I do have three ride videos coming out for the next three days starting tomorrow, but good trails are hard to come by in my locale, so... I do plan to rip up major trails during our NY/PA trail riding trip this July though. Gonna be a ton of content from that for sure
Your right about the monkey shocks. I weigh 275. And sat on a monkey and bounced up and down and it bottomed out easily. Well I decided to buy the ct125A. Even though the monkey has a wonderful seat and the ct is hard as a rock. After a few miles and very rough terrain I found out quickly I needed suspension mods. Bottoming out. Harsh on ripple bumps. So I ordered a YSS front fork upgrade kit. Installed per instructions. Used the 15wt oil that came with it and was recommended. Very slooowww rebound and compression way to firm. I went to a lighter 10wt oil helped some so went to 7wt oil . Alot smother but was bottoming out. So knowing suspension from my experience as a motorcycle technician. I ordered some new damper rods , rings and brass bolt seals. Disassembled drilled out tubes 10mm above stock bleed holes to 13/64 @ 90 deg from other holes. This allows more oil flow for the emulators "aka PD valves" to work and bypass stock oil dampening restriction holes. Makes the forks work like progressive forks. Used maxima high performance 7wt oil @ 125cc. To keep from bottoming. Normal oil level 185mm air space or 120cc volume. Added 10mm spacer on top of spring just under the adjustable preload, for more preload adjustment. Works Great.! Smooth plush and don't bottom out. Next project rear shocks. It bounced around like a pogo stick on hard high bumps and hurts when you hit large pot holes in the road. It was ok stock for highway and light trail riding but not the hard rough stuff. Guess I'm still motocross racing in my mind even though now I'm alot older. lol
Wow man, that’s an awesome mod! I’m gonna thrash test it a bit more, but I did a ride video/motovlog on our pit bike track and aside from the narrow tires, it did fairly well in terms of suspension! That’s in my soft Florida sandy dirt though, rocks and potholes are an entirely different story
Yo John, I very much enjoy your videos on the Monkey z125. Can I ask, is it worth fitting an iridium spark plug to my monkey? Oh and yes I will be getting the rear shocks upgraded. Your new Honda is the bizz. Regards JP from Liverpool UK.
Thanks JP! I doubt something as subtle as a spark plug would make a difference on these bikes honestly. Higher quality spark plugs usually only benefit high horsepower applications, which hybrid monkey is definitely not!
John, you're teasing us aren't you?
Let's see you ripping up the trails with this bike!
I do have three ride videos coming out for the next three days starting tomorrow, but good trails are hard to come by in my locale, so... I do plan to rip up major trails during our NY/PA trail riding trip this July though. Gonna be a ton of content from that for sure
@@John5XR Looking forward to it.
You can add preload to the rear shocks as it comes stock. Unfortunately the front forks have no adjustment.
Your right about the monkey shocks. I weigh 275. And sat on a monkey and bounced up and down and it bottomed out easily. Well I decided to buy the ct125A. Even though the monkey has a wonderful seat and the ct is hard as a rock. After a few miles and very rough terrain I found out quickly I needed suspension mods. Bottoming out. Harsh on ripple bumps. So I ordered a YSS front fork upgrade kit. Installed per instructions. Used the 15wt oil that came with it and was recommended. Very slooowww rebound and compression way to firm. I went to a lighter 10wt oil helped some so went to 7wt oil . Alot smother but was bottoming out. So knowing suspension from my experience as a motorcycle technician. I ordered some new damper rods , rings and brass bolt seals. Disassembled drilled out tubes 10mm above stock bleed holes to 13/64 @ 90 deg from other holes. This allows more oil flow for the emulators "aka PD valves" to work and bypass stock oil dampening restriction holes. Makes the forks work like progressive forks. Used maxima high performance 7wt oil @ 125cc. To keep from bottoming. Normal oil level 185mm air space or 120cc volume. Added 10mm spacer on top of spring just under the adjustable preload, for more preload adjustment. Works Great.! Smooth plush and don't bottom out. Next project rear shocks. It bounced around like a pogo stick on hard high bumps and hurts when you hit large pot holes in the road. It was ok stock for highway and light trail riding but not the hard rough stuff. Guess I'm still motocross racing in my mind even though now I'm alot older. lol
Wow man, that’s an awesome mod! I’m gonna thrash test it a bit more, but I did a ride video/motovlog on our pit bike track and aside from the narrow tires, it did fairly well in terms of suspension! That’s in my soft Florida sandy dirt though, rocks and potholes are an entirely different story
Thx for The review on the suspension. My bike hasn’t come n yet but suspension already had me thinking shock / fork upgrade.
I think you’ll be surprised on how good this suspension is, give it a chance first
I love the crunch sound from my Grom's forks going over the 1 inch crease between the ramp and gutter of a sidewalk.
Not really. It scares me.
Lol, the Ohlins kit in my Groms forks probably saved my frame, cause I send the shit out of that bike!
Yo John, I very much enjoy your videos on the Monkey z125. Can I ask, is it worth fitting an iridium spark plug to my monkey? Oh and yes I will be getting the rear shocks upgraded.
Your new Honda is the bizz.
Regards JP from Liverpool UK.
Thanks JP! I doubt something as subtle as a spark plug would make a difference on these bikes honestly. Higher quality spark plugs usually only benefit high horsepower applications, which hybrid monkey is definitely not!