The Clueless Bike Mechanics @cluelessbikemechanics - Tumblr Blog

The KE125 running under its own power!

After 46 years of rust and neglect, we finally got the old KE125 started again!

Fooling around in the Rising Sun car park, pretending we have an engine and ignoring the fact we have no brakes

Almost 6 months to the day from when we started this project, we pulled a mammoth 8-hour session and put everything back together again.

We started the day with a bare frame and two boxes of parts, and ended with (mostly) everything attached back on the bike again - minus the rust.

The engine still doesn’t work, but that’s a project for next year......

We thought last night would be a big moment - the first time we started putting pieces back on the bike, instead of taking them off.

Unfortunately we were defeated by the swing arm, or more precisely by two tiny o-rings which stubbornly refused to stay in place while we re-inserted the swing arm.

Better luck next week.....

#KE125 #kawasaki

Simon looking happy with the bearing remover tool

We addressed the rusty forks this week, removing the worst of the pitting and tarnish. Soon we’ll need to redo the seals, which are all cracked

We spent a sunny long-weekend Monday working outdoors on the engine, trying to remove the last of the rust and paint. Simon built a home-made sand blaster from an old Coke bottle, which worked about as well as you’d expect*

Then we tried using a cheap sand blaster from Bunnings, which also worked about as well as you’d expect**

Finally we covered all of our mistakes in engine black, ready to put back in the bike soon.

* like throwing handfuls of sand in all directions

** slightly better but still pretty frustratingly terrible

More slow but steady progress with the rust removal. Brad showed us some good tricks for removing stubborn screws - blowtorch + brute force wins every time

This week it was time to tackle the rusty old wheels. We cut off the spokes in an exciting blaze of sparks then set to work polishing up the hubs and rims.

We’re pretty happy with the way they turned out - hopefully the grumpy old bugger at the wheel shop is satisfied with our handiwork, and can re-spoke them.

#KE125 #kawasaki #motorcycle

We got the frame back from the sand-blasting and powder-coating and it’s looking amazing - like a brand new bike.

This week we worked on cleaning up the exhaust. Simon used his mad plumber skillz to fashion a high-tech hanger to suspend the exhaust in mid-air, and we applied the primer and a few coats of black.

Only afterwards did Dan tell us that we shouldn’t have used the primer as it’s not heat-resistant. If we ever get the engine started, we’ll find out if he was right....

#ke125 #kawasaki

This week it was time to start on the engine, and clean off all the crud and oil.

And the replacement tank arrived - it’s rusty, but nowhere near as bad as the original. Best of all there are no holes.

Meanwhile, things are progressing offscreen with the frame bring sandblasted and the tyres finally coming free from the rusty wheels

More polishing this week, finding the hidden glory underneath 43 years of rust and neglect.

And our friend Dan showed up for some inspiration on his beautiful restored 1975 Yamaha.

3 hours of tear-down in a couple of minutes

This week we continued trying to debug the electrics. We established that the coil and magneto seem to be ok, but there's still no spark and the lights are still firmly off. Simon was very happy to find the original toolkit, still in near-new condition...

Our first two sessions were dedicated to debugging the electrics. No success yet, but we've learnt a ton Plenty of life left in the chain, too 👍

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