Honda NC50: Restoration and rebuild

Moving onto the orange bike, its obviously a bit of  a task. The steering head was loose and either needed adjustment or new bearings. The headlamp is missing, the piston and barrel need replacing and although it turns over readily, the rear wheel is very stiff. All indicators are missing. I'm intending to strip it and renew motor and wheel bearings and seals, but maybe not the main bearings unless it proves to be necessary. There's a lot to sort out round the carb (which is different from the blue bike) and the fuel/oil tanks need de-rusting and a new petcock. The tank here also differs from that of the blue bike; oil and fuel tanks are joined and both situated behind the saddle. The space under the saddle on this bike is used for the battery and electrics rather than fuel. I started with the tank and the fuel gauge. The tank is hidden by the rear orange fairing which needs to be removed to release the tank. Undo the forward top fairing bolt Front fairing bolt ...

I doubt that I'm the first to have had trouble setting up the kickstart- and I probably won't be the last. Here I offer a few words of wisdom as to how I'd do it again. Firstly, be very sure you understand the views shown in any how-to guide... including this one! The point is that the kickstart should be assembled inside the left hand transmission cover. If you imagine opening this cover by folding the top downwards and to the left- i.e. as if hinged about the lower edge, then when you lift the cover to work on it - keeping the left hand side (kickstart ratchet) on the left then you are now effectively holding it upside down. Some guides have corrected this inversion by flipping the photograph to its mirror image.  Both views are shown in various guides, but they are not interchangeable! When you rotate the starter quadrant you can do it by turning the quadrant itself (my preferred- but wear gloves) or using the kickstart lever itself. However you need to lift the shaft so...

Once I'd got the bike running I tried to ride it- and literally got nowhere. The bike refused to take up the drive load. Originally I'd interpreted this as clutch slip, but when I realised that the motor wasnt speeding up, I attributed the problem to a lack of power. Lack of power can come from a variety of causes- and most of them I seemed to have- potentially at least. Firstly lack of compression- my bike is pushing 70-80 psi and should be closer to 120psi. Luckily I did have the rebored barrel intended for the orange bike so I fitted that with its new piston. This pushed compression to 120psi cold- has this cured the problem? Will check later because.... The second likely cause of low power is a blocked exhaust- 2-strokes tend to gum up with carbon from unburnt oil in use. I don't know if mine is blocked or not- it doesn't seem so but unlike other bikes where the echaust comes apart for cleaning, this is a sealed unit and cant be checked inside. Accordingly I decided...

I hadnt meant to clean and sort out the tank since its my intention to sell this bike as a project... albeit a running one using a temporary fuel supply. However, forced to wait for parts, I needed something to do anyway. Removing the tank I started by removing the saddle... it tips forward on a hinge plate revealing 2 flange nuts beneath. The nuts come off showing the washers and rubber mountings beneath.  The hinge plate then lifts off with the mountings leaving the studs. I reattached the flange nuts for safe keeping. The tank is fixed at front and rear; the front of the tank is retained by a short m8 bolt each side.  Bolts removed The rear is held by 2 vertical studs accessed from below... their position is indicated here by my finger. The view beneath shows the nuts are screwed  onto long studs and need a deep 12mm socket to unscrew them. Tank then lifts off revealing ...