Motorcycle Maintenance and Mental Health
I have always found working on motorcycles (and sometimes cars if I’m in the right mood) very satisfying – not because I have saved money in not taking them to a garage, but because the process is slow, contemplative and takes you out of yourself whoever you are. Yes, I know that at times it can be frustrating – dropping that tiny washer just when you need it but I’m prepared to work through all that to get to a higher plain of existence.
Perhaps for this reason I thought it would be valuable to invest on a ‘project motorcycle’ for my son and I to bring back to life. So, a few weeks searching on-line auction houses and Facebook Marketplace and bingo – a 1975 Honda CB125S and rust, lots of rust!
Day one – collection
Having only seen three photographs of this motorcycle and been told it’s been stored in a shed for a decade, what could go wrong. We arrive in good time, try to find the address (house name not number), ring the door bell and it begins. We are escorted around the side of the house (be careful of the dogs, they won’t bite), up the garden, past the shed to a kind of tent thing on the side of the shed – this is where the motorcycle has spend its past ten years, soaking up the moisture and gradually turning that moisture into rust!
We are short by fine pounds of the £350 asking price (my son was hungry en routé and wanted to invest in a ‘meal deal’) So, we offer £345.00 and it’s snapped up. We wrestle the bike into the back of the Skoda Fabia (a popular model for motorcycle enthusiasts) and wheel-spin out of there!
It’s an almost a complete motorcycle, it turns over, missing side panels, battery, ignition switch, steering lock etc etc but I think it will do the job. And with the aid of a few dedicated parts suppliers (Wemoto.com) every missing part can be found (I hope) to help us breathe life back into this tiny classic.
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Day two – diagnosis
The bike has been separated from the rear of the car, pushed onto some level, flat ground (at the rear of the house), air pumped into the tyres and on closer inspection it doesn’t look too bad. Well, I am a very optimistic person.
Step one – spray everything with ‘penetrating oil’ – all the gaps where anything moves (or should move). Two minutes of spraying and the back garden has a unique smell of engineering (for some reason my wife doesn’t like this odour).
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A little Honda History
The Honda CB125S is a small (1880mm long) lightweight (99kg), air-cooled, four-stroke single-cylinder motorcycle manufactured by Honda from 1971 to 85. They are renowned for their robustness, simplicity, reliability and great petrol consumption (75 to 90 mpg).They have been adopted globally as a classic work-horse – reflecting this the petrol tank was slightly flattened to enable families to carry luggage (and at times children) with ease.
The engine features a single overhead camshaft (SOHC), five speed manual gearbox, and delivers approximately twelve / fourteen horsepower (depending on the production year). It’s comfortable, fun, nippy (on a good day you can achieve 60mph) and easy to ride!
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© Carl Middleton – July 2026.
Motorcycles are good for you…
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Sadly not our one but a lovely condition blue CB125S
#hodacb125s
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