CG125 from crap to class

Hey there MCMers, I've started a new project bike!

This is now my third (well technically fourth) project bike that I'm going to put together.

The first one was "The Churchill" which was a scrap CG125 clone that I turned into a cafe racer, it was a lot of fun and I learned a lot about modifying bikes during the process.

With the Churchill, I threw out the seized 125cc engine and bolted in a 6 speed 250cc, I also completely changed the wheels... this required a lot of modification, I had to modify the rear swingarm to fit in the new large 110 tyre, cut off the center stand and make modifications to the rear brake.. also I had to have a new stem engineered and welded onto the new front triple tree etc as I put on new forks with a disc brake assembly... anyway long story short it was quite a mission and involved many frustrations and setbacks.

This time I want to do it easy, I want to develop a "bolt on" kit that anyone could use to modify their farmer bike CG125 (or clone) into something that looks fantastic but still maintains its practicality.. and it's something that I want anyone to be able to do in about an hour or less with a set of spanners and a screwdriver... so here goes!

Here is the bike I'm going to use:

Attachment 13665Attachment 13666Attachment 13667

This is a Wuyang Honda CG125, it is legally plated and works perfectly (as Hondas usually do), the only modifications this bike has had is the front light was changed from the stock rectangular one to this cheap little round one, and the ugly chain guard was removed, otherwise stock.

First, find a big box and strip off the seat, indicators, rear and front mud guards, horn, mirrors, instrument cluster and the headlight and throw them violently into the box of CG Shame (be sure to keep all the bolts and nuts in a plastic packet).

Attachment 13669

Attachment 13668

This was a very easy process, All I needed were a size 12 spanner for the seat and rear indicator brackets, a size 10 for the rear mud guard, a size 14 for the front indicators and a size 12 for the headlight (also needed a philips screwdriver for the headlight), make sure to tuck in all the wires neatly and disconnect them in a civilised manner, there's only one wire you need to cut and that is connected to the ignition switch, I'll make a more detailed post about that once I describe the new hidden ignition switch.

In the next bit, I'll discuss installing the headlight that I've chosen for the kit.

- SerpentZA

Part one of the Kit installation... The headlight.

This is probably the most difficult and time-consuming part of the kit, so let's get it over with first.

I've ordered and tried a whole bunch of different headlights and I've finally found the perfect one, it suits the bike beautifully!

But, the stock headlight bracket is horrible, sticks out way too far and makes the bike look ridiculous if you attach the new headlight. This is the only part of the kit that involves any sort of modification (although you could just mount it to the stock headlight bracket, but it would look crap), for this bit you'll need access to a grinder.

Attachment 13670

Here you can see the stock bracket in the foreground and the way I chopped it off in the background, I'll post a more detailed picture in a later post, basically I measured and marked off where I wanted to grind with a permanent marker and then cut it off with a grinder, it's fairly easy but take your time to round off the edges and make it look nice (remember to wear eye protection.. what good is a pretty bike if you can't see it).

Once the brackets have been ground down (remember to grind down the upper lip so that the light can tilt), simply bolt on the new headlight and connect up the wires, they are standard colour coded and will match the original wiring harness.

Here's what your bike should look like now:

Attachment 13671

As you can see the whole look of the bike has already been transformed.

Attachment 13672

So far all we've done is strip off the ugly and put on our new headlight, but the bike is already almost unrecognizable.

Attachment 13673

In the next part we'll do something about that awful exhaust (although this is an optional extra). The real part two will be bolting on the new custom seat, see you all then.

- SerpentZA

Getting better, but that disgusting powder-coat exhaust surely isn't original. Needs a polished steel ASAP, maybe 100 yuan from taobao will fix that up.

This is going to be interesting. Looking forward to the next installment.

:popcorn:

I plan to keep this initial bolt on kit to a minimum, in other words as easy and cheap as possible, I'm not just sourcing parts on taobao and trying to make a kit, I'm actually making and getting some very cool and custom things made, but I'll explain it in detail as this build continues. This next little upgrade isn't included in the kit, but is an optional extra that anyone can do.

Attachment 13700Attachment 13701

Now the original Honda exhaust is massive, unsightly and very very long (look at the pictures above), yes that ugly black powder coated thing is the original Honda exhaust (although the heat shield was cut off).

Lucky for us, when building the Churchill I found the perfect exhaust, it's basically a stock exhaust from a CG clone and it's really cheap (90RMB from my local bike shop so probably cheaper on taobao), I think it looks fantastic! It's shorter, smaller and the chrome finish suits the style I'm going for to a T, I couldn't ask for a better exhaust... so off with the ugly and on with the sleek.

Attachment 13697

Now as you can see it doesn't stick out from the back of the bike like some or other turd chute, this is what this bike should have come with, I must point out that this exhaust is fractionally louder (not much) but that's actually an added bonus in my books.

Attachment 13698

The chrome really brings out the other shiny bits of the bike (although in my experience these exhaust pipes are prone to rust, I sold the Churchill to a friend who lives in Zhuhai and he's been keeping it outside in the salty sea air, the exhaust was pretty rusted last time I visited him.. but they're cheap so I figure what the heck, I'm going to keep a close eye on this one and make sure it's not just his extreme weather conditions that caused the rust).

Attachment 13699

The next part of the Kit (the real Part 2) is going to be the seat.. but it's complicated, I've bought the same seat that I got for the Churchill, I absolutely loved it... but there's one drawback, it's really expensive (it costs 500RMB from a specialist "cafe racer" shop on taobao), and I'm trying to make the cost of this entire kit to be around 500+- so that simply won't do, I've found some local pikeys that recon the can reverse engineer it and make it much cheaper, and even better I'll be able to choose different materials and colours. I can only hope that they can do a reasonable job for this kit to be viable for all the MCMers out there with farmer bikes knocking about. Anyway, the seat isn't the only custom thing I'm having made... but I'm going to leave the best surprises for last!

See you in part 2

- SerpentZA

you are going to need a bigger box

This a great thread. I have an old Japanese Honda CG125 that needs a little TLC :-)

Part 2 - The seat

My new expensive seat arrived today, I put it onto the bike and took a few photos, let's see the pictures then talk about the issues:

Attachment 13774

As you can see it has a really nice side profile

Attachment 13775

The quality of the seat design is great, but the material is that really cheap pleather crap and is easily damaged (I paid 500RMB for about 15RMB worth of materials :P )

Attachment 13776

Once a thicker rear tyre is on this bike, the seat will really look fantastic from behind..

Okay, now let's talk about the problems:

1) This thing is bloody expensive (I'll link the Taobao shop later in the build report).
2) The quality of the material is rubbish... seriously... one good scrape of a boot or zipper or something will tear this crap
3) It's too short for the frame... now this isn't a problem if you want to build a project bike as you could just grind off the end of the frame.. let's look closer at what I'm talking about:

Attachment 13777

As you can see, the two end bits of the frame stick out about an inch and a half, they can easily be ground off, but remember this is supposed to be a bolt on kit that can be reversed at any time (in other words, you should be able to revert your bike pretty much back to stock if you wanted to)... so there are a few options here
1) make the seat longer... this is probably the best idea, if it's a little longer then you could probably still fit a passenger on there, at the moment it's a one man machine only.
2) Design some sort of rear light/ indicator assembly that disguises that part of the frame.
3) Ride around with two poles sticking out the back and hope nobody notices
4) Grind them off and then make custom brackets for the old indicators to be able to be re-attached

Either way, the next step is to try and get this seat reverse engineered and remade, I'll ask them to make a longer one (we can see what it looks like), make a completely flat one (without the hump at the back... then you could carry a passenger) and get them to make one the same as this... firstly we'll be able to see if they're any good at making seats, secondly we can try a few options and perhaps have different kits depending on what a person wants.

What do you guys think about all this?

- SerpentZA

So long as it doesn't depart substantially from the original photos etc. otherwise you might find it an issue at reinspection time depending on your plans at keeping the bike plated etc. Just sayin...

that's the whole idea, bolt on the old crap for the reinspection, ride it home and 20mins later it's cool again

^gotcha

Okay, back to the CG!

I took a close look at all the clone CG125s around and discovered that the frame is about an inch and a half shorter on all of the clones vs the original Honda that I have. The reason for this is that the Honda has a slightly different mounting bracket for the rear indicators, and since I can simply use the mounting brackets from the clone CGs if I want to restore it to it's original form, I ground off the extra bit of frame so that the seat would look flush.

Attachment 13874

remember to round off the edges and then paint them straight away to avoid rust!

Next, I changed the tyres, the biggest tyres that'll fit on this frame without any modification are 90/90/18...

Kenda are in my opinion the best brand of Chinese tyres available (especially when you compare price for what you're getting), so I bought and put on two exactly the same front and rear (they cost me about 350RMB for the pair). While I was at it I put on an o-ring chain... and here's the result:

Attachment 13875

It looks fantastic from the front!

Attachment 13876

And pretty good from the rear (I have low slung handlebars which will go on next)!

What do you all think so far?

It looks pretty hot if you compare it to what it was before ;)
I still like the Churchill best.
What happens if you out on a modified bike and police stops you?


Im just negotiating rental of a lockup in my underground parking lot, if this happens I will buy some old 125 and play with it. Dont have any mechanic skills but will try to learn through my own mistakes. Reading some books about motorcycle maintenance at the moment ;)

yep , lower bars a nice chrome front guard to match the locomotive headlight and that will be sweet

I've been putting all my attention onto my latest project bike "The Moriarty MKII" but I still found a little time today to put the lower bars onto my little CG... I'd say it's looking pretty damn good:

Attachment 13932

Sorry I couldn't get day pictures.... I've worked into the night on the Moriarty so I only changed the bars on the CG last, here's a pic from behind:

Attachment 13933

This bike is pretty much done, all that is left is for me to figure out the best sort of indicators and rear light/plate holder and then it's done! I'm really enjoying this thing, it's small, light and nimble a complete joy to ride

What do you MCMers think?

- SerpentZA (youtube.com/serpentZA)

Okay, got some morning photos of the new bars... is this thing looking awesome or what?

Attachment 13955


Attachment 13956

Attachment 13957

I'm struggling with the whole rear light/license plate holder thing, but hopefully will come up with something soon! Frist I have to finish my other project bike... I'll do a breakdown of all costs etc I spent on this bike when it's done!

- SerpentZA (youtube.com/serpentza)

Shit i just saw this thread. Man what a transformation!

I know this wouldn't be a bolt-on mod anymore but i really wish the paint on the tank could be a bit less.... 'generic red china bike'

I really admire your ability to get shit done. Pity i missed you when you passed through yangshuo.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by felix

Shit i just saw this thread. Man what a transformation!

I know this wouldn't be a bolt-on mod anymore but i really wish the paint on the tank could be a bit less.... 'generic red china bike'

I really admire your ability to get shit done. Pity i missed you when you passed through yangshuo.

---

Thanks man! I'm really bummed that I missed you guys up there, wish I could have met you too...

I do want to repaint the bike, but since it's legally registered and plated I think changing the colour would probably negate that (well modifying it probably does anyway)...

What I may do is actually just buy a separate tank to paint up and stick on, then if needs be I can put the original red one back on the bike :)

I agree with you 100% that it needs a colour change! I've done black before, maybe a dark blue? Ideas?

So far with the mods you've done i recon the police won't really notice, as long as you get a plate back on it. If you go changing the colour then they might give you shit.

How about repainting it a similar red, maybe a little bit deeper. Then two simple cream racing stripes running down the middle would look so much better than what's there now. Not sure about the side panels, can't get a good look from your pics, would they be big enough to paint a number on? A side shot of the bike would help.

Rather than building a bracket to hang the plate from that lovely arse, how about building one that extends out from the swingarm to hold the plate hovering behind the wheel at the back of the bike? That way the lovely line of the seat would be unbroken.


So what's the craic anyway, are these bikes actually career moves?　Ｙｏｕ　ｇｏｎｎａ　ｂｅｃｏｍｅ　ａ　ｆｕｌｌ　ｔｉｍｅ　ｂｕｉｌｄｅｒ　ｓｏｍｅｔｉ ｍｅ　ｓｏｏｎ　ｉｆ　ｔｈｅｓｅ　ｂｕｉｌｄｓ　ｇｏ　ｗｅｌｌ?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by felix

So far with the mods you've done i recon the police won't really notice, as long as you get a plate back on it. If you go changing the colour then they might give you shit.

How about repainting it a similar red, maybe a little bit deeper. Then two simple cream racing stripes running down the middle would look so much better than what's there now. Not sure about the side panels, can't get a good look from your pics, would they be big enough to paint a number on? A side shot of the bike would help.

Rather than building a bracket to hang the plate from that lovely arse, how about building one that extends out from the swingarm to hold the plate hovering behind the wheel at the back of the bike? That way the lovely line of the seat would be unbroken.


So what's the craic anyway, are these bikes actually career moves?　Ｙｏｕ　ｇｏｎｎａ　ｂｅｃｏｍｅ　ａ　ｆｕｌｌ　ｔｉｍｅ　ｂｕｉｌｄｅｒ　ｓｏｍｅｔｉ ｍｅ　ｓｏｏｎ　ｉｆ　ｔｈｅｓｅ　ｂｕｉｌｄｓ　ｇｏ　ｗｅｌｌ?

---

You and I think alike! I was originally going to do some sort of a deep scarlet or some such colour... some sort of nice looking red :) I think I'll pursue that idea.

For the rear license place, I initially made a crude bracket that held the smaller front plate sideways over one of the rear shocks... but it looked crap... I love the idea of a hovering plate! I'm going to run with that and see what I can come up with (it would also act as a sort of mud guard too :) ) I'll call it the "felix plate mod" from now on ;)

As for where this is going? Basically I'm hoping that it'll be a hobby that pays for itself, if I can modify or make bikes for friends and keep learning and getting better, I'll be happy :)

I can't wait to get stuck back into these bikes, more updates as they happen.

P.S here's a side pic:

Attachment 13987

- SerpentZA

Lovely profile, very little i'd change on it. Drum brakes are just so classy.

One thing. If you want it to be practical, you're gonna have man up and put some mud guards on it. Yes it looks cool without them, but just get some on there anyway...

For the plate bracket, here's what i was thinking of. Don't copy anything else on that bike though. Eugh.

http://www.bikeexif.com/wp-content/u...i-diavel-6.jpg

Since it's unsprung it'll rattle a lot easier so make it stiff and mount the plate on tight!

Okay, so my other project bike is up and running (waiting for the seat before I can continue) so I had a little time to spend on the CG this morning... now I think it's nice to have a speedo, but I'm still battling with this, I found a brilliant little speedo which I really like, but it breaks the lines of the bike, I installed it this morning and I'm debating what to do with it, perhaps some feedback from you guys can help me make up my mind (I might toss the idea of a speedo all together)

Attachment 14067

It looks a bit tall in my opinion... what do you think?
Attachment 14068

It does look rather neat when you're sitting on the bike though...

Attachment 14069

The best thing about this speedo is that it is lit by super bright LEDs, you can see here that even in the daylight you can see it lit up...

Attachment 14070

Of course it's at night that it really shines (literally)...

Attachment 14071

Simple, clean and looks good.... so keep or toss??

- SerpentZA (youtube.com/serpentza)

I think it's the right speedo just angle it back a bit just for the aerodynamics like.

The speed looks great, goes well with the lines of this bike. I suggest that you cut the speed base and mount on the headlamp casing. So that the headlamp casing becomes the speed base as well. Some of the older bikes were done like that.

I actaully think that the tank and side covers would look great in white or beige with a couple lines ( in a contrasting colour ) going over the centre of the tank like some older race cars. With the classic cafe racer looks of the bike a classic type of colour would set it of well.

That speedo is cool. Keep it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Symon260z

The speed looks great, goes well with the lines of this bike. I suggest that you cut the speed base and mount on the headlamp casing. So that the headlamp casing becomes the speed base as well. Some of the older bikes were done like that.

I actaully think that the tank and side covers would look great in white or beige with a couple lines ( in a contrasting colour ) going over the centre of the tank like some older race cars. With the classic cafe racer looks of the bike a classic type of colour would set it of well.

---

I agree.. I actually wanted to cut a hole in the headlight and sink the speedo in there but the whole point of this bike was to have a simple "bolt on kit" ... oh well I guess I'll just have to do some modifying after all... I really do like the speedo, it suits the bike perfectly... just too tall and sticks out, if I could sink it at an angle into the headlight housing it would look awesome! I think I'll just bloody do it!

This morning i worked out where I had seen this before, in a Honda Monkey bike. Maybe you could pick up a Monkey bike headlamp unit cheap on Taobao-

I am learning to use a small airbrush that I bought recently, so if you want something special for the tank and side covers let me know :-)

I agree speedo should stay but has to move. Right now it looks a bit like a cup of tea on your bars. That reminds me, i don't see anywhere to hold a jar of tea on your bike.

How about offsetting the speedo? Mount it to the side of the light, asymmetrical can look cool too.


Have you thought about flipping those bars upside down? Free clubmans, or it might be a disaster; never tried it before.

There's an interesting solution to your speedo conundrum on today's bikeexif

http://www.bikeexif.com/yamaha-sr400-deus