I am a bike collestor with a nice stable! and let me say...son you are amazing! I would be a future customer of yours if you start your own bike company and I believe you have a great future ahead of you! keep it up! Love the retro cafe racer styling!!! do a search for the V-REX by Travertson I have one on here somewhere!
Wow, thank you for overwhelming comment. I just tried to build the bike I wanted to ride, and I'm quite surprised with how many people like the bike like I do. I think these positive comments are certainly keeping me up with my current difficult projects. Funny thing, I came across V-Rex at my local dealer and I had some ideas that were referenced in my current project.
well, using small engine was just because I didn't have anything to lift any big enignes, but thanks! I do think smaller engine is so much easier to work on since there are more spaces of freedom. Also I like the look of people's face when they see such a loud bike from such a small motorcycle. I learned almost all metal fabrications in metal class in high school. After that, I just messed around with making toys like moped and so on. The welder I used was those DIY store's ($150.00ish)
bonjour message from a 43 year old man from south of France. i've bought this morning the first bike of my life : a cb125s from 1977. i don't think i'll do the same than you with it but it's a very well and nice job!!! two friends of me work on bike also: they do hill-climbing. it's different but it's the same spirit... have look on my videos if you want. salut.
Hahahaha, Take, I just thought about this video. Man those were fun times. This also has some of the only shots of my ZX. I need to go down there and get you motivated to build the others. Getting tired of 4 wheels, I need another bike!
oh, yes! I have CB500T and VTR1000F engine and been working on it since mid 2008. There's nothing to show though, just getting the parts online and putting stuff on paper. I may get lucky and be able to pose something during this year. By the way, thanks for subscribing.
I changed the exhaust pipe and got a better jetting setups and managed to reach about 75~80mph. It was quite smooth ride, I just had to watch for any small bumps on the road, the hard tail is not made for such speed.
If you still have the original blue gas tank I need it. My bike is all original but the tank is badly rusted on the bottom and leaks a bit. You bike is amazing by the way. It really came together to make a great bike.
My whole vision was to build small engine motorcycle in classic cafe style. I was thinking about small v-twin in it. But I couldn't find any reasonable priced engine. I ran into the cb125 through eBay for cheap. Also I don't have enough tools to deal with heavy motors.
This thing would look even cooler with some disks and mag wheels. OK you would loose the spoked style but gain in hybrid looks, better braking and unsprung mass. A nice big brembo disk of an old rs125 on the front. Sound be cheap to do. Well done it is a great little bike. You turned something crappy in to something desirable and cool.
A word of warning... Put the exhaust back on asap!! The longer the exhaust the more power you get!! Also with such a short header, you're likely to crack some valves as the get cold too quick!!
Awesome looking bike, looks very well designed and to be honest you can't go wrong with the engine as it's a reliable little lump. Do you have any pictures of the bike? Great though a youtube vid is it'd be even better to see the bike in more detail.
@snapnrool it will be easier if you use the CT's frame, it may be harder to balance the modification since the frame already have all the components shaped (ex tank battery box, electrical etc) I think CT90's engine is horizontal to make a space around the rider's foot (unlike the most bikes that has tank in the front. generally, I think by using horizontal (flat) engine, the whole bike can be set very low and long which are typical paths for these kinds of bikes.
tpvalley brings up some good ideas, but you could just cut the work shit out and just re-jet your carb(s) for the open pipe, you will notice a better idle and power gain, and less de-accel pop.
hey man nice bike you made!!! the 4 stroke honda engine will last at least for the next 30 years. i am trying to built a C.R by myself and i took a honda engine as well, but a 500. anyway, is very nice your project. congratulations.
yep, standard engine and everything. i happen to know this old guy who knows lots about carb, so i had him jetted for me. tuning bits, if you mean by engine parts, i just ebayed, or looked for parts number and ordered. but only thing i ordered through parts number was carb gasket set.
@DimigFilms I see that...I didn't mean "just chop it off". I'm sayin' run a much smaller diameter straight tube under the tank instead of the big curved tube that goes over the gas tank now....
Looks good, excellent idea. what carb u using? The exhaust should be about 2-3 foot long,just past footrest, that short stub will just loose u power unless u have full race camshaft. Try a bigger bore pipe of long length. Exhausts use pulse waves to both scavenge and charge cylinder by sucking in through carb during overlap and reflecting wasted charge back into cylinder just before ex valve closes. Look good with a megaphone! nice frame and forks.
Overall weight and cost are probably the biggest factors in bothering with small bikes. A CB750 cut down will weigh well over 400 lbs, most likely. A huge bike just isn't as flickable in corners. Building them costs far less, Insurance premiums, fuel consumption, etc. all add up. And compared to the average car in traffic, this thing is probably just as quick if not moreso in city traffic...
i'd put a longer exhaust on it, you'll actually get more power with decent backpressure. you can also do damage to the engine with the short exhaust like that
That is pretty sweet and a lot of work, nice effort. One suggestion though, next time start with a GSXR 1000 engine or bigger! I ride 1991 GL 1500 Goldwing. Stay safe, Cheers!!
I just patched tubes around and kinda improvised... So not much of a skill in there... Thanks for liking the bike sound... I've rebuilt the bike and now it have a new exhaust system.
sounds good man but try different jets in the carb to balance out the short pipe. seems to me like shes running a bit lean. If the carburation is sorted there is no reason why it cant run that length of pipe
@kev8335 hay, I think I got the seat via ebay... I might have searched "motorcycle seat" or "single seat" of those kinds. I actually have seen the same seat on some Davidson.
oh yes. and this one will be out of everyone's mind, i hope. it involves really hard engineering, so i'm actually starting from autoCAD. i set the goal to have this one done by next summer (2009), we'll see.
dude i lke the frame! my first cafe racer project is a kawasaki 175. It's almost like your bike, small and agile. But yours have better frame. I also use drum brake instead of a disk break. Lack of money to change it lol.
I just sketched it, like the first image on the clip shows. And some trial and error. And yes the rear set is ridged, I just didn't have that much guts to build swing arm. Thanks for your comment.
very nice work, i like people that are not afraid to use smaller engine bikes for the cafe racer look, i think it looks very good on a smaller bike, seems you can tuck into the bike a whole lot more. Can i ask where you learned to weld and fabricate? I have a couple projects going myself, i have mainly got the items welded for me because i do not currently know how to weld. i have a tomos moped i am turning into a cafe racer top tank look, and aswell as a 79cb450 that i want to do thesamewith
@masterwilkes I'm not sure of the exact weight of the bike. I'm also bad at guessing how much things weigh... With all my strength, I can lift the whole bike by myself (obviously just slightly above the ground). I would think any engine size smaller than 400cc is quite reasonable for something light in weight.
@ninjaman1138 Thanks for the comment!! I used to take a metal class in high school, but other than that, it just came naturally... I did went through some serious amount of mistakes/problems to finish the bike...
They respond well to free flopw exhaust dont they. There r many parts for the cbr125 single, the one with a full fairing etc cams, bore kits etc. If I were u I would try a bigger carb (get the jetting expert to set it up), make sure no step exists in inlet tract. use carb off tzr125 etc.? make own inlet manifold.
Very nice build but it looks like the whole bike weighs too much. Chop off that tube going over the gas tank and any other unnecessary parts so it would move quicker.
@takeroarima045 so would you suggest sticking with the ct90 frame? or modifying it so that the tank was infront of you, rather than under the seat? or...
How much do you think that weighs? I'm only about 140lb and have been looking into getting a cafe style bike. I want a bike that'd not too high or heavy.
@DimigFilms MAJOR LOL! It is not "skills" it is "knowledge". I guess big motorcycle factory designers/engineers have no mechanical/physical "skills" either because none of them puts a big curved tube over the tank as a backbone on their frames....
one of the most unique 125s i've ever seen! Truly beautiful bike!
Absolutely fantastic, love the frame on it and it sounds great!
That is one lovely looking bike-!! looks so much fun to ride too ( Great Job )
So cool for a small bike build! A true custom in every sense of the word.
I am a bike collestor with a nice stable! and let me say...son you are amazing! I would be a future customer of yours if you start your own bike company and I believe you have a great future ahead of you! keep it up!
Love the retro cafe racer styling!!!
do a search for the V-REX by Travertson I have one on here somewhere!
Great bike! Can easly hear the difference between the two rider's shifting.
Wow, thank you for overwhelming comment. I just tried to build the bike I wanted to ride, and I'm quite surprised with how many people like the bike like I do. I think these positive comments are certainly keeping me up with my current difficult projects.
Funny thing, I came across V-Rex at my local dealer and I had some ideas that were referenced in my current project.
Sounds like my 1975 Honda CD50 :)
Beautiful job! Ther is something so enticing about pee-wee cafes!
Still love this bike. Ive got my cb 125 tore down and ready for the same cafe treatment. Not nearly as radical though.
well, using small engine was just because I didn't have anything to lift any big enignes, but thanks! I do think smaller engine is so much easier to work on since there are more spaces of freedom. Also I like the look of people's face when they see such a loud bike from such a small motorcycle.
I learned almost all metal fabrications in metal class in high school. After that, I just messed around with making toys like moped and so on.
The welder I used was those DIY store's ($150.00ish)
bonjour
message from a 43 year old man from south of France. i've bought this morning the first bike of my life : a cb125s from 1977. i don't think i'll do the same than you with it but it's a very well and nice job!!! two friends of me work on bike also: they do hill-climbing. it's different but it's the same spirit...
have look on my videos if you want.
salut.
Cool! I'll do mine! :)
Hahahaha, Take, I just thought about this video. Man those were fun times. This also has some of the only shots of my ZX. I need to go down there and get you motivated to build the others. Getting tired of 4 wheels, I need another bike!
beautifully done!!!!
Am planning to build a 125cc cafe racer.
oh, yes! I have CB500T and VTR1000F engine and been working on it since mid 2008. There's nothing to show though, just getting the parts online and putting stuff on paper. I may get lucky and be able to pose something during this year. By the way, thanks for subscribing.
I changed the exhaust pipe and got a better jetting setups and managed to reach about 75~80mph. It was quite smooth ride, I just had to watch for any small bumps on the road, the hard tail is not made for such speed.
It's a lot more fun to drive something slow as fast as possible than be limited to driving something fast slowly...
Beautiful piece of history!
If you still have the original blue gas tank I need it. My bike is all original but the tank is badly rusted on the bottom and leaks a bit. You bike is amazing by the way. It really came together to make a great bike.
my friend is putting 185 cylinders etc on a 125 bottom end, the 185 had only 4 gears.
He had to machine cases a little but It will be fun.
My whole vision was to build small engine motorcycle in classic cafe style. I was thinking about small v-twin in it. But I couldn't find any reasonable priced engine. I ran into the cb125 through eBay for cheap. Also I don't have enough tools to deal with heavy motors.
This thing would look even cooler with some disks and mag wheels. OK you would loose the spoked style but gain in hybrid looks, better braking and unsprung mass. A nice big brembo disk of an old rs125 on the front. Sound be cheap to do.
Well done it is a great little bike. You turned something crappy in to something desirable and cool.
thanks.
you know, i was thinking about getting some website going.
i'm working on new project with cb500. so i can post some updates on there as well.
A word of warning...
Put the exhaust back on asap!!
The longer the exhaust the more power you get!!
Also with such a short header, you're likely to crack some valves as the get cold too quick!!
Later, I switched to OKO carb. Regarding the engine modification, I did some general rebuild and replaced any necessary parts to a used/new parts.
@snapnrool I think it works... The engine is much lower in hight on CT90, so the bike can actually be much lower.
I really like this bike! im not so sure about the frame over the tank though..
Awesome looking bike, looks very well designed and to be honest you can't go wrong with the engine as it's a reliable little lump. Do you have any pictures of the bike? Great though a youtube vid is it'd be even better to see the bike in more detail.
that's one neat looking bike right there!! great job
@snapnrool it will be easier if you use the CT's frame, it may be harder to balance the modification since the frame already have all the components shaped (ex tank battery box, electrical etc)
I think CT90's engine is horizontal to make a space around the rider's foot (unlike the most bikes that has tank in the front.
generally, I think by using horizontal (flat) engine, the whole bike can be set very low and long which are typical paths for these kinds of bikes.
SUPER AWESOME BIKE DUDE! CONGRATS and ENJOY!
tpvalley brings up some good ideas, but you could just cut the work shit out and just re-jet your carb(s) for the open pipe, you will notice a better idle and power gain, and less de-accel pop.
@masterwilkes these bikes weigh about 200lbs.The factory manuel says 197lbs or something similar.
hey man nice bike you made!!! the 4 stroke honda engine will last at least for the next 30 years. i am trying to built a C.R by myself and i took a honda engine as well, but a 500.
anyway, is very nice your project. congratulations.
Looks and sounds sweet fella.. Great job
yep, standard engine and everything.
i happen to know this old guy who knows lots about carb, so i had him jetted for me.
tuning bits, if you mean by engine parts, i just ebayed, or looked for parts number and ordered. but only thing i ordered through parts number was carb gasket set.
Awesome job on this racer.
@DimigFilms I see that...I didn't mean "just chop it off". I'm sayin' run a much smaller diameter straight tube under the tank instead of the big curved tube that goes over the gas tank now....
Awesome job! Really worth the time and effort...
Looks good, excellent idea.
what carb u using?
The exhaust should be about 2-3 foot long,just past footrest, that short stub will just loose u power unless u have full race camshaft.
Try a bigger bore pipe of long length.
Exhausts use pulse waves to both scavenge and charge cylinder by sucking in through carb during overlap and reflecting wasted charge back into cylinder just before ex valve closes.
Look good with a megaphone!
nice frame and forks.
Overall weight and cost are probably the biggest factors in bothering with small bikes. A CB750 cut down will weigh well over 400 lbs, most likely. A huge bike just isn't as flickable in corners. Building them costs far less, Insurance premiums, fuel consumption, etc. all add up. And compared to the average car in traffic, this thing is probably just as quick if not moreso in city traffic...
i'd put a longer exhaust on it, you'll actually get more power with decent backpressure. you can also do damage to the engine with the short exhaust like that
that bike is gold!!! i love it!!!
damn that is one extremely cool little bike
cool bike looks good you should put a reverse megaphone exhaust on it that will sound awsome and might go a bit better
Nice job, as iam getting older iam thinking about making one super nice,
That is pretty sweet and a lot of work, nice effort. One suggestion though, next time start with a GSXR 1000 engine or bigger! I ride 1991 GL 1500 Goldwing. Stay safe, Cheers!!
Hey awesome little bike, I want a cafe racer BAD!!!!!!!!! I need a bigger one tho for my big rear end lol.
Thanks!
I just patched tubes around and kinda improvised... So not much of a skill in there... Thanks for liking the bike sound... I've rebuilt the bike and now it have a new exhaust system.
interresting modifications.
regards from mexico
sounds good man but try different jets in the carb to balance out the short pipe. seems to me like shes running a bit lean. If the carburation is sorted there is no reason why it cant run that length of pipe
Nice build, man. very nice.
well, it was my first build. And I just had no clue about disk brake when I was looking into buying parts.
I think it needs a 125 twin engine on it. Thats what i got on mine. It turns way more rpms.
@kev8335 hay, I think I got the seat via ebay...
I might have searched "motorcycle seat" or "single seat" of those kinds.
I actually have seen the same seat on some Davidson.
oh yes.
and this one will be out of everyone's mind, i hope.
it involves really hard engineering, so i'm actually starting from autoCAD.
i set the goal to have this one done by next summer (2009), we'll see.
dude i lke the frame! my first cafe racer project is a kawasaki 175. It's almost like your bike, small and agile. But yours have better frame. I also use drum brake instead of a disk break. Lack of money to change it lol.
Fantastic work! wow
Yes, the exhaust is not the stock... I actually built one myself. Thanks for the comment!!
I just sketched it, like the first image on the clip shows. And some trial and error. And yes the rear set is ridged, I just didn't have that much guts to build swing arm. Thanks for your comment.
very nice work, i like people that are not afraid to use smaller engine bikes for the cafe racer look, i think it looks very good on a smaller bike, seems you can tuck into the bike a whole lot more.
Can i ask where you learned to weld and fabricate?
I have a couple projects going myself, i have mainly got the items welded for me because i do not currently know how to weld. i have a tomos moped i am turning into a cafe racer top tank look, and aswell as a 79cb450 that i want to do thesamewith
with the copper painted frame, makes it look like a steampunk bike
Wow, nice job man.
@masterwilkes I'm not sure of the exact weight of the bike. I'm also bad at guessing how much things weigh...
With all my strength, I can lift the whole bike by myself (obviously just slightly above the ground).
I would think any engine size smaller than 400cc is quite reasonable for something light in weight.
Nice one, I'd love to see some good pictures of the CB125. Will your CB500 be a cafe racer style too then? Custom frame and everything like this one?
I,m sure the people next door just love you..Nice build though, get some rear suspension.
@ninjaman1138 Thanks for the comment!!
I used to take a metal class in high school, but other than that, it just came naturally...
I did went through some serious amount of mistakes/problems to finish the bike...
I love your bike so fucking much! Is such a fine piece of work!
They respond well to free flopw exhaust dont they.
There r many parts for the cbr125 single, the one with a full fairing etc
cams, bore kits etc.
If I were u I would try a bigger carb (get the jetting expert to set it up), make sure no step exists in inlet tract.
use carb off tzr125 etc.? make own inlet manifold.
@DimigFilms OMG, OMG, OMG LIKE DUDE....LIKE TOTALLY! It's a nice bike I like it. I got his videos saved in my Favorites.
wow dude thats really impressive. the design of the frame is really good. where did you learn how to do all that?
really nice sound too!!!
i cut the exhaust in the same place on my SR125, and then bolted on a pit bike end can.
cool bike, sounds nice
that thing is sweet man!
Very nice build but it looks like the whole bike weighs too much. Chop off that tube going over the gas tank and any other unnecessary parts so it would move quicker.
sweet bike but i was wondering why did you start with such a small motor? insted of a small twin or something else?
How did you do? The sound is amazing !
@takeroarima045 so would you suggest sticking with the ct90 frame? or modifying it so that the tank was infront of you, rather than under the seat? or...
good lookin bike!
I like the sound ! How did you made? did you change the exhaust and if yes, wich one is it? (sorry i'm french)
sweet bike but you definitely need some more exhaust on there
looks great.
next video get someone in a car to film you rolling.
wow no rear suspension, u with it? it must be rough on a bumped street.
at least they will hear you coming through the fog!!
very creative.
How much do you think that weighs? I'm only about 140lb and have been looking into getting a cafe style bike. I want a bike that'd not too high or heavy.
Go up to a 175 =] they are worth the extra time building it.
凄くカッコいいです！
@MarigaSam tank.... I'm actually using it for the next project... and the light is on that cafe racer... sorry
Do you have a webpage related to your build or anything like that?
is engine standard?
what carb, cam etc?
where can u get tuning bits for these?
fantastic!
five stars
Respect!
do you think you could do something similar with a CT90?
@DimigFilms MAJOR LOL! It is not "skills" it is "knowledge". I guess big motorcycle factory designers/engineers have no mechanical/physical "skills" either because none of them puts a big curved tube over the tank as a backbone on their frames....
Any cg125 experts know if it's possible to put tires thicker than 90/90-18 on the stock wheels? And if so what's the largest possible size.
nice man...
Is that a 110/90 tire in the front?