Show report: Classic Motorcycle Mechanics Show Stafford 14-15th October 2023

Now with the bike in a pretty good condition we loaded it into the van and made our way to the Stafford County Showground. Getting in is fairly painless with the pass the organisers send you (which has your stand allocation number on it), the security gave us a couple of wristbands and we were in. As soon as the bike rolled down the ramp out of the van a guy flew over on his Raleigh Burner and said 'I knew what that was as soon as it came out and wanted to get a better look'! It turns out he had several M Honda's so was definitely in to the bike.

We made our way to the main hall and found our spot and picked up the welcome pack, this had the security tag and a neat metal show badge to prove we done it. After a quick clean and set up the rope went across the front and we were show ready.

The first day was really great meeting a few new people and some facebook connects including the serial Honda restorers and www.mb5.co.uk guys Tony and Steve Mawson. These guys have restored more MB/X bikes and won more awards than you can shake a stick at, but very approachable and very encouraging for a first timer like me. I also met up with Andrew Longley who still has his Honda MT5 from when he was 16 amongst a fleet of mopeds and manages a few facebook pages including Retro mopeds of the 70's and 90's. I also managed to touch base with Phil Holme of Holmetech whom Id previously sold a bike to and was there with his Kawasaki AR club. I got to say everyone was super-nice and catching up with everybody made the whole day feel like you were definitely a part of something.

Day two is when the awards and rosettes are given out to the winning machines. Honestly, the standard of bikes is so high I had no expectations and was just happy to be a part of the show, but to my delight the MBX had won a 'Highly Commended' award! The show gives out 30 of these as runners up, so to win one at the first visit to the show was pretty special. The rest of the day was spent checking out all the other winners and marvelling at the quality of their bikes.

At the end of the show after a security check we wheeled the bike of the booth where somebody immediately asked if it was for sale, obviously not!

Overall the show was a fantastic experience, from the organisers to the fellow exhibitors. It was an extremely welcoming and inclusive experience and makes you feel part of the classic bike scene, which is a nice place to be. I will very much look forward to next year and will try to get a couple of bikes in!

If this inspires you to give it a go keep an eye on the Stafford Classic Bike Shows website for updates and how to apply to exhibit.

a least it wasn't raining!

into the hall

and in to its allocated space, PE7

Day 1

Day 2, time to find out who won an award

Day 2

Henry Cole, Allen Millyard and Skid on stage

Day 2, with award

me

Holmetech's AR80

the only other MBX80 (or M Honda) at Stafford in the auction 

info card from the display

show prep, part 2

 The final pieces for the show prep turned up, in my eyes its not perfect and there are a few things I would still like to change, but the bike is good and I'll keep chasing those last few things.

Firstly tyres. The original tyres are Bridgestone and long out of production, so the choice is some replica tyres made in the far east or a branded modern tyre. After going round in circles on this I opted for a modern Metzler ME22. Demon Tweeks has 30% off these at the moment and you can get them here: My friend at a local garage fitted them for me.

While the wheels were off I took the opportunity to fit a NOS mudguard piece. 

Next some official Honda parts from CMSNL.I ordered new handle bar grips, handlebar clamp bolts, tank warning decal, mirror and also a new speedo worm gear and oil seal which goes back to the 'noise' project.

Lastly I ordered a new old dealer number plate from Retro Plates to finish the look.

Next stop.... Stafford Classic Bike Show 14-15th October

show prep, part 1

Getting my bike ready for the Stafford Bike Show is actually a little daunting, to be judged and compared against so many amazing bikes makes you second guess everything. My bike genuinely looks great but I can see faults everywhere, stuff you wouldn't notice or see, but I see.... 

First off is a good clean,

Secondly the tyre pressure warning decal turned up

Next I removed the front wheel to give it a proper clean behind the spokes, but getting into the tightest point near the rim proved very difficult.

Next I used some old petrol and a tooth brush which seemed to work.

My bike - show ready?

 I have recently applied for a private entry for the Stafford Classic Bike Show in October, fingers crossed I get accepted but regardless of if I do it is good motivation to finish a few niggling jobs.

Here is my to-do list to get my bike show ready.

1/ replace the handle bar clamp screws for Olive green bolts - CMS

2/ add tank warning decal - CMS 

3/ add chain adjustment warning sticker - ebay

4/ replace broken RH mirror, unfortunately this cracked when I moved the mirror - do you know of any NOS Honda mirrors?????

5/ Fit a NOS fender part

6/ Maybe - buy a new rear fender - mine is very, very good but I've seen a NOS one :-) Honda M Serie shop

7/ New tyres - again maybe just to put a final finish a new pair of tyres would be good.

So, all in all, not masses, but just some small things to make the bike the best it could be!

My bike; Instagram star!

 My MBX80 was picked up and used in Classic Bike Shows Instagram post, check out their account here. Hopefully this year it will be at the Stafford show 14-15th October! 

Farewell MB8

 Its time to say fair well to the little MB8 and it's now sold. It genuinely was a lovely bike and to be honest I'm a little gutted to let it go but as it didn't really need restoring it had to go to make room and fund another restoration project. It's gone to a good home :-) 

Auf Wiedersehen mein deutscher freund!

'the noise' part 2

 The next thing I looked at was the tacho drive, this is a worm style gear and runs at 90 degrees against the corresponding gear on the end of the idler shaft.

The tacho gear seemed to have an excessive amount of vertical play, suggesting the noise could be this gear vibrating up and down? The gear has an upper and lower washer, which the manual highlights to remember to reinstall and an oil seal, which was super hard.

As a test I rebuilt the side case and refilled the fluids without the gear, I cut a rubber finger of my workshop gloves to cover the tacho gear drive hole just in case something went in the motor or oil came out.

I have compiled some clips with various stages to focus on what was the rattle or what is just standard engine noise. I also recorded my MB8 for an engine noise comparison but I didn't include that in the vid, so just MBX.

'the noise' part 1

When I originally bought my bike it had an annoying engine rattle, I actually just put it down to an old bike and maybe a little end bearing? 

I wanted the engine fully re-built with a re-bore and this was done via our friends at the M Shop. While the engine was away it had all new bearings and seals as well as the piston, clutch, carb and external finishing. 

When the bike was built and the engine in you can here the engine is smooth, but 'the noise' was still there.

At this point I was not concerned until the kick starter shaft snapped and it got my thinking about replacing any suspected gears and cogs that might cause the rattle. Read about that here 

After that rebuild I anxiously started the bike and the rattle was still there, again I parked it up and thought I would do some more investigating in the new year.

At this point I thought I would speak to the M Shop to quiz them to what they thought was the issue, I'll add I was not implying or blaming them for the continued noise as it was there before re-build and was something weird and not covered by the engine rebuild. The M Shop were as usual very helpful and gave me a few suggestions to look and even offered to have the motor back. 

So the bike came apart again...

clutch removed

water pump bush

idler shaft

So the first thing is the water pump bush is broken and the M shop advised to look at the shat and teeth of the idler shaft. I ordered in the replacement bushing and managed to borrow a idler and water pump shaft just to check and eliminate.

With the bike re-built and started the noise was still there....

idler shaft inspection limits

what's in the RH crank caase

Water pump parts

fuel tank warning stickers

 The finishing touches can make or break a restoration and although my fuel tank was a 'new old stock' tank it lacked the warning labels so it is something I definitely want to add. The first thing I needed to know was which labels are on there as I cannot remember my original bike and the positioning of them. I put a request out on the M Classic Facebook post and Tony and Steve from www.mb5.co.uk quickly stepped up to help with a decent top image and all the dimensions.

The next issue is sourcing the decals, the middle decal on the bellow image seems readily available but the top and bottom decals seem to be discontinued? If anybody can point me in the right direction for these I would appreciate it?

Brochure: MBX80 what if?

What if Honda kept making the MBX80 in 1989/90 what would the brochure look like? Just for fun here is my interpretation in the style of the late 80's marketing department using the NS125R brochure for inspiration, what do you think?

inspired by... 

My bike: Tidy up small items

 As with all projects you always have an extensive list of stuff you want to change, maybe its things nobody else will ever see but just bug the cr@p out of you. While I was ordering from CMSNL I took the time to order a couple of those annoying parts.

2 x replacement screws for the speedo fascia

1 x replacement drum brake rocker arm, bolt and nut.

1 x wear indicator and felt.

All small stuff, but progress!

before

after

 

My bike: kick start rebuild

 Ouch... I routinely roll the MBX out the garage, fuel tap on, choke on, foot peg up and prod the kickstarter and snap, the kick start shaft snaps clean against the crank case and takes a little bit of leg with it.

Looking at the owners manual its not a massive job and the kick start shaft can be replaced with the engine in. Also in the owners manual it states that there are service limits not only on the shaft (6) but also the idler gear (2), inspection on the oil pump gear (1) and both kick start springs (8 and 5), so I decided to replace the lot including the collar (9), ratchet (4) and ratchet gear (3).

For availability all parts were bought via David Silver Spares and CMSNL

On to the repair...

First drain both the coolant and gearbox oil. Tip, remove the rad filler cap!

Remove the rev counter cable and clutch cable and remove the right hand side cover. Tip: pay attention to the clutch actuator pusher on the inside of the case!

To just do the kick start shaft you don't have to remove the clutch, but as I needed to replace all the gears the clutch had to come off. NOTE: If you do take the clutch off the balancer shaft does need to be timed to the primery - see bottom of the page!

plastic oil pump gear, check for wear and tear.

To re-fit the new idler gear you will have to remove the ratchet plate 

Refitting the kick start shaft and getting the spring tension can be testing... 

Don't scrimp and fit a new gasket

Ratchet assembly, next is to get the correct clocking and spring tension. 

here is the clocking and alignment from the manual.