Have been working on the bike some already. Got it running and got all the lights working. It is amazing that it is only 50cc's, it feels like more. Cleaned up the front fender and took a little off the tail end. I had a beat-up Tweets brand fiberglass cafe seat I got at a swap meet, and after cutting it down, it fits nicely. It still needed a way to mount it securely, so a metal seat pan was added. Got the new tires on, and did some cleaning on the hubs and rims.

 

Subscribed. ☺

 

Wha? In.

-hfm

 

Hey guys, thanks for checking in. Sometimes it feels like there's no one here but the crickets. Got some disassembly done. Other than being a bit dirty, the frame looks in really good untouched condition. Some homebrew technology on the forks stop. Got the front end and forks disassembled. Getting ready to strip a lot of parts. Spent a lot of time trying to figure out what forks these might be, and if new fork tubes were available, as the originals are badly pitted. Didn't have a great deal of luck at either, and the original forks are not easy to find or cheap when you do find them. I tried to see if a pair of XL 70 forks would work, but they are the old-style where as these forks have cartridges. This morning while I was looking for fork tubes ( I have figured out one of the ways to cross-reference them is to look at seals,) CRF 70 seals kept coming up. I had a set on the shelf and so I tried them out and they're about 12mm longer on the tube, but 5mm shorter overall. Going to give them a try. Went looking for the headlight bucket, the only one I could find was 122 bucks and that was without shipping from England. Mine is pretty cracked up, but I may give it a go trying to put it back together.

 

Honda MB5 forks might work.

 

Wow, with only one year of US production, those parts seem to be equally difficult to source. However, great thanks for your suggestion, because it looks like the MB5/50 front brake master cylinder reservoir is the one used on the conversion for this bike. Maybe an MB50 model was the source for the controls. Either way, i have sourced a replacement reservoir to take the place of the chalky one I have now.

 

Are we streeting this bad boy???

-hfm

 

I am wanting it titled. The challenge so far is finding out precisely what year it is.

Bikes looking good Davmo....Set on ebay.$70
tmas

Honda MB5 50 Used Original Front Forks Pair 1982 M2 | eBay

Thanks, Todd!

 

Mods? I am OK with wherever it is. Don't really know how to change categories, but if one of the mods wants to do it, feel free. Got most everything stripped. Used a heat gun to reshape the edge of the headlight bucket, then some super glue to fix the cracks. Going to reinforce them inside with fiberglass when I do the same for the seat shell. While stripping the tank I figured out that it was originally black. The round side emblems were glued on. This tank is near perfect on the inside and outside. I can only find one tiny dent in the side. The only rust was underneath, but Honda tanks are notorious for that. I am hoping knowing the details on the decals and maybe even the color will help me determine what country this was originally exported to.

 

More research...After figuring out the paint scheme and comparing it on the net, I started to see a pattern. There is a model that had the same tail section, seat, tank decals, front fork and brake: the 1980 and 1981 CB50S, sold in Japan. The master cylinder reservoir script is in Japanese. It looks identical to the pics online. I know it was pre 1982 because of the serial number. All the pics with the decals like mine were 1980. There is a site that describes the bike as an "AC02," which is the serial number prefix on this bike. I don't want to say it is decided, but looks pretty convincing to me. Incidentally, all the websites with any reference to this bike are in Japanese or state the bike was a Japanese model.

 

Did some searching for ja,these were popular in the UK/Germany/Netherlands, found schematics at www.cmsnl.com, I googled up cb50j uk and found it.

 

do you think it would be possible to chuck the forks up in a lathe and take off .030" and remove the pitting? Then you can polish the metal to a chrome finish or you can have them rechromed?

 

I've had one set rechromed, but they weren't this pitted. Sounds like that would be a good way to insure roundness and uniformity. I still don't have any real machine tools to do the job the way you are talking about, but maybe some of the resident machinists can put their two cents in. Hopefully, I can change the lower internals out of the CB forks with the CRF ones and end up with a slightly higher (1cm) front end.

 

I think it would be possible. Hard chroming you can add up to 1mm of thickness to it. There is no way you'd need that much. You could spin the legs to remove the pits and the add the thickness back with chrome plating...would have to be hard chrome though. However, if there is a better way or other alternative, by all means go for it.

I was actually thinking a killer setup for this would have been to use a set of zoch's on it and retain the existing front wheel. My plans were also to just purchase new hoops and relace the wheels with aluminum wheels. However I can't wait to see what you decide to do with it.

 

The Zoke idea might be the way to go if these don't end up working out. Even the posibility of some emulators, if they make them that small. I was thinking about polishing the wheel hubs and get Buchanan to put some alloy rims and stainless spokes on.

 

www.wemoto.com is another one.

 

Thanks! Wemoto is one I was not aware of. Davidsilversparesus also has some similar items. Already made a couple orders off cmsnl, and have been trying to educate myself on their microfische. The thing about this bike is that the S model differences (forks, front brake) are not listed. I am pretty sure the brake master is identical to the US Honda MB5. Those are available still but if you do as CB 50 search it will not come up on CMSNL. Figuring out that this bikes designation is the AC02 in Japan has allowed me to find auctions in Japan and Websites like ilikemotor where they are parting out these models. I am conversing with one for some parts right now, and hoping they can help me nail down the year model exactly.

 

A skyteam Ace 50/125 is very similar. The whole front end might be an inexpensive option.
Here's a link to their parts page: http://www.skyteamparts.com/store/front-fork/

[URL=http://s1112.photobucket.com/user/garageguy707/media/skyteam%20ace_zpsqkvjanoh.jpeg.html]
[/URL]

 

A skyteam Ace 50/125 is very similar. The whole front end might be an inexpensive option.
Here's a link to their parts page: Front Fork - Frame - Ace - SkyTeam Parts & Accessories

Those are sweet bikes! Will's (PM member 3cyltrbo) Dream50R in the classifieds here got me lusting for these bikes. I had seen my bike when fatcaat first got it and thought what a cool bike. When he decided to sell it, I justified that it was a cheaper alternative. That notion will be put to the test shortly. Still don't have a DOHC engine, and I can still see this at about half to two thirds the Dream50 price by the time it's done. I really hope the stock forks can be used at least for now. I am just happy to figure out what model It is. Also glad to know the forks, brakes, and hand controls are actually correct for the bike, and that it was a designated model upgrade. Incidentally, the classic Honda red frame and silver body work is what will probably be what gets used on this bike. I have seen that on a number of Honda bikes going back to the 60s, and it always just look so right.

 

The bike reveals a little more: while stripping off the paint, I found a side sticker. It is Japanese which confirms that this is a JDM bike with the AC 02 designation. If any Japanese readers can look at this and tell me the year model off of the sticker I will appreciate it, and it would greatly honor your ancestors.

 

Cool find, looking forward to seeing what you do with it

 

Thanks, man. I think I saw that you had a cool CL90 over at Jarred's in a thread somewhere here on PM. That is one I would like to see finished. As far as this bike, red and silver paint, keep the cafe look, the clip-ons and seat, and come up with some rear sets. I have a chain guard coming from England, and am trying to get an original style kick start pedal from Japan. Aluminum wheel rims and redo the spokes, and ultimately a big bore jug and head with a bigger pipe. Going to figure out a new tail light and signals, and get it titled and street legal. There are a lot of little detail yet to be worked out, but inching along.

 

Getting everything a little farther along. I am trying to get as much as possible off with paint remover before blasting, as the frame is a super tight fit in my cabinet. The tabs for the side covers had already been cut off, but need some finishing. Probably going to fill the holes in the side of the frame where the lower pegs of the side covers went. The engine has been cleaned in the parts washer. Going to polish the side covers and top cover. Planning on the 82cc Kitaco bore up kit Fatcaaat told me about, but it may not happen immediately. All the electrics and controls still need worked over.

 

If you want a whole 82cc engine minus the electrics I have something you may want. Pm me if you want info.

 

PM sent.

 

All 1980 ac02 were black. All 1981 were silver.
That body sticker you have doesn't say what year bike you've got.

 

All 1980 ac02 were black. All 1981 were silver.
That body sticker you have doesn't say what year bike you've got.

Thank you! That is useful information, and convinces me it is in fact a 1980. I actually had the label translated by a local Japanese student.

 

Doing a lot of metal finishing/filling on the frame to get some rough edges worked out. The side cover holes are getting prepped for filling. There was a pressed-out portion that I heated and hammered in, trying to smooth the main portion of the frame. The factory welds and all the edges are getting smoothed out. The swingarm was tweaked a little at the top where the bushings go, and one of the arms had a slight bend that got worked out.

 

Spent the better part of the day welding and grinding the frame and parts. The frame fits so tight in the blast cabinet that some parts are not getting hit, but it is almost ready for powder. It is kind of hard to see, but the spot welds around the motor mount and up near the head tube were filled with weld and ground smooth. Lots of sloppiness in the factory welds got touched up with weld and smoothed out.

 

Cool bike!
See them here in the Netherlands sometimes. There are a lot of parts available in Germany.
Check out eBay Kleinanzeigen | Kostenlos. Einfach. Lokal. Anzeigen gratis inserieren mit eBay Kleinanzeigen

The CB50F was the faster version. Maybe you can use this link to find wich one is yours exactly:
Search results for cb50 - page 1

A shop here in the netherlands build a ape look-a-like out of a cb. Check over here if you are interested:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.861146997265378.1073741836.416918001688282&type=3

 

Cool bike!
See them here in the Netherlands sometimes. There are a lot of parts available in Germany.
Check out eBay Kleinanzeigen | Kostenlos. Einfach. Lokal. Anzeigen gratis inserieren mit eBay Kleinanzeigen

The CB50F was the faster version. Maybe you can use this link to find wich one is yours exactly:
Search results for cb50 - page 1

A shop here in the netherlands build a ape look-a-like out of a cb. Check over here if you are interested:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.861146997265378.1073741836.416918001688282&type=3

Thanks! The German ebay listings were new to me. I haven't had any luck getting a response from the Japanese auction sites. I saw that list of bikes on CMSNL, but the model I have ( the CB50S) is not listed. Unfortunately I could not view the Ape conversion ( I'm not on facebook.) Maybe someone with access can post a pic.

 

Check these sexys out.
http://www.goobike.com/bike/honda__cb50s/

http://www.goobike.com/bike/stock_8201028B30091116001/

 

That ape seat and tank don't look as good as the stretched tank of your CB davmo. Gives it much more of a classic cafe look

 

Not too many pictures, but took the wheels apart preparing for rebuild. The studs that hold the front rotor on were particularly hard to get out, with one breaking off and needing to be drilled out. The hubs don't look like they will be too hard to polish. The spokes and nipples will get re-plated. Got a pleasant surprise when I started working on the clip-on handlebars. The ends of them were really corroded and most of the chrome had started peeling off. I found out that they were aluminum underneath so they will just get cleaned up and polished, and the rest of the handlebar will be powder coated.

 

BLING!!!! After several hours of sanding and buffing. Still have to hit the tight areas on the rear hub, but almost done.

 

Trying for Pimp of the Year '16, eh? Nice!