Thriller's (alfalfa's) rusty old Yamahas

[david661]

Interesting post.  I seem to have also acquired a similar bike, but i cant quiet workout exactly what I have got.  My frame number is A7-421086, but doesn't agree with the YB125 frame number format number.  The closest I can get is the YA6m but apparently the last frame number for that was around the A7-250000

 

What is your frame and engine number.

 

 

[david661]

[alfalfa]

Hey buddy - my frame number is A7-421115. Very close to yours!

From a bunch of internet searching apparently Yamaha imported a few containers of these bikes to NZ in the mid 80s from India/Taiwan and sold them as 'retro' bikes. Hence when looking up on the NZTA database the YB125s mostly appear as 86-87 models - the year they were first registered.

[david661]

Hi Alfalfa.

The bikes would definitely appear to be out of the same batch.  Really strange to note however that mine ended up in South Africa! (sorry I joined the forum and haven't been to go introduce myself yet, so I am sure somebody will be chomping soon  about the bad manners)   I really am starting to think that they were built up from the scraps bin though and were probably destined for the non mainline market, ie indonesia india bangledesh etc.

 

Does yours have an official engine number stamped onto it anywhere?  Mine doesn't appear to have one.  Also the internet seems to have very little info on these bikes.

 

 

[alfalfa]

@david661 whoops sorry I missed that in your last question - Engine # is A7A-421115 - matching numbers with the frame.

My petrol tank has a sticker on it with pictorial instructions for washing/oiling the air filter, with some kind of Hindi or indian script underneath the english. I'll get a good photo when I get home and add it to this post.

[marioc68]

Hello Alfalfa, what was the final speed you achieved with the main jet #210?

[alfalfa]

Late last year one saturday night I got sent a very interesting marketplace link by bad influence @anglia4, for a 74 Yamaha V50 that was 20 minutes down the road in Inglewood. No price, make me an offer. I messaged old mate immediately with what I thought was a decent price, he came back with a counter and "please come and take it away so everyone stops messaging me". Turned up the next morning and it was mine! He said that he'd had over 300 messages by the time I arrived to collect it .

The Mrs happened to be away for a girls weekend while this all went down and the timing worked so well that I picked her up from the airport with the trailer and scooter still hooked up. 

It had lived many years as a dairy farm workers commuter which then got abandoned on the farm to pay off a debt or something. It sat there for a year or two until the owner decided to get rid of it. He'd kept it running so when I arrived to check it out and pick it up it started first kick. Fuck yeah.

It was pretty grot from sitting on a farm, cow shit and mud caked on the underside, bunch of surface rust, old cracked tyres, switch blocks busted, a couple of blown bulbs and and no rear indicator lenses. Battery is poked but like all good old bikes it runs fine without it. Ignition barrel is hotdog down a hallway loose so the key on a bungy clip so when it falls out every time I go over a bump I don't lose it.

Cleaned all the crap off, threw some new Vee (for Victory!) rubber on it, new sparkplug, and a couple of new bulbs and started riding to work errday. Man it is fun. Max pest potential. GHFWII.

Fastforward 6 months and @anglia4 and I decided to take our mopeds to the V8 supercars for some pest action. I thought I should probably get it registered before this. Popped down to VTNZ, filled out the form, bit of chitchat with the office ladies and a shiny new moped plate was mine. Too easy.

Great weekend at the V8s was had, we did some pesting around Taupo and had them parked in front of the campsite which got lots of great comments.

 

No major plans for future upgrades. A PW80 or V90 engine would be rad but I'm pretty happy with it as is.

[alfalfa]

The vacuum petcock on the V50 doesn't quite close up properly when the engine is shut off and it let's a slow drip through. When I took it apart most of the rubber pieces were looking pretty hard and grotty so I've ordered a new entire petcock from aliexpress which I can hopefully steal all the orings, gaskets etc and put them in the old body. In the mean-time I've chucked an inline petcock so I can just leave it on Prime and switch on/off with this. Works great so this will probably stay there for months.

I also got an inline filter for the YB because the carb is way more annoying to remove to drain the bowl if any crud does get through from the tank. Matchy matchy blue

 

 

[Ricky]

Interesting read. I too have an old YB125. Actually I have two of them. I've been working on getting a good one out of the two. Just at the stage now of filling with gas and oil and pushing the electric start! Also located in Wellington

[alfalfa]

After a long winter of ignoring the YB125, I finally added the extra support leg for my rear crate. This should hopefully stop it flogging itself to bits on the rapidly approaching King Country Crusade. Acquired a pretty lol flag from a local marketplace hoarder.

Rolled it out of the garage and fired straight up. Fizzing!

 

[axel.johnson]

Hello, let me introduce myself, my name is Axel, I'm from far away, hehe, but I share the love for these bikes with you. I always wanted to have one and now I have the opportunity. I bought one and now little by little I'm restoring it, unfortunately there is very little information on the Internet about this model. Today I was just looking inside the chassis and I was a little discouraged because I saw a bit of rust that had already eaten away at the lower part of the chassis right near the tank. Do you have the same problem? How have you solved it?