This is a Japanese 'Honda Accessories' instruction booklet that I actually got with a belly pan, however the instructions are for the fitting of the nose fairing which was also available as a spare part. The gatefold booklet is written in Japanese with the English words 'Co-ordinate Fine & Motorcycle Life' written at the top. Have you ever seen one before?
The UK market MBX80 gained a front double disc brake, this made an already well specked machine even more desirable especially when you are 17! The model codes for the double disc models are FWD-D (1983) and FWD-F (1985).
To make this conversion you need quite a few parts and they are also quite rare as it seems they are not shared with any another Honda model, you will need:
A friend of the page Alan Price has contacted Gibson exhausts today to enquire about producing the classic Allspeed exhaust in chrome for the MBX80.
The elusive 2nd generation MBX80 FWD-F UK bike that I last posted about here has made another appearance, this time I found an old article in Practice Sprotsbikes (Oct 2012) about 125's in the 80's and here was a FWDF hiding in plain site! This bike is another black and red machine, registration C921 TRE.
Vehicle Details
Vehicle make HONDA
Date of first registration
March 1986
Year of manufacture 1986
Cylinder capacity 79 cc
CO₂ emissions Not available
Fuel type PETROL
Euro status Not available
Real Driving Emissions (RDE) Not available
Export marker No
Vehicle status Untaxed
Vehicle colour RED
Vehicle type approval Not available
Wheelplan 2 WHEEL
Revenue weight Not available
Date of last V5C (logbook) issued 22 April 1988
Tax due: 1st April 1989
does anybody have this bike, is it in the back of your shed?
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.
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| a least it wasn't raining! |
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| into the hall |
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| and in to its allocated space, PE7 |
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| Day 1 |
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| Day 2, time to find out who won an award |
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| Day 2 |
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| Henry Cole, Allen Millyard and Skid on stage |
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| Day 2, with award |
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| me |
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| Holmetech's AR80 |
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| the only other MBX80 (or M Honda) at Stafford in the auction |
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| info card from the display |
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
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.
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
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!
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 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.
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...
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| clutch removed |
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| water pump bush |
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| 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....
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| idler shaft inspection limits |
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| what's in the RH crank caase |
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| Water pump parts |
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?
