I,m still umconvinced about the crab. I found the 125 and pulled the crab off it. Loolimg at it, no way sjoild it be possible to distort it enough to bind the slide, just by tightening the mounting nuts. Even if tjey could be tigjtened enough, the weak flanges would break first. Body'snot cracked by any chance , seen that once. Let me know if you want to try with another crabto rule that out definately.
It could well be cracked but I can't spot it - the crab is tucked well out of the way on the CB so a crack or other damage might not be visible. I tried the SL crab on it and it did not distort/jam the slide but that carb has a dodgy float and needs a rebuild too so is not reliable enough to use as a comparison. A crab that is known to be OK is definitely what I need.
After months of frustration and a not-inconsiderable sum of money, the yello peril is a runner. In the end I took it to the inimitable Lloyd May at Kingsland motorcycles who worked his way through it bit by bit and got pretty frustrated at times as well. Being of the old school he gets all the old shitters that people have bought off trademe and can't get running. I sniffily replied that I didn't buy it off trademe.. I took it to him after popping in to Cyclespot and asking the spares bloke if they still listed a condenser for a CB125. "What's a condenser?" he asked. So I knew I was in the wrong place ... now I don't blame the guy at Cyclespot for a minute because it's probably the first time he's ever been asked for one. I should have been on the phone to Econohonda ... my mistake. (Cspot did find one and could get it ex-Japan for the same cost as the GDP of a mid-sized African republic.) Ta-daaaa - The problem turned out to be the inner skin of the twin-skinned header pipe, corroding to the extent that it blocked the exhaust system. Possibly triggered initially by the acid bath before re-chroming. Oh, that and the fact that when I re-assembled the advance-retard mechanism I dun it 180 degrees out, which explained the going from 8-stroking when I first started it, to no-stroking after a month or so of fine fettling by yours truly. The bendy carb is a common problem, caused by someone with a big spanner overtightening the nuts which causes distortion of the carb and jamming of the slide. The simple fix is to fit a slightly fatter O-ring to enable the carb to seal with less pressure on the nuts. Which, at the end of the day, is a metaphor for life. It's a runner.... now for vin and rego.
