1988 CZ125 "Sport"

[garthalgar]

So the last month or so i've been searching for another little bike project. Next month i'm selling my E34 as I cant afford to have two cars going, so I wanted another bike to tinker with to keep me happy and allow me to spend many nights in the garage doing garage things.

I'd been hunting for ages but nothing had come up either near me or cheap. Until this CZ125 came up about 6 miles from me. I've always had a soft spot for CZ/MZ/Jawas and quite like the soviet robustness and simplicity that they give. I appreciate the build quality compared to Japanese two strokes of the same era is pap but as the prices of Japanese classics are rising i've settled for some good old Czechoslovakian tat.

It has a strange kind of soviet quirkyness that just draws me towards it to be honest. The previous owner is clearly well into his classic bikes with two restored bantams also and has had this whole thing in bits. Its had new tyres, brakes, wheel bearings, cables, chain & sprockets, hoses, gauge and surround among other things. It was hand painted black before so he painted it olive drab and I rather like it. The chrome is absolutely spotless. Starts first kick and is actually very spick and span. Oh and MOT til Nov 17.

It was on eBay starting at £400. I bid the opener one evening after a few whiskeys and when I went to see it before the auction ended it we agreed to call it 400 and cancel the auction, so i'm picking it up on Friday. I don't really have any plans for it yet other than enjoy it and take it to classic shows. I might expand on the paint a bit or completely change it. I can see myself doing a couple of weekends away camping on it just for a laugh. Its quite a comical machine. Anyway here she is:

[forde]

Hey, cool bike. I have two slightly later czs, a mint 125cc and a parts 180cc but I haven't taken anything off it yet lol. See my thread 'fordes bike hoard updated' for pics, it's on the first page of readers other mods cos I just posted in it yesterday.

[rblote]

Awesome. Reminds me of my MZ (with side car)
Great bikes.

[sridgett]

Looks cool, I shall look forward to seeing what you do with it

[zoompod]

Blimey, reminds me that I have an TS 125 (I think although it may be a 250) sitting in my mum's garden, rode it in there in about '91 I think and parked it up and haven't touched it since. Perhaps I should dig it out. Hmmmmmmm.....

[hopeso]

Nice looking bike. Good luck with it and enjoy.

[sridgett]

Feb 23, 2017 19:49:25 GMT zoompod said:

Blimey, reminds me that I have an TS 125 (I think although it may be a 250) sitting in my mum's garden, rode it in there in about '91 I think and parked it up and haven't touched it since. Perhaps I should dig it out. Hmmmmmmm.....

Do it Do it do it

[garthalgar]

Cheers for all the comments so far! Insurance is all sorted out so it should be good to go once I pick it up after I buy some 2 stroke oil. Have some paintwork plans but going to use it an get a feel for it first before I start going daft.

and zoompod do it. Surely must be worth your while even if it only gives you a couple of nights of enjoyment taking it to bits Though I know if i'd left a motorbike sitting in my mums garden it wouldn't even be 26 minutes til she moved it let alone 26 years!

[zoompod]

I was working for British Aerospace when they closed the Kingston upon Thames site and this bloke was being made redundant, he'd used the bike for years and was retiring and had no use for it so I bought it off him. I took it for a ride round Richmond Park on the way home and thought it was the worst handling bike I'd ever ridden and parked it up when in got home, that was in 1991. I actually bought it for my mum to ride but never gave it to her as I didn't think she'd get on with it. Perhaps when I've finished the mini I'll get it down to my house and see what it's like. Her gardener said he'd take it away for nothing........ Yeah right.

[forde]

Feb 23, 2017 22:02:18 GMT zoompod said:

I was working for British Aerospace when they closed the Kingston upon Thames site and this bloke was being made redundant, he'd used the bike for years and was retiring and had no use for it so I bought it off him. I took it for a ride round Richmond Park on the way home and thought it was the worst handling bike I'd ever ridden and parked it up when in got home, that was in 1991. I actually bought it for my mum to ride but never gave it to her as I didn't think she'd get on with it. Perhaps when I've finished the mini I'll get it down to my house and see what it's like. Her gardener said he'd take it away for nothing........ Yeah right.

If it's been in a garden outside for 26 years the gardener would probably be doing you a favour haha

[zoompod]

Well you could be right it's been covered up and last time I looked wasn't too bad, I need to clear some space and either get it home and restore it or break it for parts.

[garthalgar]

Right so picked it up on Friday and its actually not that bad now that i've had a good look around. Bodywork, frame and chrome wise its very very clean (if you excuse the green-ness).

First issue was to sort the carb boot out. Previous owner had fashioned an electrical tape job and it simply wasn't sealing. There was a spare one in the parts bin he gave me but it was brick hard and no amount of boiling water could get this thing on. In the end I managed to get the original on properly with proper sized hose clamps, I don't know why he bothered making this electrical tape disaster? Think I'm going to measure it up and buy a silicone 45 degree reducer. Should be much better.

Then went onto the wiring. I cant stand shoddy wiring and there was quite a lot of it. Under the seat there were a lot of positive connections just sitting out in the open. The last thing I need is electrical woes. I cleaned all the connectors and heatshrunk the lot. Same behind the headlight and in the bowl.

Got insured (its very cheap) and went for a ride. It's rather interesting as the clutch works off the hand lever and the gear lever. Riders choice. Also the kickstart being on the gear lever means that the lever has lots of play and to change up a gear you have to bend it like beckham to properly clunk it in. It also wouldn't idle and was quite hesitant to pull away. I thought it might be carb issues but running out of fuel about 5 minutes later answered my question. It doesnt just start to die like a 4 stroke. It just runs rubbish off throttle and eventually stops all together. Idle mixture screw needs tweaked as it idles a bit low. Might check out the float height if I ever get that far into the carb. Got some fuel and mixed in some oil via the handy measuring cup filler cap and away she went. With a full tank of fuel she was really shifting! obviously lapping it up. I was actually really starting to enjoy riding it around and overcoming all of its quirkyness. It's definitely capable of a weekend camping I think I got about 20 miles before the rain started pouring and I inevitably got drenched. But overall i'm really impressed with it and rather like it. 

[forde]

Glad to see you're making progress and enjoying the bike.

I always look at the features on jawa and cz bikes and think that for being utilitarian bikes from a communist country they have some really good ideas. The semi auto thing is such a simple mechanism I don't know why basically all bikes don't have it. Some of the other quirky features like the key being the light switch and the kick-start gear lever combo are always fun to show off. All the czs and jawa I've owned have had these features.

[jonw]

Great bike.

Not seen a Jawa for a while now. The only thing to note is that the kick start lever is known to swing back after the engine starts and put the bike in 1st... Mate had one and always started it with hand gripping the front brake!

Keep the updates coming.

[garthalgar]

Feb 27, 2017 0:11:13 GMT forde said:

Glad to see you're making progress and enjoying the bike.

I always look at the features on jawa and cz bikes and think that for being utilitarian bikes from a communist country they have some really good ideas. The semi auto thing is such a simple mechanism I don't know why basically all bikes don't have it. Some of the other quirky features like the key being the light switch and the kick-start gear lever combo are always fun to show off. All the czs and jawa I've owned have had these features.

Exactly right. I've had a few commutes on it now and its pretty good. Definitely a lot more torque than my Honda C90 obviously. It'll never replace the C90 but makes a good alternative. A lot of people ask what it is because I guess the army green paint isnt much of a giveaway and theres not a single logo on it. I do enjoy peoples curiosity though.

Feb 28, 2017 12:08:37 GMT jonw said:

Great bike.

Not seen a Jawa for a while now. The only thing to note is that the kick start lever is known to swing back after the engine starts and put the bike in 1st... Mate had one and always started it with hand gripping the front brake!

Keep the updates coming.

Yup, i've already experienced the wonders of the kickstart gear lever going into first. Luckily I was sitting on the bike at the time otherwise it would have made its way down the road haha.

[surprisingskoda]

Makes me wish I had got one of mine on the road... interesting to read a few real life examples of what they're like as I never got riding any of mine all that far.

[winchman]

Nice
Don't suppose anyone has any spare forks? I believe they will fit my sons C15 BSA?

[garthalgar]

Wee update on how this is getting on. The bike developed an issue of when warm, wanting to die at traffic lights. It would idle for a certain amount of time then just die and refuse to kick into life again. It felt like a fuelling issue, not an electrical issue.

I changed the spark plug up a heat range from what was in it before and it seems to run better. Then I figured out that the cold start lever (that floods the carb pretty much) was very floppy and with the bumps and vibration could drop and cause the engine to die from over fuelling. Well I reshaped the cam on the arm and bent the spring a bit and it holds it off tight which is good.

It starts first kick from cold but once its hot it eventually just decides to die. I tried this theory in the shed when I was setting the mixture screw. I had it idling absolutely spot on, then out of nowhere it died and wouldnt start again, at all. It had a spark. Then when I thought I had fixed it all, it died 2 miles from my house and I had to do the age old walk of shame. I've only had to do that 2 times in my life and its naff.

So I pulled the carb off to have a look. Its full of grit. Couldnt even see through the pilot jet. Main jet looked new however. What I did notice that i've never see before is that there was another pilot jet, but it was a blank? I've bought a gasket kit for a 600 series amal carb but the bowl gasket is for a single pilot, which is where the blank was. I'd love to see a parts diagram from an Amal 625 to figure out why there is a blank but I haven't found any info on it at all. As well as that the float was catching on the casting of the bowl so I shaved some material from the float seam and it seems to be clear. I've also bought a new carb boot and some more carb bits from jawashop. As well as a bicycle speedo as I am not a fan of the speedo reading 35 when I'm doing 50. I knew it felt like I was going faster than it said haha.

So this week i'll bung the carb in the ultrasonic cleaner at work and give everything a thorough cleaning. I'm going to fit an inline fuel filter to try and help too. I'll get the carb rebuilt and hopefully the problem will fix itself. Otherwise I guess I could look into the coil but its been replaced so.

Retapped the holes for the tank bolts and replaced them with new. Both rattled out during the week!

[skoda_norman]

That's cool! I really like it! I shall keep checking this thread.

[surprisingskoda]

Mar 3, 2017 12:55:11 GMT winchman said:

Nice
Don't suppose anyone has any spare forks? I believe they will fit my sons C15 BSA?

I'm almost sure I still have a pair of forks in either vgc or nos condition.