Ok, with a little encouragement from people here and in real life I've decided to take a run at getting my 22 year old TS125 running. I was worried about the condition of the bike and almost didn't want to look too closely at it, but I took a deep breath and a damp rag and started to clean her up today. I discovered that things are in much better shape than I thought they were going to be. I put air in the tires and a week later the air is still there. I followed Kaybearjr's first tip of buying and reading the manual - thanks for pointing out the obvious! I pulled the plug and squirted some penetrating oil in there and let it sit for a day, then cranked it until the piston was at the top and gave her another shot of oil. The following day I replaced the plug with a new one and gave her a couple of cranks. The kick starter moved freely each time and there was about as much compression in the engine as I remember there being the last time I rode her. The air cleaner looked like it was just installed - although I never replaced it from new. The foam was soft and pliable, and there was a nice light sheen of oil on the outer edge of the filter. Over all, the motorcycle gods have been kind to this bike. I feel very lucky so far. One problem that I do have is the throttle. It would appear as though the throttle is seized somewhere in the system. I don't think it's the cable, since I can feel tension along all points of the cable when I try to rotate the grip (it has about 5 or 10 degrees of play in it). I suspect that the problem lies in the carb. Could something be seized inside the carb that would cause this? I fully expect to have to rebuild the carb anyhow - as Kaybearjr suggested, I'm just hoping that there isn't more to this problem than that. When the fuel shutoff valve (is that called the petcock?) is open (set to res for example) fuel runs straight through the carb and out of the overflow tube on the bottom of the carb. Would this mean that the carb is stuck on WOT? And finally, for tonight - I still need to get a battery. Can/should a bike be able to start/run without a battery? If so, I should be able to see a spark when the engine's cranked while the plug is out (and grounded), right? Thanks again for your help and encouragement! Ken [email][/email] Remove the obvious to reply via email.
