BLOW YOUR OWN

Tough customer

Great article in issue 87 on the Honda SS125AE. I became the third owner of an SS125 after the first two got sick of falling off it. The front brake was minus the cable and after refitting it I found out why they fell off. The cast iron sleeve had been moulded off-centre in the alloy hub, locking the brake solid at the softest touch of the lever. A machining job fixed that.

Every comment in the article was spot on, the mufflers being unobtainable by 1970 (locally), mine looking very tired after a series of laydowns. The bike had low bars with scuffed ends, not the high risers on the featured bike. Over seven years it was used as a road bike in original trim, learner bike for wife and four kids, dirt bike with knobby tyre and 10 tooth bigger back sprocket, trial bike with 20 tooth bigger rear sprocket, then back to work bike for 14 years without missing a beat and mostly over 100MPG.

Modifications of course had to happen. Two short reverse cone megaphone mufflers were found in the back room of the local bike shop. The removable baffles were removed permanently, made a beaut sound but required several sizes bigger main jet, a 3 inch long bell mouth tube (removed from a toy trumpet), replaced the air cleaner and a 5 tooth bigger than standard back sprocket to make top gear more useful. Not much flat riding in NW Tassie. In this form it regularly passed the 70 mph mark. At what revs? Probably because of this, the speedo disintegrated with 63,000 miles (101,000 km) registered.

For services rendered I gained a front wheel from a CB200, with twin