Thread: Newbie, Intro and 12v question

Hi;

I have owned 11 motorcycles to date, 9 of them Hondas, most of them under 250cc (scooters count). Last Thursday I was given a 1974 Trail 90 complete and original (new original tires and battery) nice little bike been lurking in a friends garage for 6 years. Received as a thank you for helping move a Piano. Came with a manual , the honda how to uncrate (dealer) manual a signed over title and 4 keys which all work the ignition but not the helmet lock? Shes a little dirty but thats easy.

Known issues, Handle bars a slightly bent, dual range gear selector appears not to have a handle, charging system is caput. Owner told me he would charge the battery overnight and then take it riding and it would go about 35 miles then act like it was running out of gas and die and not start again until the battery was charged. To me this spells stator but in my quest for info I've come across claims that the ignition stator and battery/lights stator are not on the same system, and that the best fix is to buy the cdi/12 conversion.

So assuming the stator is shot (1 or both) and this is the problem, will the 12v CDI conversion fix that and where can I buy one? I found Ricky Stator but saw no parts listed for this bike?
Also Muffler is rusty on outlet end and badly repaired , is there and after market avail. and are the trail 90's as finiky to the stock exhaust as all the other hondas?

---------- Post added at 03:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:44 PM ----------

Oh and having not actually worked on or ridden the bike yet, I had assumed that the right hand lever was a clutch but was told its probably an auto clutch making that the rear brake,,,, did these all have auto clutch's,,, ( bike is in Moms backyard since GF thinks I have enough toys already, so a quick look isnt really an option)

slightly different approach, if Honda still makes this bike in Australia and it is a 12v system what are the chances the honda part will fit a 74 trail 90? they dont look like they have changed all that much, like the dual sidestands, CT110AG | Entry | Road | Motorcycles | Honda

I think that would be an tiral and probably error option. i know the engines look sclose but you would have to change the whole stator plate im sure then the flywheel and even if you were lucky enough for that to work then the crank on that 110 would most likely be longer then the ct70's. maybe you can just get the stator? but good luck just getting that to work because there are what 3 diffrent types with in just the ct70's? And the ct90 one wont just bolt up either so i doubt that the 110 one will either but it might.

See if you can get measurements of the flywheel stator plate and crank shaft and compare it?

It would probably be cheaper to order an cdi kit off ebay since your trying to order all the same parts any who

I was trying to run 2 coils in a series to produce 12v but i have other projects for the bike now i might work on that one later

You may have unwittingly opened a can of worms with this one. ST90, CT90 & CT110 engines are all of the same basic engine family, apart from any of the 49cc-based engines (including the CT70 lump). The CT90 model went away after `79, but the CT110 soldiered on in the US market until `86.

CDI was introduced in `82. I'm not 100% sure about this one, however, I believe that all of the required 12v/CDI parts are still available domestically in the US. Dratv seems to have them, including the pulse generator/pickup asm, CDI module and regulator. Not sure what else is needed in terms of a flywheel, stator and wiring. These bikes were not a rip-roaring sales success beyond the early `70s. That's why Ricky stator doesn't list them. You might try cross-referencing the parts using CT110 as the model. You might also scour ebay & CL looking for a post `82 model CT110 to use as a donor.

Thanks in large part to the Australian postal service, 12v/CDI model CT110s remained in production many years after the US run ended. I'm sure that the parts can be sourced from Oz, you'd just need to locate a supplier there willing to do an international transaction.

By the time you're done, it probably won't have been a cheap or quick project. Break out the multimeter and check the stator coils. I'd bet that they're fine. It's probably the rectifier/regulator that's gone bad and those are easily replaceable, cheap, too.

Thanks for the input; will definatly start with the rectifier,, cause its easy. Have seen mysteriously bad with no apparent reason stators (mostly chinese) and had clearly damaged honda stators work for years and years,,, often till something else gave up, but this is my first work on it myself bike with points and rotors, the ct 70's of my past were never broken