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-   -   Review: Honda Activa 125 (Pearl Amazing White). EDIT - Now sold (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorbikes/177508-review-honda-activa-125-pearl-amazing-white-edit-now-sold-9.html)

Do you have images of the clutch shoe?

I think that judder is mostly because of clutch shoe liner. Earlier when I had replaced the rollers, judder went away for 200 kms and reappeared. Once the clutch shoe liner was replaced the judder vanished completely. So I hope this doesn't happen in your Activa.

Honestly I'm tired with this scooter now. Hope to get rid of it and get something better for myself by mid this year.

I unfortunately didn't take a close up of it when we were examining and discussing about it. The mechanic examined it and he was confident it didn't need a replacement now. Hope it stays so. While we were discussing about this, I remembered your post mentioning about the reoccurence of the judder and needed clutch shoe replacement to get rid of it but mechanic for whatever reason was insistent on it not needing a replacement.

On getting tired of the scooter, tell me about it. :) I initially bought this scooter for my wife's use but she hasn't used it all other than rare occurrences. As I had bought a car around the same time, I thought I would be fine with just the scooter but I regret that decision now. I started using the scooter for my commute as I didn't like it standing idle and by now am used to the freedom of zipping around on 2 wheels in traffic. But getting a new proper motorcycle has been a challenge because of lack of wife's approval. :) So I'm stuck with this for now or maybe if possible even bring my old CD Deluxe from my hometown so my back can take a break from the long scooter rides.

Seat wasn't getting locked even after repeated tries and no amount of adjustment helped, got the seat catcher replaced.

Part No.: 77235KWP900
Part Name: Seat Catch, Comp
Price: ₹100





JFYI Sir. The judder is back:Frustrati:Frustrati

I'm tired now and won't be doing any more part replacements. Shall clean the internals once and will be selling it soon.

That's bad. And as you said the judders/vibrations are back on mine as well after 400 odd KM even though they are not as pronounced as before. I think it's time to not rely on these FNGs and take it into to Honda to see what they suggest.

It's disappointing that mine was riding perfectly smooth until 14k odd KM and changing the drivebelt triggered all of this. I agree with you on getting tired of fixing this repeated occurence. Unfortunately I'm stuck with this for now and have to try to get it back to original ride as I don't want to spend money on buying a new bike at the moment.

Honda ASC is the last place on earth that I'll visit for anything. I'll rather sell it than go to them.

May or may not get a bike after selling this Activa 125.

Well, the judder will always be there all the Activa's suffer from it, from the year it was launched till date and the only solution is to keep replacing the clutch shoe this was one of the reason for me to sell this and get a bike.

BTW authorised service centre for two wheelers are worse than government offices nowadays:uncontrol.

On the other hand would suggest you to check out the Jupiter, it's pickup is amazing and is more comfortable than the Activa. I have ridden my friends Jupiter quite extensively and it never suffered from this issue.

If you're not satisfied by the way Honda maintains their SVC's and spares outlets I'd suggest you steer clear of the other Japs along with Hero as well.

Though location attributes a lot to the case from what I've experienced in KL, TN and KA I'd say they're more or less alike.

Previous Saturday I'd gone to the largest Hero spares outlet here to buy a lot(literally) of spares for the CBZ Xtreme, in spite of there being more attendants than the few customers that were there they took their own sweet time, after an hour of me being there they compiled my order and then an hour later they billed the same. That's 2 hours of my life wasted.

After all this they didn't have the fork springs in stock, tried every outlet in Kollam and TVM and I'm yet to find a pair, one authorised showroom even went to the extent of providing false information so that I'd not make the purchase.

Brought back the pain I had to endure sourcing spares for the ZMA back in the day. :Frustrati

Thank you, sir, for the suggestion but I'm done completely with these scooters. If I ever get a two-wheeler at home, it'll be a bike.

:Frustrati Can understand the pain you went through especially for the spares. I too had a Karizma R from 2009 till 2016 that I handed over to BHPian interc00led.

No worries with respect to spares now be it for Activa or the Karizma. We have a place that gets us parts in a day or two.

It's a shame that Hero MotorCorp is painting the 2-wheeler market walls red. Their whole attitude of "either you buy or get lost" is shameful. It's the same everywhere. They take people for granted. Yamaha on the other hand treats people with utmost respect. You expect nothing but good behavior. Their bikes are expensive and I'd rather one from them over Hero or Honda, who don't care about their customers. My elder brother's an investor/parter in a local Suzuki showroom. His team has always valued consumer values and staff behavior. He says that "The sales aren't as high as the other brands, but the fact that we care about customers is definitely something".

UPDATES

Threading that holds the spark plug was screwed up by one mechanic whom I had gone around 4+ months and was not in the mood to get this rectified as I was hell-bent to sell the scooter but have held on to my decision and shall keep the scooter for a while. While replacing the spark plug, the mechanic did a cross thread and used the spanner to force it in. I wasn't around since I had gone to buy the air filter and clutch shoes for the scooter. After I came back, he informed me of the mistake that he did. I wasn't in any mood to argue to get it rectified so left it that way. Rode the scooter in 'as-is' condition for almost 1,500 kms.

Today, since I had some time, got this issue addressed at my regular FNG where I take my Activa to. Started the job at 14:00 and completed it by 19:30.

Activities done:

1. Head opened and sent to the lathe to get the spark plug threads re-done. Replaced the air filter,
2. Replaced the spark plug,
3. Replaced the head gasket
4. Clean secondary air filter
5. Open and clean the carburettor and also replaced the air screw 'O' rings
6. Leak at the head arrested

Cost of jobs done:

Rethreading - ₹200
Anabond 666T Gasket maker (silicone) - ₹35
Spark Plug (Bosch) - ₹75
Head Gasket - ₹55
Air Filter - ₹180
Labour - ₹750

Total: ₹1,300

Leak at the head to be addressed


The engine is removed from its mount


Engine separated


Body separated


Rocker arms


The spark plug that was wrongly fit (only 3 threads were screwed in). See it sticking out:Frustrati


Piston head


Valves (in good health so is the carb tuning)


Spark plug fixed after rethreading done


Air filter


Anabond silicone gasket maker


Spark plug


************

ODOMETER UPDATE

9,999 kms done


10,000 kms done, finally.


Took me 2 years, 9 months to reach this milestone and this is the slowest of all that I have done. The funny part is, my Swift hit the 1 lakh kms milestone in 2 years and 11 months.

Pathetic workmanship, no other way to put it.

Forcing the SP in using a spanner was the last nail in the coffin.

Though not my motorcycle everytime I hear a SP/Drain Cap thread shred tale I can feel the pain.

The worst part is commonsense dictates that you thread in such parts using your fingers and only use a tool on it to torque it in to seal the crush/squish washer.

As for the motorcycle, if your heart is not in it then better to move on, something I myself have to come to terms with regarding my P220, detested the motorcycle at first, but changing and tweaking the motorcycle to my taste has proven fruitful to a certain degree.

But if you've already decided then I wish you all the best on moving on and I hope the experience doesn't leave a taste long enough to give up motorcycling for good.

Edit: Missed the main point, rethreading the SP port is not the best idea, as an aftermarket thread changes the designed distance between the piston crown and the SP.

Regards,
A.P.

I went with the re-threading so I could sell it without any guilt in mind. May not be the best solution for the problem but good enough for 6-9 months that I'll be holding onto the Activa 125. :)

Two motorcycles in mind, completely different segments but these are only two that appeal to me in the current motorcycling options. In the order of preference:

1. 2019 Bajaj Dominar 400 (in white if available)
2. Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 (in Orange Crush)

I feel Dominar 400 will be the better bet for me when I go ahead.

Headlight visor damping

Pondering over since long to perform this activity as the rattling from the headlight visor was unbearable between 30-45 kmph. Addressed it today. Opened the visor and damped the area with bitumen sheet (~2mm thick) and foam tape.









Happy that it is all cured and silent now. :)

Current Odo: 10,075 kms.

*******

Sorry, I missed mentioning in my original post regarding the re-threading, only the first 3 threads that had been damaged were corrected. The whole port was not re-threaded.

Issues:

1. Speedometer needle dancing
2. Starting Troubles

Speedometer needle dancing Issue

Quoting my earlier post on the speedometer needle dancing issue, finally found the culprit for it.



The highlighted part in the above image contains all connectors etc. In this bundle are two bullet connectors that connect to the instrumentation console that was loose and creating issues when going over bad roads. Addressed the bullet connectors and issue has not repeated ever.

***************

Starting trouble Issue

Been over a year that I've been facing starting troubles with the Activa. Happens when the scooter is left idle for more than 6 hours. It just refuses to start. Kick start or electric start - makes no difference to it, it just doesn't respond. On some days, I've kick-started it after 35+ kicks. Both BHPian interc00led and I were tired about this issue as that the last pending one that required attention. Decided to service the carburettor and change the 'O' rings etc in it. Visited 9 Honda service centres but none of them had the parts required for servicing the carburettor namely the "Air Screw and its child parts". Irritated, I put a complaint through the website for parts requirement. 3 days later, got a call from the service centre near home that the air screw is available and can be picked up.

Went there, picked the air screw kit and also picked up the 'Slow Jet' at the same time.

Slow Jet: 35S
Main Jet: 90S

Reached home and started to open the carburettor and replace the parts where we realise the child parts in the air screw, mainly the spring that holds the washer and 'O' ring in tension are of the wrong type.

**The air screw kit got the spring that fits in the idle control screw. Disappointed, replaced the 'O' rings and used the older spring itself. Reassembled everything, fit everything back and set the air screw correctly.

Verdict: Been over 2.5 weeks now and the scooter starts correctly even when not used for 2 days.

Exploded view of the Carburettor


Air Screw removed from the Carburettor


Air Screw Kit that Honda provided after I raised the complaint
**See the difference in the spring size and diameter of the two. The one in the kit is for the idling screw. The one on the air screw is smaller in size (both in terms of length and diameter)


Slow Jet, the second one below is of Hero Honda Splendor (#38) that we thought to put in place of 35S but it didn't fit.


***************

At the time of servicing the carburettor, opened the front wheel and cleaned the brakes too as the bite was not satisfactory.







Brakes are sharp and get the scooter to a halt without any drama. There is enough life left in the brake shoes so decided not to replace it.

***************

Odometer as of today:


After 4 full tanks, have found the average FE to be hovering between 37.0-38.5 kmpl.

Overall tired with this scooter and honestly I feel this is the worst two-wheeler ever bought. Hope to sell this soon and get something better in the coming months. :)

Wait for BS6 scooters with Fuel Injection