slow they are, i love them!
Just read an interesting article in PracticalSportsbikes magazine on a father/son duo who restored an MB-5 & MT-5..👍🏼
I would love to find buy the first bike I ever had back in 1989, Honda NS125F, but they all seem to have disappeared 🙁
I had one of these brand new on a D plate D691PYB. I had so much fun on up on the Quantock hills. Mine was red and white. It was forever eating rear wheel bearings but it was always covered in mud and underwater lol.
Had an mt5 for the field as a kid mint bikes id love another just to mess about on
Thanks the vid and trip to memory lane, I had the red, white and blue version. I bought mine at 16 in 1986, and was informed by the seller it would do 47mph. All my friends had DT’s, X1’s and AR’s and would the rip the pee, yeah 47 off a cliff 😆
I had one when I was 16, I'm 54 now! I tuned it up to do about 45 on the flat, the reed stops were one of the main restrictions, as standard the reeds only open about 4mm! Anyway I've just purchased (as in literally tonight) a shed of an MT5! I know a fair bit about bikes and mechanical stuff in general now, I'm going to strip and rebuild the bike. As I can't help fiddling with stuff the engine is going to be ported correctly, head skimmed and anything else that I can think of doing, the restrictions will be cut out of the exhaust too. I weigh a fair bit more now than what I did when I was 16 so it will probably struggle to do 35 let alone 45 but it will be fun trying! I could go for a big bore kit but somehow that feels like cheating!
A friend of mine has a H100 engine in his, both of mine are still fully restricted, but i should do something about that really!
Quick update! I really went to town on my new MT5 'ped, I've carried out a nut and bolt rebuild, it looks like a brand new bike but I could not resist fiddling with the engine, it had a new crank with all the other engine bearings replaced, I fitted a MTX80 six speed box into the MT5 engine the neutral light switch needed fiddling with, it's running a Airsal 65cc big bore kit which I have also ported (in fact it's the second barrel that I purchased, I went a bit to far with the first which meant it wasn't nice to ride). The second one is ported fully (all the ports modified, I have the port timing written down somewhere). I aimed for a peak RPM of 9-9.5k RPM. The transfer entries had a lot of work done to them and the crankcases were opened up to match the transfers. The head has had a lot of work, its been opened up to suite the larger bore and has a 'proper' squish band, the gap is around 0.6mm. The CR is up around 13.5:1 (uncorrected) from memory. The exhaust is stock looking but aftermarket, I removed the baffle plate at one end of it and made a proper baffle cone and stinger, its welded inside the exhaust and then the exhaust was welded back together so it looks 'stock'. Its running a cheap 18mm carb which needed a re-jet of both the main and pilot jet, I also cut extra clip grooves in the needle to allow more adjustment. The stock ignition system runs a 'spare spark system' not many people realize this, the result is that at about 7500 RPM the stock system starts to misfire (The CDI is running at 15000 RPM when the engine is running at 7500 RPM). I modified the ignition pickup so that the CDI only fires once per revolution, not twice. I rigged up a test rig to test the retard curve with the new setup, it worked OK with the timing backing off as the engine RPM went up, its also running fibre reeds but I'm not sure what make they are, the reed stop has been bent back and the inlet manifold has been opened up to match the carb. The inlet rubber in the airbox has been opened up as that is part of Honda's restriction method. Obviously the final drive gearing has been changed in order to suite the mods and the ratios of the 6 speed cluster. I had big problems with the battery being over charged, the bike was just running a rectifier, in the end I modified the loom so that it runs a proper reg/rec unit, the battery voltage is still a bit higher than I want, its around 7.5-7.8 volts but so far the old style 'wet' lead acid battery seems OK, before I fitted the regulator it boiled up a sealed 6 volt battery, this caused the DC voltage to go high, this blew all the DC powered bulbs, the AC side also went high which blew the AC bulbs!. Anyway the bike will sit at 55MPH all day on the flat which is great, its running at about 9k RPM which isn't stupidly high, its not shown signs of being stressed, I run a head temp gauge which sits at around 150-180 degrees C. So to sum up, I think that the bike looks great but I don't have to put up with the hideous 30-35MPH top speed that the UK bikes were stuck with. (The brakes are not quite as good as the engine, the front brake is a four finger job, not a one or two finger affair!)
Just watched a video from NZ (restoration) it was the unrestricted MT-50 and he was pulling straight up to 65mph without a problem. Mine, here in the UK, was gutless! I even tried to tune it, but never made much difference (45mph). Wonder what they did to restrict it?
I think they did everything they could to restrict them anywhere they could
I remember those little beasts, back in my 'ped' days there was a few going about. My first 50 was a Kwaka AR50, funny little bike that was.
Bit of a random question, wouldn't happen to be Rob Watts who sourced that bike for you would it?
It is'nt mate another Rob
Nice bikes👌 got a 1989 mt50 my self h100 powered can do 75 but geared mine down to do 60 rapid compared to the standard 50
I had a red white mt5 when i was 16. My grandfather was looking through the auto trader and came across ghis bike it was 2 months old 3 miles on the clock and they wanted £600. It was a lovely bike just one thing wrong it flat as piss
Some things never change!
That brings back some memory's.. I had a white mt5 when I was 16.. 31 years ago ha... nice bike to throw about, but like you said "gutless" Haha... 10/4
Looks a heap of fun there!
i remember those, you had the MT and MB, and later on there was the MTX and MBX with comstar wheels and disk brake.
The MT and MB were very popular over here in NL and they were often tuned with larger carbs, 80cc kits and expansion exhaust. Some ran 100km/h, highly illegal for a moped. Fun times.
Other popular mopeds of that era: Yamaha RD50, Honda SS50 4stroke, Zundapp KS50 and Kreidler RMC 50 electronic
All very collectible now.
Unfortunately there are voices withing our government that want to completely BAN petrol powered mopeds...!
Bloody funhaters! Most of the older mopeds have vanished over here, i guess before they were collectable they just got trashed
hi i just brought 1 to do up .could you tell me what oil gose in the engine near back brake pedel is it gear box oil or engine oil
Must be gearbox as the engine pre mix oil is behind the seat from memory
thanks
The oil filler in rear mud guard makes me chuckle.Lol
Deadly slow, I had 2 MTX 125's as a teenager and they didn't have much poke either.
What you appear to have is a Dutch imported Honda MT-5 from like 1983 or so...
The rear swing-arm was replaced with an early model version. The cylinder is a cast-iron type which was specifically produced to allow legal use on Dutch roads, not as a motor bike but as a moped. The cylinder is not original. It is a de-tuned version of the Honda cylinder (cast-iron core and aluminium shell with less and larger fins ). It also is probably a 4 speed and not a 5 speed?
is it slower than a scooter?
Pretty much!
There 1 on gumtree now in cardiff
Snap it up!
Gotta be a Norfolk accent! Good ol' boy 👍
Suffolk! But mixed with Dorset still i think (and hope ha ha)
mine does 55