Total Motorcycle Community Forums

Hi,

Im from England and totally inexperienced when it comes to motorcycles. But I'm looking to learn and get a bike so I can commute to work over the summer. Naturally I am looking for a bike to buy in my local area. Anyway I've come a cross a classified ad for a 1982 Honda CG 125 its got a full years MOT (which means its passed a bunch of tests saying that its road legal very recently) and its being sold for £395 . In the description the guy says its a good runner and starts first time but that the tappets could do with some adjusting. Is this likely to be a major problem? Will the tappets not being adjusted damage the engine ( Im on a tight budget) , and how much would it cost to get a mechanic to do so? Alternatively is it a hard job to do yourself? Also does that sound like a reasonable price for the bike to you?

Many thanks,

Mark

You may want to buy a shop manual for that bike, then decide.

Adjusting the valves is a pretty straight forward process and does not require any "special" tools, a feeler gauge able to provide the required gap (which you need to find either from a manual as John suggests, or look online), and a socket set to remove the spark plugs, the valve cover and to turn the crank to open and close the valves, and that's pretty much it.

As for the pricing, I don't really know, it depends on the condition, but from what you have shared about the bike, It sounds ok.

Awesome thank you, although whats a feeler guage?

A feeler gauge is a simple tool used to measure gap widths. Feeler gauges are mostly used in engineering to measure the clearance between two parts.[1]

They consist of a number of small lengths of steel of different thicknesses with measurements marked on each piece. They are flexible enough that, even if they are all on the same hinge, several can be stacked together to gauge intermediate values. It is common to have two sets for imperial units (typically measured in thousandths of an inch) and metric (typically measured in hundredths of a millimetre) measurements.

A similar device with wires of specific diameter instead of flat blades is used to set the gap in spark plugs to the correct size; this is done by increasing or decreasing the gap until the gauge of the correct size just fits inside the gap.[2]

The lengths of steel are sometimes called blades, although they have no sharp edge.

Johnj wrote:The lengths of steel are sometimes called blades, although they have no sharp edge.

They may not be sharpened, but the thinner ones can still bite. I've dam near cut the tip of my finger off more than once trying to shove a 0.003" feeler gauge into a lineshaft bearing.

BuzZz wrote:

Johnj wrote:The lengths of steel are sometimes called blades, although they have no sharp edge.

They may not be sharpened, but the thinner ones can still bite. I've dam near cut the tip of my finger off more than once trying to shove a 0.003" feeler gauge into a lineshaft bearing.

Really? I always thought those were so flimsy that I had to be careful not to ruin them. They are almost as thin as an aluminium foil.

Anything from about 0.003-7" can bite if your not careful and get carried away ramming it into a tight gap. Especially if your hands are oily and your grip slips.....

BuzZz wrote:Anything from about 0.003-7" can bite if your not careful and get carried away ramming it into a tight gap. Especially if your hands are oily and your grip slips.....

and i'm in the gutter.

jaskc78 wrote:

BuzZz wrote:Anything from about 0.003-7" can bite if your not careful and get carried away ramming it into a tight gap. Especially if your hands are oily and your grip slips.....

and i'm in the gutter.