[Reckit]

Hero Honda Ambition 135 -Restoration Behind the Scenes

During my 12th-grade years in 2005 and 2006, I drove a Hero Honda ambition 135, a period during which I grew into a driving enthusiast. Whenever possible, the bike was rented out from a native person. However, I would say Hero Honda's ambition was my first bike.
Recently, as I searched in OLX for old bikes, memories of my solo rides with HH ambition came flooding back to me. My search for HH ambition for sale on OLX didn't even turn up any listings for sale in Kerala. After several attempts, I found an HH ambition first-generation 2002 model for INR 7500/-. My brother and I approached the seller and bought it for INR 5000/- on 2 Aug 2022.
As part of the purchase, we understood that the gearbox system was partially destroyed. As the model was discontinued, spare parts would be more difficult to find, and Hero Honda sold fewer units only.
The first step I took was to create a restoration plan with the proposed cost. (Pic 1)
Pic 1

Based on the restoration plan stage one was a little difficult to achieve its target.
As authorized dealers of Hero Honda, we believed that Hero Honda Diya Motors Kollam Kerala was better suited to collect spare parts than any other workshop in Kerala, so we decided to give the vehicle to Diya Motors Kollam Kerala.
It was given to them on August 8, 2022. During the technician's diagnosis, it was found that the gearbox wheels were attired due to wear and tear (Pic 2). Despite repeated follow-ups concerning the work progress with Diya Motors, they gave us fake promises and fake statements without any progress. The root cause was Diya Motors couldn’t track spare parts from their all-India network. Finally, we decided to step back, we took the vehicle from their garage on 27-Sep-2022.
Pic 2


We began looking for the gearbox set from the scrap in different cities in India via online, such as Coimbatore, Mumbai, Bangalore, etc. We finally found an engine at ‘Gujri used spare parts’ in Bangalore. We purchased the item and received it within a couple of days through the courier service (Pic 3). A local workshop fitted the gearbox in Chirayinkeezhu, Trivandrum. Thorough cleaning and reset of the engine were performed (Pic 4).
Pic 3
Pic 4

The second stage was easier than the first. We approached the local painting shops to carry out the painting job. Each quote ranged from 8k to 9k for the painting without removing the parts since masking would be used. Finally, we found a painting garage at Vaikom, Kottayam, Kerala which is being run by Mr. Adarsh. His garage was located approximately 140km away from my place where I am in Trivandrum. We were attracted to his painting skills through his Instagram page ( https://www.instagram.com/p/CG-gsQul...d=MDJmNzVkMjY= ). As well, he offered a reasonable price for the entire painting, polishing, and minor restoration work. During the conversation with him, I was really impressed with his painting talent and his insight into the restoration of the vehicle. The vehicle was given to him on October 8, 2022, and he agreed to return the vehicle on October 30, 2022. In the meantime, he provided us with all the updates on the progress on a weekly basis. (Pic 5)
Pic 5 19 October 2022

The day had finally come for the motorcycle to be delivered, and my brother was assigned to take delivery on 30-October 2022. According to him, he was amazed when he saw the vehicle after it had been restored because the color of the vehicle had been changed from black to blue (Yamaha's Racing blue). We changed the color based on the painting technician's recommendation (Pic 6). During the painting's completion and setting, the vehicle appeared more elegant.
PIC 6


In addition, during the restoration, we faced a few disrespectful comments or suggestions for restoring and spending on this vehicle. One of the comments was “Are you guys mad about spending on this scrap?”
Following is my reply to them.
The on-road price of a hero super splendor 125 cc price is approximately INR 90000/- in Kerala India, but after five years of depreciation the vehicle's market value will be INR 40000/-, so the depreciation amount would be INR 50000/-. If the vehicle is purchased with a loan, the figures may vary.
My 135 CC vehicle cost me INR 25000/- to restore (including vehicle purchase, engine reset, electrical works, painting, taxes, insurance, and renewal fee). After 5 years, the market value should be around INR 20000/- (since it is classified in the classic segment). Therefore, the depreciation amount is INR 5000/-.
Although, I am neither a businessman nor a seller with this ability to assess profit and loss. My passion and mission were about to be fulfilled, and I was about to satisfy my own needs. I enjoyed it a lot!!!
Our sincere thanks go to:

Mr. Adarsh Mr. Harpreet Seth
Bike Point/ Paint expert/ restorer Kerala. Gujri Used Spare Parts, Bangalore. Safexbikes, Delhi.
+91 86069 03702 +91 99025 10707 https://safexbikes.com/
A special thank you goes out to Mrs. Vijina Reckit, who coordinated the finances.
Contact us for more details:
Reckit: +91 73065 34544
Siva: +91 70251 28673
Our new project… FIAT UNO 1.7 D 1999.

[Reckit]

Attachment 2376184

Attachment 2376185

[v12]

Congratulations Reckit on the restoration. It's always pleasing to see a restoration thread. For everyone's benefit, i would also request if you can copy paste the contents of the PDF file into this thread too - so it's easy to read and relate to.

The Ambition was launched as a younger brother to the Hero Honda CBZ. It was a good looking motorcycle aimed at those wanted to upgrade from a Hero Honda Splendour and could not afford the more expensive CBZ. The main highlight of the Ambition is it's body colored headlight crown.

[DicKy]

Glad to see the restoration of the Ambition and the final result. Something about that crown on top of the headlight and the colour gives it a retro-modern feel.

Have to admit that as a child I used to hate round headlight two wheelers. LML Select II over LML NV/Bajaj Chetak. Greaves Garuda auto rickshaw over other auto rickshaws. And to me the neither here nor there round headlighted Joy and Ambition were pointless when you had the square headlighted CD100 and Splendor on one end and aerodynamic CBZ on the other end. Now I dig round headlighted motorcycles, anything from the CT110X to Bonnevilles/HDs.

No need to convince the naysayers. Do anything and they will find a way to tsk tsk. Looking forward to your Uno restoration.

[daredemon]

Reckit,
Thats a nice colour and good restoration of Ambition.
My cousin had purchased and i got a chance to ride it.
Not very happy with the performance as i used to compare it with the cbz, but it had a very refined engine, upto certain speed

[Drkalgaonkar]

This brought back fond memories.

I had a silver one, the first edition with round headlight.

After Yamaha RX135, it was like gliding on a cloud. So smooth and quiet was the ride.... I just loved it. Used it for more than 7 years. Absolutely no problems. Fuel efficiency was 50+.

Pity, had to sell off due to spine problems so graduated to a car.

[ObsessedByFIAT]

Brought back some wonderful memories!

Ambition was my first bike which I had for 7 years and around 80k on the odo. Sold it and got myself a Hero Honda Hunk.

The bike remained trouble free all through its tenure with only one issue. The holding brackets/clips of the cowl on top of the tail would break. I initially got it replaced, but the second set also broke at the exact same place. So just used feviquick to hold it in place.
Apart from this one issue, the tappets would make knocking sound and had to get it adjusted frequently.
Otherwise the bike was great!

I believe, Ambition was the first bike which had its headlight directly connected to the battery and they would light up with the key in ignition on position, without having to start the bike.

The bike featured in the posts above is the 133cc example. There were two variants, one with disc breaks and the other without them.

The 135cc was a refresh model which had headlight borrowed from the elder sibling, the CBZ.