Planet Minis

Z

I'm going to skip close to the end on this build thread, and in the near future, start from the beginning since this bike was started in 2003 and has changed 100 times since then. Like most of my projects, they start out simple and get complex over time.

Think "Pulp Fiction" - mixed and garbled timelines but will make sense by the end.

Beginnings we'll get to later:

I imported this new 2003 Honda Monkey from Japan in 2003 before the EPA laws made it near impossible to bring these bikes in.

Jump to the present:

I received the final part for this specific project 2 weeks ago and the parts are now complete with the exception of the custom front brake line and mounting the steering stabilizer.

Some of these parts like the Ohnishi exhaust I've had for a couple of years, others are new to the project. If you look close at the pictures, you can see the 1/16" of dust covering pretty much everything. I'll clean it up eventually when she's road worthy again.

Note from one builder to another - When building a custom monkeybike, there is no such thing as bolt-on parts when you are mixing and matching parts from numerous manufacturers. Keep this in mind. If something doesn't fit, make it fit.

Case in Point 1: The TTS brake lever shown here was not a direct fit with the wide Over Racing Swingarm. Easy solution. Grind the billet piece to make it fit.

I ground the area that was hitting the swingarm with a dremel, and while not shown, I hit this with my bench buffer to clean up the grind marks. When mounted, you can't see the modification that had been done.

Unsolicited commentary for the Peanut Gallery:

I like the TL seats better then the MX seats as they are more comfortable to ride on. MX seats look better in pictures, but are not comfortable on long rides. This seat has been on the bike since 2004 before the MX seats hit the market.

I like a taller bike so it's comfortable to ride. No lowriders or short bikes me me. It's a personal preference.

The engine parts were built in 2004 and are staying as is.
Kitaco 2 plate clutch, Kitaco Non-SE Ultrahead 108 with a Kitaco VM26. 65mph is just fine with me. When the engine was built, there was no +R, there was no 3 plate manual clutch packs and was no Utra SE heads. If I want to go faster, I'll take one of my other bikes out for the day.

When I started building this in 2003, 88cc bore-up kits ruled the roost and very few had 108's or 117's at the time. Nobody was building custom Monkeybikes/Z50's except for small handful of people (Razzo, Harde, Tuttobene, etc) and PM didn't even have a Z50 section...

More to come in the near future and I'll start this from the beginning. It's going to be a long one.

Keep the rubber side down ladies and gents.

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tmas

Z.......bike looks amazing, such attention to detail.
tmas

shw911

That exhaust is very very purdy.

Z

The exhaust didn't fit with the wide swingarm and shocks either. I had to use a spacer so it didn't hit the shocks. I'll talk about this later on.

mattmofob

how does the wide swingarm differ from a standard swingarm? I would think that the width at the frame would be the same.

Grafixxs

Seriously Dan? That bike is extreme and top notch. Are you a pimp, cuz you gots lotz of money into your bikes. lol

gstegman

Simple, clean, and classically Honda.... Very nice. How do you manage to keep the Jr. test pilots off it?

Z

You'll find out when you go to mount yours. It's the shock position and you may not have any issues. You'll find the ohnishi exhausts mount in 500 different ways due to the 3 piece header pipe and you'll have to play with it until you have it where you want it.

Dave, I am not a pimp, but that isn't a bad idea. Do you know of any biatches that need work?

Simple solution. I built them an ATC70 with a throttle limiter for them to ride and they have learned early to respect the toys in the garage. They don't sit or fart around the bikes in the garage.

I need to post up pics of the finished ATC as it came out pretty good for being a true budget build.

EddieNewYork

Nice bike Dan! Let the intricate plot begin...

Grafixxs

I do know of a few but I doubt they would pull in much.

So how many bikes do you have now Dan? Can you post up a pic of them all in 1 photo?

Z

I have 5 minis. I'll sell two sometime during 2009. and 1 ATC for the kids.

Z

Beginnings Circa ~ 2003

How does one get involved in the JDM Honda Monkey Hobby? Prior to getting involved in the Japanese bikes, in the 1990's I had beater CT70's a friend and I picked up from our local Fred Sanford and used to grudge match race these on the trails and we have a road course mapped out through a subdivision that was being developed and abandoned for a couple of years. I sold this a sometime on the 1990's to get a set of tires for my 1976 Bronco but always wanted another one.

From there on I restomodded a CT70 in 1999-2000 before anyone even started importing in the JDM parts, using powroll parts that I read about in the back of Walnecks, along with many other NOS or OEM parts I picked up along the way. There was no supplier for Kitaco, Takegawa, G-craft and others in the USA at this time. There were 3 companies selling parts for the old CT70's at the time besides powroll.

1. Trailbikes
2. CHP
3. Hondanuts (NEVC)

Plus some ebay people.


In 2002-2003 I found and restored a 1967 French Z50M after I sold the above CT70H.



This is where things went terribly wrong. During 2002: I wanted "Bookends" and started researching the JDM bikes and parts and wanted the 30th anniversary Honda Monkey to Match my Z50M:



For those of you who know about collecting Monkeybikes, if you put fuel in the tank, they lose value. I kept this bike for 1 year sitting and collecting dust and decided I'm not a fan of dreaming about riding bikes, and really wanted to ride them. During early 2003, I sold both the 1997 Monkey and French Z50M and imported in my 2003 Ltd Edition Monkey.

Collectors dream about playing with their toys, restomodders build bikes so they can have more fun riding theirs. Nothing wrong with either side of the hobby, but collecting wasn't for me.

We'll start on the pictures of the 2003 Ltd. before it left Japan in my next installment. Planetminis was not around at this point.

Z

This again will be a step by step pictorial of this specific build based upon my own specific experience at specific points in time. Some decisions were based on what was available in the market at points in time.

While this is on the only time I'll mention this, this is merely my honest account of what I personally went through building this specific bike over the last 6 years. Nothing more, nothing less without an agenda. You will not find this same thread word for word posted all over the internet in every motorcycle forum under the sun. It is not a sales thread in any way, shape or form.

People can take away what they want from this thread, whether it be knowledge of my specific build process or pure entertainment value or none of the above.

Along the way you'll see how I took a simple and pretty inexpensive project and overcomplicated it over time and my circular reasoning behind it.

I'll demonstrate (for those interested) all on this same bike what I did for:

• a simple 8" build
• a simple 10" wheel build
• followed by another ridiculous moneypit of doom.

2003 Monkey Limited Edition in Japan, February 2003

Here are a couple of pictures taken in February 2003 before this bike left in Japan. It was brand spanking new off the dealership floor, and at the time, after shipping, customs and wire transfer fees, warehouse fees and all the other associated red tape, the bike cost me just under $2300 to my door. This was the last Monkey I imported into the USA from overseas. This was funded from the sale of the 1967 M and 1997 30th Monkey as shown earlier in this thread.

Before 2005-2006 when the EPA laws changed, it was much easier then it is now. Today, unless it's over 25 years old, JDM bikes are no longer legal to import. People still find a way to import them in, but I want no part of bending the importation laws. It's not worth the hassle.

I have all 32 pics here of the bike in Japan along with the crating process:

http://www.honda50.com/g2data/galler...avId=xd3cbf780

And here's a sampling for those who aren't interested in viewing all 32 pics or linking outside of PM:









I want to make this clear to everyone that the purpose of this thread is again demonstrate how not to build a monkeybike...

mattmofob

That's a pretty good deal, do the dealers in japan lose money on the monkey?

Z

Matt,

It was 6 years ago when the Monkey sold for 179,000-199,000 Yen new and the exchange rates were 115-120 Yen to the USD. I paid retail plus actual shipping costs to the USA plus all the paperwork fees, etc.

Even in Japan, the Monkey is not a big seller and moves pretty slow off the dealer showroom floor.

Z

March 2003 - Early beginnings and cheap upgrades

When I first bought this bike, my goal was to ride as is with some street tires, a TL seat and an 88cc kit and this is what I did for a period of time.

The idea was cheap fun.

I added:

A set of Dunlop TT100GP tires (I think MotoLiam has them now)
Takegawa TL seat
Takegawa Grab Bar
LCD meter for Tach and speedo (in KM's)

Cheap fun.

The first pic shows the addition of the 3.5X8" TT100GP Tires (Stickiest 8" tires available at the time) Since this was going to be a dedicated street bike, I didn't want to ride on the factory knobbies.



Addition of the Takegawa Seat and Grab Bar:



And the Digital Speedo:



The rest of the early 2003 pictures can be found here:

2003 Progress

Kept the engine stock for a couple months and enjoyed the bike as is. Quiet as a church mouse and ran like a swiss watch. It's absolutely amazing how nice a New monkeybike starts and runs. I was a kid in a candy store.

Cheap and easy at this point. No further reason to modify, correct?

PM was still not around at this point and this bike was pivotal to me on learning about all the tuning parts available overseas and what fits what since there was no "go-to" guy in the USA in fitment of aftermarket monkeybike parts.

If I hadn't bought this bike, I would have never become involved in the whole aftemarket Z50/Monkey tuning scene and probably would be doing something more productive with my time. Go Figure.

alpinaclone

I really like your accounts of your project builds, very interesting. Don't keep us waiting too long for the next installment.

crowdlg

Looks great Dan. I remember when you first got that bike.
It has been a long time since I have seen any pics of it.
I was the one who bought the 97 monkey 30th. Also sold it later unfueled.
Have been out of the hobby for a while and stopped buy to see any updates.
Glad to see you have stuck with it and as always spared no expense for a dream creation.

Z

Stick around and stay awhile my friend. You'll once again catch the sickness...

Z

Mid 2003 through 2004 Upgrades and Modifications:

After owning the bike a couple of months, I decided I wanted to go with a set of 10" wheels on the bike. The engine was also built up around this timeframe.

Kitaco 88cc Ultrahead
Kitaco 2 plate clutch (no trailbikes 3 plate clutches were available at this time)
Kitaco Oil Pump
CF Posh Intake
Kitaco PC20 Carb and Air Filter
Kitaco Oil Cooler
Over Racing Stainless Exhaust with a Carbon Fiber Can for an 88-108cc engine.
CF Posh Catch tank with an OEM Honda Decal that matches the left side cover on the bike.

As most of you are aware, to comfortably run 10" wheels on a Z50/Monkey, you need to have longer forks and a longer swingarm.


I opted for:

• a set of Kijima +5cm over stock fork legs that come with an extended speedo and brake cable for the front setup
• Kitaco 2.5X10" aluminum wheels
• Pirelli SL26 3.5X10" tires (No Heidenaus in the USA at this time)
• Daytona +8cm over stock swingarm
• KYB 305mm shocks to level out the bike.

This is a good picture (although grainy) showing the size comparison of the 8" and 10" wheel on the same bike.



With the engine complete (at the time) and all the componentry installed, I ended up with this before the catch tank install in August of 2003:



I am a big fan of the fold-down bars as I feel it makes the Z50, but once you start modifying, I felt a convential bar would fit the mold better. We'll get to the bars and other dress-up parts farther down this post.

During the latter part of 2003, I also moved up from the 88 and added a Kitaco Stroker crank and a VM26 for the 108cc build. Around this time, I also met Carl of Cold-Fusion fame and did a writeup for PM on his newly released Atomic Dress up engine kits that still reside on the bike today. I can't say enough kind things about Carl, as he's one of the best machinists I've ever ran across and has a very strong passion for this hobby. He's made some other custom parts for me over the years and his work was top knotch.

Added the CF Posh adjustable length shifter as well.





During 2004, I added conventional bars and some other misc dressup pieces like the G-craft 2 piece clutch covers, CF Posh Top Clamp, Nasa Bar ends, CF Posh Offset Race Pegs and other Minor dress up gear.



From 2004 to 2006, the bike was my rider and no other modifcations took place as it's been a great bike and I didn't see the need to go overboard with additional modifications. The bike went 65+ mph, new monkey brakes are nice and tight and the bike never let me down.

Keep in mind during 2003-2004 and a good part of 2005, I was the only Monkey owner on PM having to deal with all the CRF50 crowd and I hadn't created the vintage forums yet.

Sometime I'll have to post how I started moderating here on PM, as Nick used to hate me for constantly causing problems in the forums and I almost was banned. For you old timers, it was the infamous Atom Rotten that recommended me to Nick to moderate this joint. Another reason for the old timers to hate Atom

Some additional photos can be seen here with some detail of the Honda tank and paint:

June 2003 through 2004

Starting in mid-2006, the bike would slowly be upgraded over time.