Project Bike: 1973 Beta Premier MX125... circa 2007

Part One:

So this is one of those barn finds that had alot of luck in the finding. My uncle bought back his first bike after selling it many moons ago, the motor was DOA at so it sat in his shed with the hope of bringing it back to its former glory once again. Out of boredom I check eBay every now and again for a motor for it. I found a whole running bike that was going for 10 bucks, it ended up getting bid up to around a bill so still really cheap for a running bike, let alone one this rare. I was able to get Rock to pick the bike up since it was in his neck of the woods and he dropped it of last night. I am very amazed at the overall condition of the machine. This is going to be of a resto type job, get it in good running order and pretty close to stock. All the parts this one is missing my uncle has on his, so we should be able to piece a complete bike together. It had still been trail rode till a few years ago, so I'd say that had helped keep it from sitting and rotting. The Marzocchi suspension and Italian carb (I'll get the name later) both seem somewhat trick to me, but I guess this bike does from a time when an Italian bike was just that without any foreign parts. If anyone has a lead on a manual or any more info on this bike let me know, I really can't find much at all.


Like I said pretty clean.


Even the stock seat cover without any tears.


The decals on the tank still amaze me, they are 100% intact.


Hell I'm pretty sure the tires are stock.


The Marzocchi sticker still on the fork.


A name that isn't seen much these days...

Part Two:

Righto, so I went out to the shed one night after work to get it running and figured hell I'll give it a few kicks before I really tear into it, and well it started. I guess maybe it was the old Alpinestar Malcom Smith boots I was wearing, or the fact I turned on the gas. So at that point I went through the bike cleaning it up, and seeing what else might be wrong with it. I didn't pickup a good tube for it till Saturday since my work hours are pretty much the same as most bikeshops. So the cables were lubed and the degreasers and polishes came out. Overall she cleaned up pretty good, and the brake and throttle cables all work pretty good. The stiff rubber fuel line was pulled, and replaced a fuel filter was also added. I pulled the carb, the bowl looked clean, I didn't dig to far since it ran and I have no idea where to get parts or a manual. A fresh tube was thrown in the back tire over the weekend, and I was able to ride it around the yard a bit. Once it gets warmed up she pulls alot better than I thought shed would. The tires are going to need to be replaced sometime soon. Well here are some pics...


The carb.


A little Honda polish brightened the tank up quite a bit.


Mothers alum. polish did good on all the bright work.


The fenders are super light, I think modern plastic units might weigh more.

Part Three:

This weekend the exhaust was made to work. Seems that 75% of the flange was missing so it was "modified" with a cotter pin that seems to be holding. The front brake cable was fraying and generally unsafe, cracks galore. So the hole for the cable on the brake backing plate was drilled out a little and now the bike can take cables off of XR's from the late 70's. Side covers were also added, but I didn't take any pictures of that (Kinda forgot).


You can see the missing flange on the headpipe, and the high tech way I fixed it.


The sorry state the old cable was in, the shink wrap was the only thing keeping the metal cable housing from going through the hole.


The hole punched out a little.


I had to shave down the endcap on the top of the cable to fit in the adjuster.