Restoration of Bajaj CUB 1992


Thread Starter #1
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Hi All,

I am back!
After close to a year of exciting long drives (Nano 10K kms - on highway mainly, now the Estilo) one year of getting frustrated in a new job, one year away from all old vehicles. Finally the 2 stroke bug bit me.

"The scooter experience in my childhood"

When I was a kid, my cousin was also my neighbour, we both used to go to school which was roughly 2kms from my home. Till my 7th standard my father used to drop me to school in his Atlas cycle, with me bugging him all the way, asking a million questions about everything I see. There were these rare times, probably once in a few months when my cousin wont get ready in time, so his father (my uncle) will drop him & me to school in his Bajaj CUB. The dull blue coloured scooter, with strong pull from standstill to 30 / 40kmph was too impressive. Due to space constraints, I used to handover my bag to my cousin and sit like a frog or stand bending a bit and get the first hand experience of "SPEED".

This is the first 2wheeler I ever travelled in & the first 2wheeler that I tried to kickstart. The longest distance travelled in this scooter was from Banaswadi to Nimhans & back (about 30kms max). Also once when we had a medical emergency, My uncle, my sister (badly needed to be takenm to hospital) & my father all drove to the hospital on this same machine. This also happens to be the first & only scooter in all my relatives, most others bought a TVS excel or a bike.

"The work horse period"
My uncle used to work for BSNL as a line man, he used to haul 10+kgs of telephone wires to & fro customer's house & his office. Also the front glovebox was always loaded with 2hammers, one bit rod (huli in kannada), nails, cutting plyer, Insulation tape, wheel spanner, 10 size spanner! Now imagine that in any of today's scooters. The scooter was mainly used in & around North & East Bangalore (Never ever has it left bangalore).

"The recent updates"
My uncle after having served in BSNL for over 25yrs, finally retired and is at home, having a good time with his grandkids & busy looking for a alliance for my cousin. In last 24yrs no major breakdown, in the last 20days over 5 breakdowns, left him stranded for hours. After insisting him for over a year, finally he gave up and bought a TVS Wego 5days back. Now there is a parking issue & hence they wanted to sell it. The showroom guy initially agreed to exchange the old scooter and minus 2k on Wego price, but when he got to know that the scooter has no FC, he backed out. They checked with 5 other auto dealers, no one was willing to buy it. Everyone suggested him to scrap it, I mean literally breaking it into pieces and fetch money based on weight! This is where I entered the picture and bought it from them for 1000/-

What I got:
A piece of my childhood literally!
A scooter that has properly aged
with no front brakes
a stock engine
original 1992 RC paper with BSNL attestation 1993 seal
Running 3rd party insurance
Close to 5litres of fuel+oil

"Reaction at home"
What! Why! Oh god! - even worse expressions too were showered on me by all family members.
They know for sure, I am going to sleep less, create mess on every available open space at home & carry annoying grin all around.
They were hell bent on returning the thing back to my uncle/ scrap the vehicle. After facing ressistance at home, all my josh reduced and I just parked the scooter outside my home and did nothing for first 2days.

Then rode the scooter around for 5kms on 3rd day and decided that I am not gonna let this one go. Upon removed the floor carpet, saw the horror, a big rusted hole in the main beam, spoke to Varun & Vinod a.k.a Nanofreak (on whatsapp), started to strip the vehicle.
Now I am midway in the dismantling process. I will have to go & buy new spanners, as engine is ready to be removed from the vehicle.
Also a new stand to be bought before handing over to the tinker, as current stand is short on one side and the retaining bolts are rusted to such an extent its impossible to remove them.

I have made a tentative list of parts to be changed & parts to be chromed.

Parts to be changed are:
Headlight
All indicators
All switches
Front brake shoes & brake wire
Front brake lever & clutch lever
All rubber parts
All bulbs
Center stand
Air filter
Rear brake shoes & brake wire
rear brake pedal
2 new rims
Front & rear shock absorbers


Things that will be outsourced:
Tinkering - Floor panel change
New foam & seat covers

DIY attempts:
Electricals
Painting
Dismantling & assembling


Already enquired with a few tinkers and managed to find one guy, expensive but sounds more genuine than the usual crook I depend on.
I will upload the photos with a bit of extra info about each part. Not decided what colour to go for though.
 
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Hi Anand,
You have correctly diagnosed the things to be done on your Cub, I want to touch on a few points, and provide some gyan.

1. The Cub is not 100cc
2. Bajaj never had a 100cc, but always 150cc engine.
3. When bajaj & vespa parted in the 70/80's the vespa 150 became Priya 150 with 3 gears.
4. Then they launched bajaj super with 4 gears & 8" wheels, and chetak with 10" wheels, all with 150cc engine.
5. Bajaj later came up with M80 moped/scooter with 14" wheels to compete with TVS moped.
6. Please don't chrome the engine fan cover, let it be painted, as if you carry a healthy person, or your rear shocker is worn out, this can touch the outside engine cover, and you can have earthing issues.

Regards
Vinod
 
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SS80

Congrats for the acquisition of cub and the restoration. I recall the cub to be 100cc, three gears. I’m also proved wrong. Anyhow your scooter is in pretty poor condition (The foot panel) and you would have to work hard to restore it to stock. Best wishes.


I had a 94 chetak purchased new for approx 23K and used it for nine years. It was a fine scooter. I would not have sold it but a mechanic ruined it. While adjusting the carb with engine working, he dropped a screw through the carburetor barrel, I suppose. It falls directly into the engine and I am screwed. Had to open the engine-a bent crankshaft or something. Sold it later for 5K in 2003.


Prior to that, my father had a Bajaj super 87, purchased new. Used it for just two years. It was a fantastic scooter.

Just to own a hand shift scooter, I bought a 98 LML Vespa in 2013. It’s still with me.
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Thread Starter #6
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Engine out.

Hi Panache,
Thanks for the support.

Yes this scooter is a bit of hard work for sure. Yesterday spent about 3 hrs, dismantled most of the scooter. Engine seems to be the heaviest component in whole of vehicle. Unlike lambretta, there is no pipe/main chassy as such. It's more like a monocoque construction.

Can you give me some hints on how to remove front fork & handle. All cables have been detached already.
 
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Bajaj Cub Electronic... back in time, one of my friend used to have this scooter, I borrowed it to run some errands. Normal Bajaj scooters had Engine kill switch at corner for horn pad. When I wanted to stop I was searching for the switch, which was missing. Had to stop it every time by releasing it on gear.


Later when I returned the scooter, he showed me a switch below the seat mount, and I was WTF !!


One more, rode Kinetic Honda for the first time, and in a panic situation was searching brakes at foot.. when at the last moment pulled the break may be reflexes worked for clutch !!


Super Nostalgia !!
 
Thread Starter #9
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Dropped the scooter for full body tinker and paintING at a garage. Lack of space and Night shifts are just not allowing me to do any major paint works. The garage is charging way too much money but he sounds genuine. Paid advance and dropped of all material to them. He was surprised to see all of these fit in my Estilo [lol]
 

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Thread Starter #12
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Visited the garage and found that the chassy is still with the tinker and yet to return to the paint shop. Spoke to the painter for 5 minutes and left the spot. Eagerly waiting to see the painted scooter now.
 
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Last edited:
Thread Starter #14
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Thanks for all the support guys:
Some decent amount of progress has happened so far
- Front fork, wiring harness, all cables are in - Me & a friend managed to do it
- Engine is cleaned and mounted back in position
- new suspension in place
Yet to figure out wire connections (inside the dikki).
There is a transformer and a kind of a relay, I need some pics of scooters wiring (any running bajaj scooter) just a click inside the dikki will be really helpful.



Few photos of the progress so far.


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