My 96 RS125 needs one. Since I bought my RS from Rising Sun, I'll probably get the parts from them. I've been investigating MCE for replacement but his parts recomendation and labor is $1500ish. Any one have any cheaper options recomendations? I have a baby on the way and need to pinch a few bucks here and there. Jeff WERA996
Sounds like the price from MCE was for a new crank and than to have it trued. This is critical for engine life and resistance to failure. The problem with the 250 crank is you can only rebuild half of it. You can not get the center from Yamaha as a replacement part. Therefore the connecting rods (bearings) run on an old surface. Is this bad... I cannot say as I have a 125 and get a new one every time. My friends with TZ 125's do just rebuild them. I know of only one failure and I cannot even say that it was related or not. What you need to do is send your crank to someone that can check the journals and ensure that they are still in spec. If so it is your desision if you want to rebuild it. New cranks are around $1200.00 and that is a hit for sure. You should be able to rebuild for about half that. I always use MCE. I have had work done by Sweedtech. I will not comment on the other work by him but he did do a nice job on the crank. MCE checked it after. He has good turn around and good prices. Just do not go to your local Yamaha dealer. Hope this helps. Bill Cole WERA#72
Honda cranks arenot rebuildable. MCE offers truing and replacement of every bearing and wear item within the engine as well as extensive alignment/measurement of the internals. While this sounds like the way to go, I wanted to investigate alternatives especially from those that have done it themselves. Jeff
Bill, $1200? You sure that's not for a 250? RS cycles has TZ cranks for $250 or there abouts. I'll have to check the RS Honda parts price list over there. I was thinking they weren't too much more than a TZ. I know I've been told before they're not rebuildable, HRC doesn't offer the parts as does Yamaha. For good case life, you will need to true the crank. If you don't have a proper truing stand, just set the thing in a couple of V blocks on the work bench with a dial indicator on a crank wheel and check for runout. I don't know the spec, will have to consult the manual or 125gp list when the time comes for me, but to adjust runout is highly technical (tongue in cheek), you whack a journal with a brass mallett (harley tool) until it's in spec. A bit hit and miss, sort of the Fred Flintstone approach to motorcycle maintenance, but this is the procedure. I didn't do my 250 stuff back in the day, need an adjustable truing stand for such that I never had. I've watched my tuner do it, though, and even rebuilding/truing a twin isn't that big a deal if you have the tools. The single throw crank of a 125 makes things a lot easier. Rebuilding a crank, I was under the impression, wasn't that much cheaper than just buying one. I know on the old 250s you'd save maybe 75 bucks by rebuilding. A rod kit (needed two) was a hundred and the seals and bearings involved in the rebuild ran the price up to a little over $400 (was in 1981). You could buy a new Yamaha crank then for about five hundred. Was better to go that route as you got new crank pins that way. Jack
Just went to http://www.rscycles.com/rs125/piston-crankshaft.htm and checked and the RS125 complete crank assembly is $239.08. If you're not into splitting the cases, now's the time to learn. Think of how many spark plugs you could buy for the savings. Actually, I haven't been into my RS yet, but I've been told it has a cartridge type transmission. This should make things a hell of a lot easier to split on a vertical split crankcase. Don't be afraid, just do it. Then again, I'm a cheap bastard always looking to save a buck. Have to be that way when you're only knocking down $22 an hour in a blue collar job. But hell, if I was a high dollar kinda guy, look at all the shop fun and knowledge I'd be missing. Jack
Jack, I'm with you on the cheap bastard part and I do like to spin my wrenches. I've been contemplating doing it myself but have been a little putr off by the case warp warnings and just the general lack of knowledge and poor manual. Jeff
Holly crap... I stand corrected. Thought we were talking about a 250 here. Not paying attention. Sorry fellas. Since you are talking about a 125 you must get a new crank and still have it balanced and trued. Another $100 or so. Bill
Probably could find another GPer near you that would help. If you lived near me, you could bring it over to my shop. A few Shiners and I'd be willing to help. It isn't that tough a job, just remember as a general rule, don't force anything and use a proper tool. Don't go jamming a chizel to split the cases, LOL, but of course you know that. I can usually pop 'em loose on most of the vertical split stuff I've done with a rubber mallet. Don't normally have to buy a case splitter, unless some idiot used superglue on the cases or something. A non-hard setting gasket compound is the proper adhesive. The manual should tell you what to use. I've had good luck in the past with simple easy to get Permatex #2, but I'd follow the manual's advice. Only way I could see you warping anything is getting rough with it when you split it, perhaps forgetting a bolt or something. Jack
Well, there you did it, Jeff. You went and posted on the GP list on the crank subject. Now, don't misunderstand me, there's a lot of knowledge over there. But, you gotta learn to weed out the BS. They tend to make it sound like something simple is rocket science when it isn't. It's as if no one but Kevin Murray and Ian (the Brit guy) know a damned thing about mechanics. Now, I know these guys are good and specialists at what they do, but really! Truing a crank is something YOU can learn to do. It will of course be as good as your tools, the accuracy of you dial indicator, that sort of thing. But, you really ought to learn if you are like me, a working guy that has to make his dollar stretch. I can't afford to box up my motor and sent it to Kevin, wish I could, but I can't. I have to do this stuff myself. My advice, call Duncan, or maybe Billy Wiese (another bang up wrench) and pick their brains. Reason I mentioned Duncan, he's only too glad to give advice on how tos, he is an educator by profession, Billy makes his whole living on this stuff, wrenching race bikes. He's a nice guy though and may give advice. If you need to have this done, Duncan or Billy can do it right, believe me. They've trued a many a crank in their careers. So what if some lister hasn't heard of them? I didn't mention Billy over there on the list, but he's got plenty of recent GP experience, did Ben Spies' two-stroke stuff, and he's in business for himself now and doing Chris Ulrich's stuff, I hear. Someone here can give you Billy's number, not sure I have it. He's in Houston.
I posted as many places as I could to get as many opinions as I could. Now like you said, I have to weed out the BS and like you said, I earned I'll spend it but I'm not gonna waste it either. I found a guy recommended by RSCycles who will put all the parts on the spreadsheet recommended by RS for $250 + parts. While I'm sure Kevin Murray does wonderful work, he can't be the only game in town and like you, I can't afford it at a club level. I could probably do it my self but for $250 I don't have to buy anymore tools and will eat PBJ at lunch to save the bucks!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for your words.
That sounds like a deal. The guy as RS is a cool dude, races, knows his stuff, and I would certainly trust his recommendations. Guys on the GP list, well, there are a lot of high dollar racers there, "big time" GPers. While I know they're fast, they sometimes seem to expect the little guys to adopt their high dollar habits, as if it's the only way. It just sort of irritates me when some "know it all" high dollar guy over there advocates a club racer like me spending more than I make in a year for something I could do for myself just because he doesn't think it'll get done right unless Irv Kanemoto does it. They don't seem to realize I do this stuff for fun and work for a living, 22 bucks an hour and overtime is slim lately. And, part of the fun to me is the shop stuff. Hell, Kevin Murray didn't learn what he knows by letting someone else do his stuff. And have you seen some of the prices that Ian Emberton (sp?) dude gets for his go fast parts?! JEEEEsus! I know he's good, tunes in Europe, all that good stuff, and maybe if I RACED in Europe, I'd be a customer, LMAO! I've pretty much accepted the fact that all I'll ever be is a mid packer in GP scrapping for a podium now and then, but as long as I'm having a blast doing it, what's wrong with THAT!? I can't compete in a spending war, so I keep things pretty much stock and in good condition and I try to improve my riding to compensate for lack of money. This is probably the only thing I've found about GPs that's a downer. But, other classes have bigger downers to me. GP still seems the best bang for the buck in racing and I've always prefered the smaller bikes. The day of the stock production RD400 is gone, formula RD excepted. Can't say that I'm down about that. Compared to a modern GP, an RD400 was a PIG.
Hey Bill. Do I understand correctly that you went over to the dark side and bought a Hon Hon Hon... I can't even type the name. Thinking very hard about getting in on all the 125 fun I keep hearing about. Maybe I'll run into you at the races... tom hughey
Well yes... I sold the Yamaha to Scott Moxey and he is happy. Yea I sold out for the horse power. So far the Yamaha is a better handling bike. Honda just needs its screws turned the right way. Wish I knew.. I gave my Yamaha away... Bill
Well, Bill, I took my recently aquired '95 RS to a track day on a rather tiny, slick track for its first trial and it felt extremely familiar. I couln't tell where the Yamaha had anything on it for handling, but then, I didn't really push it to the edge. I hope I'm not in for a disappointment when I do. Hell, I couldn't tell seat of the pants whether it had any more motor, either, but that's really hard to discern without a dyno or competition from other bikes. It ran really, really well, though. Now, I gotta sell the Yamaha to help pay for the RS, but I'm not too sure I wouldn't have been happy with the TZ and some of the motor upgrades I was advised would help it. One thing, though, I can get stuff for the RS. Gearing came from AFAM, not HRC. That is refreshing. Jack
Hey Jack very cool.. Glad you got the bike. What is really cool for me is I sold the Yamaha to a really good friend and teamate from Team Kneedraggers.com. So I get to ride it back to back all the time. I think the problem is that my Honda is new and I really dont think the suspension is broken in yet. I know that they rail as I see Kratchet and Jason flying. I just need to get it dialed in I think. I had the Yamaha so good that I am spoiled. It will come. We are going to VIR next weekend and I am going to work on the set up. I had MCE do the engine in the Yamaha. Since I bought the bike from him I had it dyno'd. It made 39.4 HP. It was a strong running bike even with those numbers. At Summit Point a month ago my friend with my Yamaha and I were riding and he would be 40 feet past me coming out on the straight. I would motor by him before half way down the straight. I also was running 2 sizes rich on the main. I would guess it has 2 more HP stock than the Yamaha at its best. After the airbox and other secrets I plan over the winter it will run good. Glad you got on the GP ride Jack. Nothing like it in the world. Since this is my first Honda let me know if you comeacrost any good tips... Bill Cole EX #72
Your's is a new RS, ought to be a rocket what with the power jet and all. All I could afford is a really clean '95. Eric Kancir advised me the '95s were the best handling, but it doesn't have the powerjet and I'm told it's down a little on the newer stuff I'm sure. I keep a running windows notepad of the advice I find useful off of the GP list, here, or anywhere. Seems we'll both be on a learning curve for a while. I'm looking forward to putting the RS through its paces on a faster track than Hitchcock, where my initial run was. Thinking I may get it up to Cresson and/or over to NPR before next season for a serious workout to see just what it has when pushed. Track'll likely be cold, but NPR has unreal traction. You can run the thing right off the edge of the tire there, kinda scary when it happens. Jack
