Original Rear Shock

The Hagon packaging has the adjustment instructions printed on the box rather than a separate instruction sheet.

Hagon Rear Shock Packaging

The shock was well packaged and included 2 x Hex keys and a C spanner.

Shock Packaging

The smaller hex key is for pre-load ring grub screw and the larger hex key is used to adjust the damping.

Included Tools

The Hagon shock looks well built, the bright zinc plating and spring finish are very good.

Rear Shock Before Fitting

The shock is pre-set for a rider weight of between 75kg and 100kg.  As I’m towards the top end of that scale I added about 1 1/2 turns of pre-load before fitting the shock.

You have to first release the pre-load adjustment ring grub screw.

Releasing Pre-Load Adjustment Ring Grub Screw

The adjustment ring can then be wound clockwise (for heavier riders) or anti-clockwise (for lighter riders).  I had to hold the top mount (with a drift punch) while I turned the pre-load adjustment ring clockwise.

Adjusting The Pre-Load

After I’d adjusted the pre-load ring I did have to re-align the top and bottom mounts of the shock.

Re-Aligning The Shock After Pre-Load Adjustment

Hagon recommends that the pre-load adjustment is done with the shock off the bike but the damping can be easily adjusted with the shock fitted by adjusting the damping hex screw.

Damping Hex Screw Adjustment

The shock was then very easily fitted, however the new shock makes the old fasteners looks tired, so I’ve ordered some new stainless M12 x 80, M12 x 90 and M12 x 110 fasteners from an eBay seller with quite a range of fasteners.

New Shock Fitted - 1

New Shock Fitted - 2

I can now paint the rear suspension knuckle and re-fit the rear shock to swingarm assembly with some variable height dogbones.

• TZR125RR Belgarda (Brembo) front wheel – fitted with EBC disc and TZR125RR front caliper.
• TZR125RR Belgarda upside down forks.
• TZR125RR Belgarda bottom yokes.
• Custom top yokes.
• Renthal Streetfighter bars.
• Top yoke clamps.

The bottom yoke lock stops needed modifying to stop them clashing with the tank, which I have learnt is an MOT failure.  The simplest way to do this was to weld a couple of blocks onto the existing stops to shorten the steering travel.

Modified Bottom Yoke Lock Stops

I will eventually clean up the welds with a file but for now I just wanted to get various parts fitted to see the front end together.

A new taper roller bearing (30 x 52 x 16mm) was fitted to the bottom yoke.  The bearing is an interference fit so I heated the bearing (in a domestic oven at about 120C) and chilled the bottom yoke assembly in a chest freezer before fitting.

New Taper Roller Bearing For Bottom Yokes

New Taper Roller Bearing Fitted

The traditional top of headstock bearings were then fitted and re-greased.

Top Headstock Bearings Fitted

The original top yokes, from the TZR125RR Belgarda front end, use clip-on bars whereas the TDR is built for full motocross/streetfighter handlebars.  This means that bar risers need to be fitted to the top yokes.  The original top yokes are cast aluminium and as such are very thin in places and could not be safely modified to take the bar risers.  (A combination of weakening from welding and machining.)

As an alternative I had some custom top yokes made up by KM Custom Engineering. KM Custom also modified the bottom yoke lock stops, had the headlight mount powder coated and removed a sheared bolt from the crankcase.

Custom Top Yokes

The top and bottom yokes were then fitted to the bike.

Top And Bottom Yokes Fitted

Next, the forks were fitted and look really good (at least I think they do).  I just hope that they are man enough for the task.

Yokes And Forks Fitted

In the picture below you can clearly see the separate compression and rebound forks.

Yokes And Forks Fitted

The freshly powder coated, front headlight and fairing bracket was then fitted.  You can see the before and after photos below:

Headlight Subframe Ready For Powder Coating

Powder Coated Front Headlight And Fairing Bracket

Headlight And Front Fairing Bracket Fitted

The new bar riser clamps were then fitted with the original (the ones that came with Mildred not factory original).

Original Bars And New Riser Clamps Fitted

I then fitted the tank in place so that the new lock stops could be tested to see if the top yokes no longer clashed with the tank.

Modified Lock Stops

Top Yokes Now Clear Of The Tank

Success!  I’ll clean up the modified lock stops with a Dremel at some point in the future now that I know they work.

The new Renthal Streetfighter bars were then fitted.

New Renthal Streetfighter Bars Fitted

The bars have some very useful alignment marks to help with their alignment.

Renthal Bar Alignment Marks

Front Wheel Spindle Bush

The final step was to fit the front wheel.  As usual there was a hitch, a combination of zinc plating and powder coated fork feet meant that the front wheel spindle no longer fitted inside the left hand fork spindle bush.  The bush had also become a very tight fit into the fork foot.  The right hand for foot also needed a M16 x 1.5 tap running through it to clean out the powder coating.

A colleague of mine, who just happens to have a lathe at home, kindly volunteered to skim the inside of the bush.  He’s also a bit creative and made a stop motion video of the machining:

So finally, Mildred is starting to look a like a bike again:

Left Side View

Right Side View

Front View

Rear View

The next jobs for the re-build of the frame and wheels are:

• Fit a new Hagon rear shock.
• Get front and back wheels powder coated black.
• Polish swingarm.
• Polish rear brake arm.
• Refurbish rear caliper.
• Fit new rear brake hose.

I will also start to re-build the engine while I’m waiting for the bits listed above. Seeing Mildred looking like a bike again has given me a real boost and I’m enthusiastic about the project and expect a very productive autumn and winter of building.