Info Manual

Too many problems may be felt within the clutch system of small commuter motorcycles if it is not given some time to be checked at least every 5 years depending on the mileage and the way the motorcycle is driven. Nowadays, friction plates are getting cheaper. but the process of inspecting this critical part of any motorcycle is not an easy task especially if it is a multi-plate, wet clutch system. Often times, clutch drag and slipping clutch is a very common problem we may encounter.

Photo shown came from a 10 year old 125cc motorcycle, it was never been inspected up until this writing. The friction plate provided the groove to where the rest during operation. Notice the four groove s only at one side of the clutch basket (the other side do not actually have it, since the motorcycle is being kept moving forward and the rotation is always clockwise).

This photo shows how the friction plates and the steel plates are netted together inside the outer clutch basket.

They are stack in a friction plate followed by steel plates alternately, and is covered by the inner plate with the clutch spring attached to it.

If you want to know how this system works.You can watch it here to be familiar with it.


The Outer clutch basket i think is in lieu for replacement, but up to this writing, with no enough resources to do so, i will re use it and instead will be modifying it to accept an additional steel plate and another friction plate to make it a FIVE (5) piece clutch system..

Note: The whole procedure of the modification will not be discussed, for the stock clutch basket is not intended for an additional friction plates. Replacing washers, taking the tight clearances of the whole basket must be considered and any miscalculation on anyone's part will be a disastrous one inside the engine. So this modification is not for the masses. 

The next photo will reveal that it is indeed too tight for an additional friction plates and steel plates on a stock hub or stock clutch basket.

The look of the STOCK with four plates attached.

The look of the MODDED stock basket with five plates installed.

Now I know many of you will ask?

What is the ADVANTAGE of having a stock four friction plate on a modded five friction plate installed?

Ans: I did try to test drive it to see if i can still shift to any gears, that because of the tight spaces between the friction plate and the steel plate, as i read from the internet, only a small gap is needed to release the tension on each and one of them to DISENGAGED the whole clutch system from driving the the drive shaft.

The torque of power transfer within the system improves. The motorcycle now pulls a lot of it during uphill climb that even on my third gear..

(By the way the stock sprocket of my motorcycle is 14/35 to where it was change to 16/34 prior to the modded clutch system and do not pull at third gear on uphill with four piece friction plates.)

I wanted to test it on a stock combination to feel the difference but up to this moment i am enjoying the current 16/34 (low speed sprocket ratio)..

Again, the POWER TRANSFER of the crankshaft to the drive shaft by the clutch was improved.

Lesson to be learned from here is that.

1. Often times when you are replacing the FRICTION plates on your motorcycle when it is time for the replacement, be sure to check the outer basket for groove. The groove makes the friction plate stick on it, thereby making it difficult to shift at times..no many times, because when the plate is stuck they do not disengaged with the steel plates.So better check it.

2. Do not grind the groove, friction plate must not have slack on that area. if the groove is too much..replace the whole clutch basket, inner and outer is a MUST.

Have ever been cleaning your entire brake system especially the front brake? Did u ever suspect that it needs an overhaul cleaning to make it  more effective? or Does anyone have a sticking front brake system? This page will tell you that often times which i forgot for many years, the front brake system must be inspected and clean for a more reliable braking system of our motorcycle. So dammed fool of not having it inspected for so many years, that even thought the system still works without cleaning, The pad sticks to the brake rotor causing my front wheel not spinning freely. And so let the tear down begin.

First is to drain all the brake fluid using a hose and an empty plastic bottle of soda. insert first the close wrench number 8 on the brake caliper drain plug bolt and insert the hose to it.

This is to ensure no FLUID will be getting on your precious magwheels and paint. (corrosive substance) and all fluid will get to the plastic bottle. By opening the drain plug bolt, we can now release the brake fluid out from the reservoir by pressing the brake lever on and off until none of the fluid is visible. If you have an extra bottle of DOT-3 brake fluid, you may pour it on the reservoir to push all dirty brake fluid at the hoses and caliper itself so that fresh fluid will be at the hose and brake caliper when putting it all together again. You can also do this procedure later.

 After releasing all fluid inside the reservoir, , it is very difficult to take it out. After minutes of trying to remove it, finally the piston is out. Since this is i think the second time it has been remove in a 10 year span, the fluid already corroded some of it, in lieu with those white powder.

CIRCLIP REMOVER TOOL
it can be remove from the handle bar and put it on a bench table for rework and general cleaning and inspection. Now the hard part, without the so called
This is a very bad sign, and i think in need of replacement but then this is a DIY page, so i'll still be reusing all of the parts. It will just be clean and remove unwanted debris.

NOTE:  But for readers, it is highly advisable to replace the whole piston assembly with new one. This is to ensure your front brake will not fail. The replacement part is very cheap. You can buy one at every friendly local shop available.

Here is a diagram of every component of the front brake master.

Continuing with the tear down, when the circlip that locks the piston to chamber was remove, the piston can be pulled out from it.

Here we can see the entire piston set of the brake master and photo says it all, YUCKY!!! too much dirt and sediments all over it. I wonder how it still works with that kind of dirt.

close up, that is the view of not totally having a routine check on the entire front brake system of a motorcycle.

Note again to the readers: If you find yourself like this on your motorcycle front braking system, please be advise to change it entirely. Do not re use for fail safe system.

Continuing with the process of my cleaning saga.

With the piston removed from the cylinder, cleaning the master reservoir only needs cloth that is damp with brake fluid. (use only brake fluid, no water, no soap) i used old toohbrush with NYLON bristles on cleaning the entire reservoir. The rest of the picture will tell how bad is this brake master.



and after minutes of cleaning the debris inside the chamber and the reservoir itself..patience makes a lot of difference, ready for assembly and bleeding the entire front braking system on this 125cc motorcycle.

when inserting back the piston to the cylinder. make sure you drop some brake fluid, this will help the primary and secondary cup sealed with the cylinder and glide normally inside of it. Lock the piston with the Circlip double check if is placed inside the groove. then put the dust cap back in its place.



we are now ready for bleeding, the act of removing old fluid inside the hoses and brake caliper.


Pour in fresh brake fluid onto the reservoir, make it full as in full tank. Press and release in cycle the brake lever and see the fluid gets in the hose. When doing this you will see bubbles when you are pressing the lever on and off. this means that the fluid is getting in. Make sure you are topping up when it goes to low level..Continue press and release the lever until it has already a slight tension to it..BLEEDING will come next.

When the lever got any tension on it..(i think you'll be needing someone to press that lever or if u can reach the bolt down while pressing the brake lever, I can call you that you a FANTASTIC man.. :) lol.

1. As you are pressing the brake lever,
2. open the drain plug to release the tension and push the fluid onto the drain plug. When there is no more fluid coming out from the drain hose we fitted onto the drain plug..close it again.and release the lever..press and release again the lever to get another tension and do it again the procedure on bleeding.

Do that procedure until all old fluid came out and that new fluid is coming out already.This is a sign that new fluid is already onto the system and you will have a tension on that front brake lever..

Top the reservoir on the correct level and return the DIAPHRAGM, the set plate and the cover and bolt it..The entire front brake system is done.

Now when you did cleaned the system and the front wheel is not spinning freely. Then the brake caliper is locking and in need of cleaning. The common problem with sticking disc brake is that, it does not return to the idle state when the piston of the caliper pushed the brake pad to the rotor..ROD that connects the caliper to its bracket as shown


This is the job of those number in 10, 15, 9, and 8. It needs to be cleaned.

photo shown next is where to put new grease so that when the caliper push the piston towards the brake pad..the grease will the push back the caliper to the idle state and releases the pad that is in contact with the brake rotor.






Good luck to your cleaning saga!!!..I have speed but without healthy BRAKING system...SPEED KILLS..

We all know some motorcycle camshaft especially those SOHC engine have a so called Decompression cam or other called it Decompression Pin. But what it is really for what? Take a look at the picture of a shogun 125cc motorcycle equipped with this pin. The hook like pin located at the cam gear of the camshaft is the decompression pin. With that position (hook is resting towards the center, it is actually in the ON position. It already trigger the exhaust valve to open so that when we turned off the engine, the combustion chamber releases unwanted compressed mixture at the exhaust. This scenario makes it easier to start the engine by allowing fresh mixture to enter the chamber when we turned on the engine again. There is more, the unwanted kick back of the kick starter to which can cause injury when turning the engine by kick when the combustion chamber have leftover combustible mixture if this pin is not present.

Others find it difficult to understand why it was there, and they tend to remove this pin saving weight on their motorcycle in order to produce a little more top end, but what they do not actually know. As of my findings in my 10 year old shogun 125cc was. when my decompression pin stop operating normally due to the spacer break down as shown,
i have a real hard time starting it in the morning and kick always kick back to me, and so i decided to replace it with such that can cope the tromendous heat build up inside by handcrafting the spacer from a fiberglass PCB as shown.
I was so lucky that the broken plastic part of the valve train did not manage to create havoc inside my engine because it was trapped somewhere that i manage to pull out when i checked my clutch lining (an article is being written after this)..

I also found out that without the pin attached to the camshaft..and start the engine, abnormal vibration can be felt at the head area, and so i believe it has a function that when the camshaft is turning and the hook begins to move outwards near the edge of the cam gear due to INERTIA, it acts as a balancer of the camshaft for the hook part is against the LOBE of the cam.

So to those who are eyeing of removing this pin..take a closer look at the photo on how this part actually works. It was there for a reason., and removing this will not add you some extra HP or gain you some at the top end.

FD125XRM is the second generation Shogun made by Suzuki being the Shogun 110 as the first. FL125 the 3rd generation, and the AXELO as the last generation on their line-up. Apparently, the last revision was only introduced in Indonesia and we are still hoping to enter the Philippine market anytime.

The second shogun was my ride up to this writing and at 10 years old I'd say, it was really durable and very reliable, thanks to Suzuki for that.

General maintenance of this model isn't that difficult actually. The speedometer panel is digital so there is no speed cable attachment that breaks easily. Timing is always right, of course it uses a Digital DC-CDI that unknown to many riders out there. The VM18SS fuel and air delivery system is quite impressive too. The only downside of this generation of shogun compared to FL125. It does not have a crank balancer like those fitted to FL125 (3rd gen shogun) hence engine produces too much vibration at very high RPM, nonetheless, what power is for without able to feel it with your feet (LOL).

This model was already been phased out by Suzuki in this country, and only few are left running at the very top. Others have the problems of the third gear getting the crackling gargled sounds when engage within the transmission. (well i don't).

Want to service your own 2nd generation Shogun 125, maybe this site will help you achieve what i have for the last 10 years. I wanted to translate it in English but with those illustration and step by step pictures will allow you to understand it hopefully. Enjoy this service manual.

Shogun FL125 charging system is actually the same as shogun FD125XRM. This article will show you how to test your electrical preferably the CHARGING and lighting system.













CHARGING and LIGHTING wiring diagram



Here i'll be giving you where and what to check if you are having problems with battery charging and lighting problems. You'll be needing a multi meter a digital with a diode test to perform troubleshooting your own bike.

LOCATION of SHOGUN FL125 Regulator 


The regulator is located in front when you take off front cover, shown in number 2 with part number SH672, remove the connector shown in number 1, set your multimeter to diode test and follow the next picture for the right data.

You dont need to turn your ignition, this is to test the leakage on your Regulator.







The reading of all the test must be close to what is written above, if there is a short or almost 0 on the digital read out then the Regulator is defective.

If all test of the regulator is OK!! we then proceed with the generator system and lighting coils resistance and voltage.

GENERATOR Resistance and Voltage check

Set the digital multimeter in resistance range.


Disconnect the  black connector as shown to perform resistance and voltage check, this is the connector of the generator, other is for the pick-up coil and ground.














for lighting coil resistance, connect the multimeter probe to Y/W (yellow with white strip wire) and to ground..

The reading must be
0.4 - 1.0 ohms

and for the charging coil, connect probe to W/R (white wire with red strip) and ground.

The value must be
0.6 - 1.2 ohms


VOLTAGE CHECK

NOTE: 
This check must be taken with safety because we are talking about AC voltages here. No wires from the generator must not touch any metal on the chassis. Youll be needing to crank the engine and rev to 5000 rpm to test the generator output.



Multimeter is set to AC voltage range. connect probes as shown, AC do not have polarity so either way..

W/R and ground rev at 5000 rpm must read
50 volts AC or more but no more than 100 volts

Y/W and ground rev at 5000 rpm should read
40 volts AC or more but not more than 80 volts

readings not close or lower than the specified value means there are problems with the generator windings, either there are short due to exposed wires inside and or the skin coating of the enamel wires of the windings are already exposed to the oil.

GOODLUCK with the test.

UPDATED

Full schematic wiring diagram of this bike can be found here

SHOGUN COMPLETE WIRING DIAGRAM