2001 CR250 $pecial restoration

I got this 2001 new in August 2000 in Saitama, Japan. I got it when the Seki-Motoroman Racing team got theirs from Honda, so it was one of the very first 2001's out of the factory. They are an HRC supported satellite race team that has had championship riders like Narita and Atsuta.

I have had a lot of bikes over the years, but this was one of my favorites of all time and could never let it go. I prefer riding it over the $25k 218lb titanium riddled CRF450 in the garage next to it. Best 2T 250 engine I have ridden, great handling. The only thing that was not good on this model was the forks with severe mid-stroke harshness. The race team had a contract with Kayaba for works suspension and I begged Kayaba to sell me a pair but they refused. I finally got Showa to sell me some works forks and they dropped it ofd at the Race shop before heading over to the Honda MX track which was just 10 minutes away where they were revalving the suspension for the Honda factory team a few days before a national race at the Honda track. I ran to the race shop and picked up the forks and brought it to the Showa tech while he was at the track and they set the valving for me (in Japan, the Showa truck will drive out and set up the suspension for the factory riders at each track). He got it absolutely perfect the first shot and by far the best set of forks I have ever ridden on. With these forks, the 2001 CR250 was perfect. The 2002+ turns very slightly better, but nothing major, and had better valved forks out of the box, but the last generation case reed engine was a big negative for me, so the 2001 was the pinnacle of 250 2T fun IMHO.

At 57 and after 47+ years of MX, I am winding down on the riding, but keep several bikes to look at and tinker with in my man cave. This CR250 still looked pristine after 17 years, but I wanted to really go through it and preserve one of the last great 250 2 strokes for someone to ride after I am long gone. The bike was completely stripped down to the frame and prepped with 220 grit sandpaper, red 3M pads and WD40. I then spent about 2 years and several thousand dollars finding discontinued NOS OEM parts, many which are no longer available from Honda, and that is probably what makes this special from your typical restoration which have lots of aftermarket parts. I found the OEM parts in the US, Europe, and Japan. Every piece of plastic on the bike, including the fuel tank and seat, as well as radiators, and a complete NOS rear suspension linkage are brand new OEM pieces. Some were very hard to find and I had to pay top dollar for the discontinued OEM parts. Most of the hardware, cylinder and cylinder head are still available and I purchased new OEM parts here, too, even though the original parts were still in great shape. There are a few HRC pieces on the bike too such as the ignition cover. The bike should look and run better than showroom when I am done. Hope you enjoy the build pics.

Here is a pic of some of the NOS OEM parts. Some are already on the bike.



Here is the new rear linkage found in the parts bin of a race team in Europe.



I even went as far as replacing the compression valve on the rear shock so that it would have a fresh red anodized adjuster like it would off the showroom.



Here are the works Showa forks;