I digged out an rare ""Honda CM125T custom chopper"" motorcycle....

One day i was just riding through an rural short cut road just to avoid all the city traffic i came across something really interesting. In front of an old motorcycle shack i have seen some piles of junk put up for sale and i noticed that there is a Gem among them. It was an old ""Honda CM125T Custom"" motorcycle, I know you might be thinking what is so special and rare about ""Honda CM125T Custom"", they are everywhere!!!, But just wait I'll tell you what made it rare later. so stopped to take a look. The bike was really in a very bad shape, for a while i thought i would forget about the paint and outer look, the engine was a mess, with broken timing chains, completely worn out clutch plates, basically no compression on the engine at all but the shop owner fired it with major difficulty and it started. I rode it for few meters and thought it will be very unhealthy to ride it in this condition. So i asked the price and i bought it on the next day, with great difficulty i manage to ride it back to my home after a hours ride from the shop. Phew!! hard part is over, now it is time to get it properly re-done. I took it up to my motorcycle mechanic and got it's engine and electrical system completely restored as well as wheels and then add new shocks to rear and put a new set of forks and oil seals, oils etc.

Now it rides like a baby, smooth as ever, when i bought the bike it has shown amazing 365,000 odd Kilometers on the speedometer and according to the mechanic this was it's first engine restoration and he said the speedometer hasn't also worked for at least 100,000KM which means this bike has previously done whooping 450,000KM before engine restoration. I am no motorcycle mechanic so what i thought, Honda is an mechanical marvel. :), you can see a picture of the bike above, how it is after major restoration has been done, Photo is taken before i put new set of wheels of course and rims. i still have to work on the paint and outer look jobs. But now it runs really well.

Honda CM125T Custom (Chopper) Specifications

• 125cc Honda Twin Engine
• 2 inline cylinders
• CDI
• Speedometer and rev counter
• Made in japan
• Two Short Exhausts (original)
  

Well as i said rare above, try searching the net for model that i have found and you will see. well there are plenty of Honda CM125, CM180, CM200 etc especially made during the period of 1978 till somewhere mid 1980's until the look completely changed in to current Honda CM125T. What make this bike rare is because this has a CDI unit unlike the earlier models, it has original short exhausts makes sound really better than other models of the same look by honda, exhausts are originally from honda. The other CM models, especially the ones with same look did not come with a Rev-Counter, only the speedometer, this model has the Rev-counter facility. Basically this is a Honda CM180 Chopper body running on Honda Benley 125cc engine and coolest part is it is not modified by a user but originally came like this from honda somewhere mid 80's till early 90's.

Few of the oversized monsters in sri lankan roads ( motorcycles beyond 250cc in sri lanka )

Everybody who knows me knows that i am a motorcycle enthusiast, i enjoy riding as much as i enjoy every other good things in life. So this is my little blog in the internet and i thought i would put this entry in it's best possible way. Yes i know, if you are not living in sri lankan you would already be laughing at this entry because it says over-sized  monsters, well it's not like in your country fellas, in sri lanka according to the current law maximum allowed engine capacity for a motorcycle is 250cc, you cannot go beyond that. Even if you manage to go beyond that you still cannot get it legally registered in the RMV (Deparment of Registering Motor Vehicles). Lets imagine by some sheer luck and hard work you manage to get your monster registered in RMV, if she looks really big like 750cc traffic police will keep on stopping ya and asking you questions about the bike. So fellas, don't talk about riding anything beyond 650cc on the sri lankan roads. I am one of those ambitious positive people who lives in Sri Lanka that always wishes RMV will change it's laws someday so people can free go ahead with 1000cc and above and cruise the sri lankan roads. All of ya guys might be wandering right now, why the heck 250cc? :O well this is what sri lankan traffic police, RMV and government says. They say, Traffic police have 450cc, 650cc, etc and above. So if someone use to have something equivalent or above, they can always commit a crime and getaway. that's the simple objections they put when it comes to importing bigger, higher capacity machines. Personally i think it is the dumbest things i ever heard. Engine capacity do decide the speed of the bike but that is not one of the main factors as far as i see... take this for an example, an properly tuned "Honda Baja XR 250cc" can take on any 450cc conventional traffic bike after doing a crime scene and it can even go off the road without any hassle. So i think it is time for sri lankan government to think again and re do the rules and regulations.

But HEY! being a motorcycle enthusiast, rules ain't gonna stop me from riding over capacity motorcycle, so i own a Yamaha XV535, i love to cruise all around, I've been all around the island and i didn't come across any problems from law.

Phew! Touch wood fellas, here is a picture of me and my bike. I have added two more pictures of the over capacity motorcycles which i came across on the road while i am riding. they all were registered but i have taken off the registration numbers before posting it on my blog to preserve the anonymity so that riders will never have a problem including me. White tank with a golden jaguar badge is a "Honda Steed 400cc modified", and the one with nikel tank is a indian made motorcycle called "Royal Enfield 350cc Bullet".

Another great crossing through the endless island

It's time to ride across the good ol' island again, and this time it is not professional but more family oriented and leisure-fun purpose. Company staff i am currently employed decided to go on a fun trip to the ancient city called "Anuradhapure" on last weekend. Everything was well planned and all the people from all the branches were invited and so they all went. Me, my wife and some of my very good ol' friends also got together from our branch and decided to join the party. Me and my wife came to a conclusion that going in a car or something else would be boring so here we go, an job for good ol' me, so we hopped on to our trusty Yamaha virago 400 and started the journey.

It was three days long and covered nearly 450 Kilometers, we went through all the important places in "Anuradhapura", some of them are "Sri Mahabodhiya" "Ruwanwelisaya" and of course sri lankas most magnificent rock cut buddha statue ever "Avukana". We were well accommodated at "Palm Garden Hotel at Anuradhapura. You can see that in the picture starting from left, My self, my wife and my good old friend, we are starring at the grandeur of finest and tallest rock cut buddha statue in whole of island which dates back to 5th century during the reign of king "Dhathusena". This statue is completely carved out of solid granite rock. According to the legend the precision of this masterpiece is so accurate that if one lays a drop of water on the forehead of Buddha it should glide all the way down and falls in right exactly between the feet of the statue.

The statue is facing over the "Kala Weva" one of the largest man made reservoir in whole of island, also made during king "Dhathusena's" period. I think this photo is pretty good since we should not take any photographs facing back to any religious and sacred monument. We came across a small church in the hotel ground that we were accommodated, it was within the hotel garden and we thought it is because entire hotel was owned by a Italian who must have been a roman catholic. I thought i would post a snap or two of that little neat place.

I was starring at the nice painting and my friend manage to steal a snap of me. Well it was a good thing again that i was facing to the religious painting. The other photo to the right shows the main entrance of the church which looked really nice when lighten up with candles and small electrical lights. It had enough room for about fifteen to eighteen people to comfortably sit and do their religious prayers. In all my life of traveling through out the island i never come across a place like this before, that is why i thought i would post it on my blog. a small church within a fiver star hotel. really a great idea i think. Entire fun trip was finished within three days and many hours and kilometers on the road. Slightly exhausting but major fun. It was all great to follow up my friends vehicle and sometimes do overtakes and pass them and then later catch up with each other. Like i always say, there are no other better way to see this island than on a trusty motorcycle.