DT125R FORUM

Many thanks for the welcome guys, always good to meet new folks. This forum can be a dangerous place - too many Gucci bits and tasty ideas on display!

@Calum appreciate the early diagnosis. I had a feeling it might be the water pump seal last time I looked at the bike - is it likely to be just the seal or the whole unit needing replaced? As a bit of background I rode her the whole year on the basis of carrying a 2 litre bottle of water with me to keep the coolant topped up after every stop. Certainly won't have done the bike any favours but it always started and ran wonderfully. Chalk it up to beginners luck and newbie's ignorance to all things mechanical at that time.

The bike and I are separated by a large body of water at the minute after I moved to the mainland, hence the older pic's and no solid info/problems to describe to you guys yet. Going from memory it also had a seized swingarm pivot which was a damned nightmare to try and tackle. It remains in the bike still. If I remember right this might have been around the time I called it quits on her as I couldn't pull the engine without getting that bolt out. Have looked into it a bit online and it looks like that'll be a fun job once the bike gets to me.

In my planning atm I'm factoring in a few jobs: swingarm pivot, top end rebuild, clutch replacement, rear brake service/reassembly and good bit of cleaning and tidying on her. I had really hoped to avoid a full engine rebuild but we'll have to see how it all plays out.

I've attempted a pic attachment on this post hopefully it's worked ok. Many happy memories coming back atm as I dig up the old pics I have of her prior to this project.

As an update for this thread and any one in future needing a similar service:

Had the bike delivered by DMT couriers who are based in NI, but also do mainland stuff. Bike was collected and delivered to my door at 7AM next morning for £200 all in. Very pleased with the service - the van has a proper tail lift too which took away the headache of unloading. The fee for the boat alone wouldve cost me the same as this entire service so the price was unbeatable.

In summary, DMT come highly recommended from myself.

Hi folks,

Long term DT owner and new member to the forum. I've been lurking around the forum for the last few days and felt it time to formally get involved with goings-on.

Quick back story, bought my '02 DTR back in 2011 as my first road going bike. Rode the bike for around a year and sat my test on her (back in the days of the old-style 2 part test and no CBT in NI!). I put around 12,000 miles on the bike that year then bought a Bandit as my first big bike and left her to decay in a garage.

The last time I did any work on the wee DT was when I attempted an oil change and found it looked liked Bailey's - at least now I knew where all that coolant had been going during the year!

The years have gone on and many bikes have come and gone in that time. Due to a change of circumstance however the DT will be returning to my possession within the coming months, prompting my renewal of interest in her and desire to get it up and running again. I've found invaluable info on the forum already and look forward to learning a bit more. Hoping to document and share the restoration with you all, I'm pretty excited to get the project started as soon as I can.

Anyway, longest introduction aside - glad to be here, expect silly questions in the very near future. Working on getting pics too, unsure how to link just yet.

Hornet 600 is a very good bike, have a friend who has had one for a number of years and another friend who had the 900 version.

I'm not overly knowledgeable about the bike having never owned one but I can pass on observations Ive made about the 2 aforementioned bikes and reports from the owners. Reliability hasnt been an issue with either machine, Honda huh? Like anything if you look after it and make sure the previous owner has stayed on top of the maintenance then I would see little cause for mechanical concern. Given the age of most of the bikes at this point its things like rear shocks which will likely be dead. Serviceable items like fork seals, various bearings and any internal tank corrosion will be worth a check too. Nothing worse than buying a bike then getting lumbered with unexpected cost in mid-summer. Corrosion in general you should keep an eye out for on a bike this of this vintage too. A scrappy looking winter hack is cause for some discount. If youre going to ride it all year too its not a great idea paying extra for the concourse condition bike, your just going to wreck it yourself with dropping and winter salt.

Havn't heard any reports about the infamous reg-rec problem with the Hornet, however having owned a VFR and seen a Varadero 1000 which had faulty units I recommend you see if its been replaced already. Dont know why Honda fitted many of their machines with duff items but that is most certainly a cost you need to factor into your calculations. Most official honda units can be had for around £200, but a pattern part Ebay special will set you back around £60. Might not be 5 year-reliable but youll likely be done with the bike and moved on that point - then it becomes someone elses problem.

The owner of the 600 hornet had a lot of trouble getting an aftermarket can set up on the Hornet, he's a man of very particular taste and told me that very few manufacturers had made cans which were specifically set up for the Hornet. One of the few manufacturers that did were "Mivv" based in Italy. Their cans dont come very cheap and of the three units he ordered every one of them leaked or had a dodgy weld. In the end he couldnt be bothered with it any more and just kept the stock can. Obviously if youre wanting to get into some faffing about with fueling etc and tuning for a can the sky is the limit but again its another expense to factor in. The stock can is pig ugly and weighs a tonne though.

The same gentleman spent a good deal of time getting the suspension right on the hornet along with good tyre choices. As is the case with pretty much any bike it made a world of difference and the thing handled beautifully. No reason a suspension refresh and a set of michelin pilot roads wouldnt transform a tired old bike to be something really enjoyable.

Performance of the 600 hornet impressed me and I couldnt get away from it on a derestricted 600 Bandit. In a straight line the Hornet smoked me every time and felt like a much more refined machine. Against my ZX-6R the Hornet wouldnt hold a candle to straight line speed but was again right up with me in the twists. Depending on how you restrict the machine will also affect performance - with my bandit is was restricted via replacement carb-sliders and performed as a standard machine right up until 83mph. At that point the bike just stopped accelerating completely and was a very unnatural experience. For daily use and weekend jaunt out up the hills it was perfect and only gave any annoyance on a motorway when trying to dodge eejits and hitting heavy acceleration to avoid the BMW drivers. I can imagine itll be a similar story with the Hornet.

On the subject of restriction is the Hornet able to be used with A2? If I understand correctly its restriction of max 47BHP/35KW and you can't restrict a bike that is more than double that (power to weight is also a factor). On paper the Hornets were around 97BHP and 71.1KW (according to http://www.motorcyclespecs.co.za/model/Honda/honda_cb600f_hornet 98.htm). I had the same issue when attempting to buy a Bandit 1200 for restriction hence why the 600 was opted for instead. If i'm correct about this I would look into something like a Fazer 600 which will get a thread all of its own.

The short version is this: I really like the Hornet and have seriously considered picking one up myself. If I had my way it'd be the 900 but they fetch funny money. With any bike its difficult to give anything but generalizations across a forum. I'd have to say spend a lot of time in the dedicated forums with actual owners and read widely...very widely. Youtube is also your friend too, not for performance videos but for maintenance and repairs - the more common the video topic the more you know what to look out for!

Sorry for the radio silence, I'm still here and still tinkering with the bike.

Update time:

Stripped down to frame/engine and carted it off to the local engineer to get the swingarm pivot sorted. Absolute nightmare of a job and I dont think the chap is any great rush to see me again...pictures to follow on that one soon.

So with that I set about getting the last of the engine mounts out and finally having it fully stripped down. I'm having trouble with the rear mount however which seems to spin but not come out. When I attempted to remove the bolt I heard a troubling "crack" noise and saw what looked like a nut was spinning on the bolt. Many turns later I realised this was actually a completely circular piece of metal that looked like it had snapped off the case - a welded on part maybe? With much determination I got it off (again pics to follow) but now I'm left with the engine mount bolt which isnt for coming out.

Is there another bearing/spacer or something on that bolt similar to the swingarm pivot?

Hi folks,

Welcome one, welcome all, to the rebuild of my 2002 DT125R. Got the bike back in 2011 and rode it for a year or thereabouts. It was noticed that the engine oil was looking very creamy, the colour of Bailey's liqueur - a water leak was suspected and given that the radiator had required constant filling over the time I rode the bike this made sense. By this point I had just passed my test and a new bigger bike was already parked in the garage alongside the DT. And thus she was consigned to a dark corner of the garage.

In that time I moved a-ways away and had many different bikes since then. Financial circumstance has seen them all go however and now the DT has been summoned into action once more. This week after a 7 year hiatus in storage she has finally arrived back to me and the restoration begins.

So here are the objectives for the build:

1. Repair and have the bike running again
2. MOT and roadworthy
3. Bolt/Parts replacement

-- This finish line is to have the bike as my daily vehicle and in an aesthetically acceptable condition. Having achieved this Ill be in a position to consider maybe doing a complete 100% restoration in the future.

Heres how it was found, beneath a garage full of nonsense and half tucked in a wardrobe:

And a few more pics once dug out:


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On the surface it seems OK, in need of a damn good clean. I started the teardown today and...its turned out to be something of a little shop of horrors. Will endeavor to get more pictures taken of individual components just not in the habit of remembering to take snaps yet.

Less pretty:

By the close of play today I managed to get further than these pictures and have the bike down to a rolling chassis with just shock, engine and swingarm being the major components to drop out next. The frame was painted years ago with hammerite and looks like balls. There numerous corrosion spots all over too. The bolts used on this bike are mix and match specials from previous owners and bodges from me. Most are destroyed at this point and need replacing. The radiator mount was actually held on with cable ties and a single bolt. By far the worst discovery was the cooling system, which was actually still filled with water. Just water mind you - pretty sure it was old tap water and no anti freeze. See what came out of the radiator below:

Major concerns currently in getting out two snapped bolts from the engine - one is part of the mount which the boost bottle clips on to (unsure of the name). Another is on the exhaust header (held on by a single bolt). The pivot on the swingarm also seems to be jammed solid - it'll spin but not had luck getting it to move out yet. Will be taking a big hammer to it soon. I had originally been optimistic that hopefully things would be better than expected, but the externals have me fearing just how bad the engine internals are going to be once I get it out. Should also mention its looks like my YPVS(?) pulley on the left hand-side is damaged - Cable "2" is snapped at the adjuster but still connected.

I havnt been as organised as usual with his teardown in assigning bolts and bits to respective containers etc. At this time Im likely to buy a large box of bolts and just do a total bolt restoration anyway so little reason to keep the old rubbish. Stopping the perfectionism is the tough part, where does the replacing of parts end!? I also intend to spend a lot of time with the wiring loom and have it properly tidied and in good order. To that effect I have invested in some crimpers, solder and proper shrink wrap. Will be studying the wiring diagram at bedtime for next few weeks.

All of these are challenges that can be overcome however, with the trusty haynes and no doubt the infinite wisdom of the forum. Will hopefully have some more updates for you all soon and a bit more detail on the task list ahead.

As preliminary questions for you all:

• The engine rebuild, better to buy the parts (and which parts?) or send to PJME/whoever to do?
• Worth getting the frame powdercoated or just bodge the corrosion for now and wait till the full resto?

Thank you all for reading, stay tuned for future - more organised/coherent - posts.