I love to teach my son how to ride and repair stuffs the old fashion way. Here I will share some of our cheap DIY projects and repairs. I will also share some of my experience as a biker and as a pro mechanic. I am not a mechanic anymore but I still do repairs but mostly for my own machineries and this is why I try to keep everything easy and cheap. I also don't race anymore but I still love riding up the mountains where there is little or no help and all I can rely on is my small tool pouch and my monkey repair skills to bring me home whenever my bike or my friends bike breaks down.

If you are a tech-wiz or some kind of high-tech repair guru who likes spending too much $$$s buying stuffs and spends most of your time at a coffee shop posing your best biker battle gear clown costume and talking how great a biker you are then THIS IS NOT FOR YOU... Here we seriously ride our bikes and we try to keep everything simple, easy and cheap. Most of what I will share here are intended for riders who usually break their bikes to peices and may not be needed by other bikers.

I will also be sharing some cheap ways how I repaired my cars and computers. And for laughs, I will also add some weird / funny / odd stuffs that I or we did that worked and didn't work. Sorry about this blog's style, set-up or whatever you may call it, I'm an old school biker and its easier for me wrenching cars and bikes than typing on my keyboard...

Friday, September 26, 2014

Honda Spacy 100cc repair.





This is the Spacy 100 when I first saw it at my friend's bike shop. I had a hard time choosing between the Honda Spacy 100 or the the Yamaha Axis 100. I like the Axis 100 more than the Spacy because I like 2 strokes more but gave it a thought and decided on the Spacy. I looked at the pros and cons and the Spacy won. First I wanted a maxi scooter like a Yamaha Majesty (will still get one in the future...) but I need something more maneuverable in tight spaces, lightweight that I can easily load on the truck, comfortable for me and my passenger, silent, fuel efficient and is something not flashy and wont get stolen. The Axis is good but since it's a 2 stroke and my main aim is to save some fuel money and I want to go stealth during my midnight convenience store run, the Spacy won.


The Spacy needed some repair, some parts and lots of TLC. I first started by changing the engine oil, gearbox oil and brake fluid. The monkey mechanic who last did the oil filter damaged the oil filter bolt and I had to hammer in a 5/8 box socket just to remove it. It was originally a 17mm but now it's a 5/8.
The repair is straightforward, hammered the 5/8 box socket (socket with 6 sides for a perfect fit), filed it to shape and is now working properly. The part is cheap but since it's OK now, I won't be changing it.

The handlebar and the levers were bent to and this is how I did my monkey repair...






I should have used a pipe to straighten the handlebar but it's lost somewhere. My combination box spanner/wrench did the trick but I had to run a file to flatten the scratches it made. 

Both brake levers were bent and was successful straightening the front brake lever but broke the left brake lever while I hammered it. I should have hammered the left lever more slowly but I got too exited... After straightening both brake levers, I decided to cut them both down so if the scooter fell on it's side again, they wont break. Applying the brakes takes more effort with my shortened version but since I only use one or two fingers (I'm a Trials rider and old habits are hard to lose...), they are OK.

I also removed the magnets on the ignition key cylinder shutter since I didn't want to spend 3,000 Yen for the magnetic key and just flick it with my fingers when I stick the key inside the cylinder.





I also replaced the V-belt, slider pieces, slide rollers and the clutch. Nothing fancy here and just straight forward repair. For filling oil in the gearbox, I used a brake syringe because the tip is small enough for the hole and just pumped the oil in. 





The both front flasher lenses were popping out because the plastic that holds the lenses snapped. First I tried soldering the plastic but they just broke again so I just bolted a nut on the area where the plastic broke and it worked and has a tight fit. The front meter cowl's plastic retainers was broken too and it caused it to shake on bumps so I just drilled a hole and just put plastic grommets on both sides. 


I changed the spark plug, changed some busted lights, change the broken rear flasher lens, played with the carburetor, did some paint spray and did some monkey repairs all over and now my scoot is running sweet. 





I took my son for a 70 kms. scooter ride and we took turns riding the Spacy. My son's Yamaha Vino 50 is no match for the Spacy's 100cc engine but the Spacy is not a fast runner anyway. My son wanted to ride the Spacy all the way because it was faster, a lot comfortable and silent but he ended up riding his Vino most of the way since it's too bouncy for me. On another day, my son borrowed the Spacy and went touring with his friends. His friends rode 400cc street bikes but they took turns riding the Spacy when they got tired. They all said that it is a couch on wheels and I should attach a drink holder on it, lol! 

The Spacy wont be beating speed records since it likes staying at 60 to 70 kph. Reaching over 80 kph takes time and going uphill is like riding a 50cc scooter but it does it's job. The only thing I don't like about it is that I can't put a basket on the front. Yes I can if I really want to but I have to make a bracket for the basket, plus the basket would surely block the headlight. Aside from that, the scoot is good, it has a large floorboard for the groceries, a rear rack and I can still fit in some stuffs inside the seat. The best thing about it is it doesn't gobble up fuel compared to my other bike. It goes around 30 to 33 kp/l compared to my other bike which only does 6 to 10 kp/l. Another thing I like about it is that my wife rode with me on the Spacy. It has been around 20 years ago since she last rode with me. I tried asking her to back-ride with me on more fancier bikes like a Vulcan, Magna, Steed, XJR, CB, RS, dirbikes, etc. but with no luck. She said that those bikes are not comfortable and are noisy and prefers the Spacy anyday. She also rode bikes when we were younger but she likes scooters more. I guess the wife always wins and Spacy is a keeper, hahaha!






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