# New Project Bike... Yeah Another One... Lol Honda Sl125



## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

I was at a mates place last week chatting about bikes as he has a few, and my eye falls on an unloved bike in the corner... obviously a Honda and obviously 70s... further inspection showed its an Honda SL125 from 1971-1973 and I thought 'would be great for going to the local shops to post / pickup my parcels... He said a price that sounded too cheap and I said yes a bit fast, as usual LOL

The 70s Hondas are all much the same, TL/XL/SL/CB/CL etc all have much the same engine, frame, wiring etc and even share forks etc. Its a simple bit of kit and actually very cute. It would be perfect for my shop ride of about 1km each way, but it doesnt go. It turns over fine but wont start. Further investigation shows its got a 1976/8 GB125 motor (2 piece head and 124cc) and that it has no wiring loom, and the carb is just jammed in to the manifold. Ive found it has oil in the altenator side of the crankcase, but opinions differ on if that is correct or not, anyone know?

Anyway, parts are about a third the price of the XL500 parts ive been buying, but the engine is a third of the size... lol. I did spy the Xl500 engine in the garage the day the bike was dropped off and had an evil thought, but the tiny drum brakes on the SL would be very scary indeed with that fitted! LOL

The bike came with 3 boxes of spares, that includes all sorts but in there are 2 top ends, one is even a 200cc! the other is newly honed 124cc cylinder with a box with a Honda original CB550 piston, which fits nicely. Now i make the 550 at 58mm bore, not 56.5 of the SL/CB engine, so this is a 137cc hop up kit... cool. I also have two heads, one is a one piece which was included in the bits if ever i wanted to go vintage trails riding as you cant use the 2 piece head here. I have a bunch of handmade and quite cool megaphone exhausts that the seller referred to as 'Loudflers' as they wont muffle anything LOL Also lots of other stuff thats been taken off but also some extras, so a good project indeed. What do you think? Mark will like this I reckon


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## BlueKnight (Oct 29, 2009)

Looks like a great project bike.







It doesn't look too bad from the pictures despite its age and years of 'unloved'. Did you check the compression and seals?


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## sheepshearer (Oct 27, 2009)

get the engine management remapped if you use those unbaffled cans :rofl2:

envious - wish i had the space and time to do pre-65 trials BSA thumper


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

I used to own an SL125 in the late 70s, great bike loads of fun


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

LOL I should have known youd have had one Mac! So tell me is there meant to be oil in the altenator?

Thanks guys, It does have compression. I reckon if I messed with the wiring it would spark too. The points (eek!) look ok but now the engine has no oil im reluctant to start it up. It even has an on off switch amusingly wired up with odd flex and leccy tape... a proper project! LOL

(BTW, I should have written CB125 above, not GB... lol)


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

I should also state, the most amusing thing about it... it has Cheng Shin tyres... how many of us bought those back in the 80s! LOL


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## MarkF (Jul 5, 2003)

JonW said:


> I should also state, the most amusing thing about it... it has Cheng Shin tyres... how many of us bought those back in the 80s! LOL


Cheng Shin! Happy memories, not  That little bike is so coolio I might just use it as a screensaver awhile. I graduated to a TL from a moped, it was a super cool bike. Good luck with the resto Jon. I am trying really hard not to get another bike and, with these pics, you are not helping, I have a new machine and will post some pics later this week, I don't think that you will like it...............


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

JonW said:


> LOL I should have known youd have had one Mac! So tell me is there meant to be oil in the altenator?


You remember Ogri`s friend Malcom?

Well let`s just say I wasn`t quite that mechanically inept, but it was close :hammer: h34r:

So to answer you`re question, I really haven`t a clue :huh: :lol:


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## BondandBigM (Apr 4, 2007)

mach 0.0013137 said:


> I used to own an SL125 in the late 70s, great bike loads of fun


Motorised transport, a bit radical for an old hippie back in the 70's :lol: :lol:

Are you sure it wasn't more like this


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

BondandBigM said:


> mach 0.0013137 said:
> 
> 
> > I used to own an SL125 in the late 70s, great bike loads of fun
> ...


Well I suppose something like this would have been more approriate...










 :lol:



> Are you sure it wasn't more like this


Reminds me of a guy I knew :rofl:


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## marmisto (Jan 1, 2009)

JonW said:


> I was at a mates place last week chatting about bikes as he has a few, and my eye falls on an unloved bike in the corner... obviously a Honda and obviously 70s... further inspection showed its an Honda SL125 from 1971-1973 and I thought 'would be great for going to the local shops to post / pickup my parcels... He said a price that sounded too cheap and I said yes a bit fast, as usual LOL
> 
> The 70s Hondas are all much the same, TL/XL/SL/CB/CL etc all have much the same engine, frame, wiring etc and even share forks etc. Its a simple bit of kit and actually very cute. It would be perfect for my shop ride of about 1km each way, but it doesnt go. It turns over fine but wont start. Further investigation shows its got a 1976/8 GB125 motor (2 piece head and 124cc) and that it has no wiring loom, and the carb is just jammed in to the manifold. Ive found it has oil in the altenator side of the crankcase, but opinions differ on if that is correct or not, anyone know?
> 
> ...


Well I like it, those little 125 engines are great, I had the TL back in the day and loved it, so when I saw one I bought it couple of years back and was amazed that I could do all the things I did on such a low-powered bike [i was a couple of kilos{??] lighter].

Bought one [sL] for the missus and it was lovely til a mate mangled it off a bridge.

If you want to play with it Jon try the Sammy Miller shop as all the TL bits will work. If you have a spare 124cc barrel bring it over, as I can't bore out the little 122cc to 150 without paper-thin walls.

I'm thinking of an XL250 engine [that's lurking in an old wrecker bought for the frame] in it, with slightly better brakes for twinshock trials - rules aren't very rigid here.

Have fun - but don't sell the KTM yet!


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

LOL @ Mac and his Hippie ways (in a good and not mocking way natch) 

Mark... Im guessing its another scoot... er! LOL. Im willing to see pics and listen to your spiel of course... feel free to try and convince me. 

Marmisto, I had a mate who loved TLs back in the mid 90s. He lived on a farm and had about 7 of the things. Mike, if you read this get in touch mate, its been too long, hows the cows?... anyway. I rode on and thought it was supercool against the crappy ER80 I had left at the farm (for years... it was crap and never ran, I gave it to a mate in the end who found the points plate was 180deg out, no wonder it didnt run, sigh).

Ive seen the Sammy Miller stuff, but from what ive read online a lot of that has fit problems and you need to use a persuader quite a bit... hmm... Well if I ever get the CB engine apart I'll see what ive got. if the 124cc cyl in the bike isnt a big bore already then it will be a spare of course since ive got other options in the box.

I reckon the XL250 should be ok in the frame, the brakes would be fine at low speeds but use the XLs front end run thru the forks a bit and youd be fine i reckon and youd have the 250s brakes. Dont tell MarkF but Ive already organised XR250 disk front end for my XL500R, I just couldnt face using the drum on something with that weight behind it... it not exactly powerful but boy is it heavy...

You dont by any chance know if your bike has oil in the altenator side of the engine do you? Ive never found a bike that let oil on the stator, so info on yours would be very useful indeed.

Oh and yes we need pics of these other SLs! Give me inspiration guys!


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## thorpey69 (Feb 8, 2006)

C'mon Jon there's a Powervalve waiting to be rebuilt yet,one at a time :wink2: .That little Honda does look very cool though,i could spend all day plodding around fields on that,and to be honest i wouldn't have been able to resist it either B)


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## marmisto (Jan 1, 2009)

JonW said:


> LOL @ Mac and his Hippie ways (in a good and not mocking way natch)
> 
> Mark... Im guessing its another scoot... er! LOL. Im willing to see pics and listen to your spiel of course... feel free to try and convince me.
> 
> ...


I don't know if mine has oil in there but I asked a French mate and he says yes - caveat is that my French talking and comprehension is a bit dodgy on the phone as I can't see all that gallic body language emphasizing - blunders include my daughters mate from Provence expecting to stay for a month last year when I added an ironic "easily a month" to her mums earnest question on how much teenage girlie mayhem I could stand!

Bon chance


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

thorpey69 said:


> C'mon Jon there's a Powervalve waiting to be rebuilt yet,one at a time :wink2: .That little Honda does look very cool though,i could spend all day plodding around fields on that,and to be honest i wouldn't have been able to resist it either B)


Er, yes... Nah ive not forgotten the others...  Ok the powervalve parts pile is growing... I still need an original yamaha top fairing (anyone got one? almost any condition considered as ive got to repair the other panels anyway but has to be original yamaha plastic and not fibreglass, need a screen too - Rd500 or 350 YPVS will work... anyone?). Ive already got growing sets of cylinders and other nice parts, but have been waiting for a crank from America since November! I now have 5 cranks that need rebuilds here as I picked up a racers old spares plus another box of bits from another mate. So I should have enough parts to build the powervalve as a 250 and also build a second 350 engine which will either go in the 250 or in another project... more on that later... gulp... Ordered a zeeltronic ignition this week as decent 350 CDI are now NLA or almost the same price as a mappable ignition (which includes the right curve). Just need some nice spannies now... got any in your shed Andy?  



marmisto said:


> JonW said:
> 
> 
> > You dont by any chance know if your bike has oil in the altenator side of the engine do you? Ive never found a bike that let oil on the stator, so info on yours would be very useful indeed.
> ...


LOL! Thats superb. Im thinking my French is much the same as yours. Thanks for asking tho. much appreciated. I just wonder where i can find a definitive, will try a bike forum. hmm...


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

Just found this really crap photo of me on my slightly dented SL125 taken in 1978 



Cool green wellies B) :rofl:

BTW notice the similarity with the chin in my Avatar


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

LOL superb! The angle of that rack is hilarious. With the low power of the SL there is no worry about anything falling off anyway, and there is no real need for a spoiler like that, but Im loving the idea of it. I need one for mine 

Mac when its done, you'll have come over and have a ride of the thing, bring the wellies... :lol:


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

JonW said:


> LOL superb! The angle of that rack is hilarious. With the low power of the SL there is no worry about anything falling off anyway, and there is no real need for a spoiler like that, but Im loving the idea of it. I need one for mine


The ex-wife used to go on the back so we needed something to hold the shopping etc 



> Mac when its done, you'll have come over and have a ride of the thing, bring the wellies... :lol:


Thanks but I don`t fly any more & anyway it`s waaaaaaay to hot down under for me :sweatdrop: :no:

As for the wellies, they`re black now :lol:


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

Ahh the good old days LOL 

Come by boat, arrive in winter, sorted!


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## MarkF (Jul 5, 2003)

mach 0.0013137 said:


> Just found this really crap photo of me on my slightly dented SL125 taken in 1978
> 
> 
> 
> ...


How could they fit so much chrome on such a little bike? The TL was def the coolio model!

I remember the helmets, what were they called?


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

Mark, TL/SL/XL/CL/CB etc etc, all much the same bikes just the odd difference here n there...


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

JonW said:


> Ahh the good old days LOL
> 
> Come by boat, arrive in winter, sorted!


*By boat?* 

*ARE YOU MAD!?! *







:huh:

I could get kidnapped by pirates


















& anyway I don`t think the cats would approve of me being away for so long







:lol:


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## BondandBigM (Apr 4, 2007)

mach 0.0013137 said:


> JonW said:
> 
> 
> > Ahh the good old days LOL
> ...


Quite right Mach, 10'600 miles later and I expecting a beach full of bikini babes and a bit of cool surfing.

There was nobody there


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## SEIKO7A38 (Feb 12, 2009)

JonW said:


> Ahh the good old days LOL





BondandBigM said:


> .... expecting a beach full of bikini babes and a bit of cool surfing.


Speaking of which .... from way back when:


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

BondandBigM said:


> mach 0.0013137 said:
> 
> 
> > JonW said:
> ...


Do I really want to travel nealy 11,000 miles to sit around with a bunch of fellas called Bruce all wearing hats with corks hanging from bits of string, drinking copious amounts of larrrga while going on about `whinging` poms & someone called sheila?

















:rofl:


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

Hmm, typecasting at its best I see there... probably best to leave it there, plenty of poms seem to want to live here, me included.


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