Well well well, a few months have flown by, and the blog has been left a little neglected. So what better way to resurrect things than with the news that Haynes have released a service and repair manual for our beloved CBF125!
Let’s take a closer look… Continue reading
As far as timing goes, this worked out quite nicely, as it’s just at that point where winter is about to well and truly set in. Us southern softies have had it quite good with regards to snow so far, although we’ve seen a few sub-zero mornings and some strong winds over the last week or so. Continue reading
At 7’500 miles, the service schedule dictates that the engine oil filter strainer is cleaned. This is located inside the engine, and such, is not so straightforward to get at. Small capacity engines like our beloved CBF’s, don’t tend to have much in the way of oil filtering – they rely more on regular oil changes to keep everything running smoothly and don’t have an external, throw-away filter that you replace every-other oil change, unlike bigger engines. if this small strainer gets blocked with dirt/sludge, it’s curtains for the engine. So how do we check out the internal oil filter on the CBF125? Read on… Continue reading
Second service done by myself – nothing too interesting to report, spark plug was a good ‘tan’ colour, no metal fragments in the (dirty) old engine oil and nothing had ‘failed’ as such. Valve clearances had opened up a little (within 0.04mm or so) since the last service. I expect them to settle down as the miles pile up.
To save myself leafing through pages and pages of workshop manuals, I’ve put some of the most useful information needed when servicing the bike together in the form of these ‘cheat’ sheets. Hopefully these will make things easier, such as when you’re going around the bike tightening up various fasteners to their specified torque settings. The check-list can also be used as part of keeping an accurate, detailed service history on the bike. No more need to rifle through the pages of a service manual. Please note that this information is to supplement that found in the owner’s and workshop manuals and should be used in conjunction with them. Enjoy!
Due to the fact that the CBF125 has no form of visible filtering for petrol, either in the tank (the only part you can take out of the tank is the fuel level float/sensor) or rest of the system (fuel pump is a sealed, replaceable unit and cannot be disassembled), I, and many others have felt it best to add an in-line filter to the fuel hose running from the tank to the fuel pump. Continue reading
Well Saturday came and went, and by the end of last week the bike had reached its second service interval (if you go by the book!). Unfortunately no pictures or detailed how-to’s this time as the work involved was quite basic, and more importantly, my Wife had ‘borrowed’ the camera! Continue reading
Had the fuel pump replaced under warranty yesterday morning, due to the infamous ‘kangarooing’ issue that has been plaguing these bikes. Although it only happened to me once, I though it’d be better to be safe than sorry. Continue reading
The long awaited Official Honda CBF125M Workshop Manual! It is written for the M9 variant, but apart from the tachometer, there seems to be no difference in the M9/MA/MB versions of the CBF. Thankyou Mr Fedex. Knowledge is power and all that! Continue reading
On an engine, valves are situated in the cylinder head (‘top end’) and their job is to let fuel-air mixture in to the cylinder for combustion and to let burnt exhaust gasses out. The CBF125 uses the traditional ‘tappet and lock nut’ method for setting valve clearances, which is very common, if not universal, on simple, small displacement engines. The term ‘valve clearance’ refers to the gap between the tappet and top of a valve stem. The tappet is a small part that is part of an assembly called a rocker arm and it is the part that pushes on the stem of the poppet valve to open it. That gap is there for a very good reason – as the engine heats up, these components will expand and the gap will be filled. If there is no valve clearance (gap too small), you could bend the valve or it will be forced open a little, causing poor idling, excessive fuel consumption and/or poor running (depending on which valve is the culprit). If the valve clearance is too great, with a large gap between the tappet and valve stem, then the valve stem and tappet will wear more quickly as they’d be colliding against each-other with more force. The valves may also not open fully, which will cause poorer engine performance/idling. Continue reading
