Owners bikes: Rob from Belgium

Rob Dever from Belgium owns this rather nice MBX80 re-sprayed in a more subtle take on the original 'rainbow' paint scheme.

My Bike: Restoration, swingarm

Recently I got my Dad on the case with the restoration with he swing arm!

Firstly I stripped the swing arm down and inspected it for ware and tare and most importantly rust. There was very little surface rust and the swing arm looked like it was a good usable unit, so I handed it over to my Dad to work his magic.

The swing arm was then degreased, shot blasted and coated in primer, which is the state you see in the images. The next stage will be to spray it silver and add the orange pro-link decals.

a freshly prepared swing arm awaits paint

the underside is very clean

shock mount, you can see pitting from the surface rust, but this is now been completely removed.

Merry Christmas!

Thank you for all your emails this past year, it gives a real lift to here I wasn't the only MBX enthusiast!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

My Bike: Parts, NOS parts

Whilst restoration news is a little light, while some parts are being currently worked on, I thought I'd post some more new old stock parts I have recently collected. 

I wanted genuine Honda petrol cap as I heard that the replica caps found on ebay were not very good and I didn't want to take the risk on my NOS fuel tank. The left hand handle bar clamp bracket was allegedly the last one... The throttle housing completes all the parts on the handle bars. The left hand side panel was relatively cheap and as mine had a broken lug I had to have it, it will also be used to colour match a little paintwork. And lastly the liquid cooled decals are now very rare, and will complete the radiator cowl. For these parts I used our friends at the Honda M shop. 

When I stripped the bike down I noticed the exhaust was rotten, fortunately a new genuine exhaust came up on ebay. It has a couple of paint scrapes on it, but after 25 odd years of storage its nothing a quick spray wont hide.

genuine Honda is the only way on fuel caps

clutch bracket plus throttle covers

right hand side panel

decals

exhaust just needs blowing over after 25 + years of storage 

My Bike: Restoration, Suspension forks

Let’s assume you have the complete fork unit of the bike, if you are transporting the fork you will need to re-fit the bolts that held the fork to the upper crown as the top nuts have holes in them!

First I wanted to get the lower legs back in a presentable condition, rather than attack them with wet and dry (which is very aggressive and will end up with a highly polished finish) I decided to remove the corrosion with wire wool and Autoglym metal polish. I spent about half an hour on each lower leg to get them looking kind of how I wanted them – almost a brushed alloy finish, to get close to the original. I have to say I am fairly happy, but I am sure I will probably spend some more time on each leg to get them ware I want them.

before and after

Before and after...

Both stanchions were pitted so I have sourced two NOS genuine Honda stanchions (one from ebay, one from Honda M shop) plus a new pair of oil seals (pattern, wemoto). The dust seals are in good condition so I decided not to replace these.

Next was to pull the legs apart, just remove the top plug unit from the stanchion (this can be tight), remove the spring and drain the oil.

At the base of the leg is a 6mm hex socket, one of mine was rounded off so had to be drilled off. Once these are undone the stanchion will come out, keep a look out for the oil lock piece (often called a foot buffer) at the base of the damper rod.

a complete fork leg disassembled 

Remove the dust seal, oil seal cir-clip and price the oil seal out with a big flat bladed screw driver, now clean, degrease and inspect everything and note the ‘back up ring’ that sits under the oil seal.

To install the new oil seal I grease the internal and external part of the seal and seat  (don’t forget to fit the back-up ring) and drive the seal in with a large socket as close to the outside diameter of the oil seal as possible, re-install the cir-clip and re-fit the dust seal.

Drop the damper rod through the stanchion making sure the top out spring is retained on the rod, then add a dab of grease on the end of the damper rod and fit the oil lock piece – the grease just keeps it in place. Guide the stanchion through the oil seal making sure not to damage it.

Re-torque the bottom foot screw to torque to 20NM – this value is not clearly stated in the owner’s manual, but working of the thread size torque guide (8mm) of 18-25NM. As mentioned before I had to drill mine off, spares are easy to get, Honda part number 90116-383-721 so it might be worth replacing these as a matter of course? For speed I ordered form David Silver spares.

Re-fill with oil, the manual says 150cc of ATF fluid (automatic transmission fluid), however using this type oil is very old fashioned. ATF fluid has a very low viscosity so for a modern improvement I used SAE7.5w synthetic suspension fork oil.

Check your main spring to see if it is still within the manufacturing tolerance, it should measure a minimum of 482.5mm. Re-fit the spring with the tight coils to the top and refit the top plugs, these need to be torqued to 15-30NM.

For grease I used Morgan Blue Calcium grease, oil SilkolenePro RSF 7.5w.

fork exploded diagram

My Bike: Restoration, it starts...

Over the past year I have been collecting NOS parts (I have more goodies on the way), but now is the time for the actual restoration to start.

The first task is to strip the bike to the bare frame so this can be powder coated, the strip down was rather uneventfully. Expecting the worse, after all it is a29 year old motorcycle, the only real problem area were the nut and bolts that hold the rear mudguard on. The lower nut sits under a cover (for weather protection) but just spins. The bolts that hold the bracket that located the rear of the seat were also sized, and after a fight snapped, so out of the whole bike one snapped bike was very pleasing!

The other things that were apparent was just how much rust was on the lower front of the frame, however nothing that can be cleaned and treated. This cannot be said for the exhaust, the rot on the down pipe is so extensive I don’t want the headache of trying to fix it…. 

This weeks job is going to be the front fork, to be continued...

its started

engine out

suspension off

Brochure: 1984 Honda MBX80 dealer

This is the MBX80 page from the 1984 Honda dealer brochure, basically it is the same as the 83 vesion I already have but with a different header.What is interesting is that the same shot of the white bike is basically used in all of the literature Honda produced.

News: Classic Motorcycle Mechanics Show, Stafford

On Saturday 19th we visited the Classic Motorcycle Mechanics show at the Stafford county show ground.

If you have never been to this show I would seriously recommend you do so, busy doesn't describe it, if you are in to bikes from the 70's, 80's and 90's this is the place to be.

MBX80 wise, there was unfortunately nothing bike wise, I was hunting for a mudguard but this time there was nothing. I did also try to buy some oil seals, but they didn't have them on the booth.... Oh dear!

The Guest of honour this year was Christian Sarron, but again a little disappointed there was no YZR500...

Sarron's 1983 Yamaha TZ250

This caught my eye on the Different Strokers stand as my brother had a YSR80 in blue, possibly the only bike I have ridden that could upstage a RC30!

Yamaha YSR 'Gag' bike, very cool!

The MB guys were there again with two MB5's, an MT50 and a pristine MBX50. Love the MB5, as this was the machine I leant to ride on when I was at school!

MB5

MBX50

Our aim is to show my MBX at this show when it is finished...

NEWS: Stafford Show 2013

This years Stafford classic motorcycle mechanics show will be held on Saturday 19th & Sunday 20th October 2013 - Stafford County Show Ground, Staffordshire, ST18 0BD.

This show is a must for all fans of 80's motorcycle's and features a wealth of machines on display plus lots of traders outside selling bikes and spare parts. So if you are looking for an elusive part or even for your next project bike it is a great place to start.

from Stafford 2012 on the MB5 display

For Sale: bikes for sale via honda80cc.nl

I lot of people ask if I know where there are any MBX's for sale, well Jo contacted me from www.honda80cc.nl and they have lots. Holland is not far, grab a van and head of through the tunnel for a bargain.

€1750, mk2 with full fairing

€1050, I would like this one myself!

€2000, like new

€1500, nice red Rothmans model

€1250 with aftermarket exhaust

€1650, Mk1 with full fairing, just 9000kms!

€700, cheap!

€800, also cheap!

MBX value chart

Here is my first look at long term values and trends of the Honda MBX80, the graph tracks all the machines that were sold in the last year.

I have graded (out of 10) the condition and also mentioned if it was standard and/or running.

I think the top value of around £2000 is actually about right, as this is about the money that you would need to spend to take an average condition bike or basket case (including the price of the bike) back to a very high standard condition. If you are looking at concourse condition machine maybe a little more? Good usable bikes seem to be worth around £6-700.

Ultimately a bike is only worth what you are willing to pay for it, but at current count there are just 39 bikes in the UK, 14 on the road, 25 on SORN, there is not a great deal of choice...

Advert: "Cheaper to insure than they look"

I found this classic Honda advertisement on the web recently via http://www.classicmotorads.com

The MBX80 takes centre stage with the H100 and CB100N with the strap line "cheaper to insure than they look"

Bike for sale: Honda80cc.nl

I have been contacted by Jo at www.honda80cc.nl to introduce there website and forum for MBX chat and a lot of second hand spares.

My eyes were drawn to this bike for sale with just 1900km that's just 1179 miles.... The asking price is €2250 or about £1923, top money, yes, but show me another one? Holland isn't far away either....

http://honda80cc.nl//product_info.php/cPath/65/products_id/1046