1990 VRP Mugen 125 - rebuilt

wow-what a beauty! Awesome bike. I don't know about those years. But honestly would leave it as is. It looks great! Congrats.

Yes i got it fixed. As i wrote (and also showed) my german Tuner Mr. Tisberger is a old school techinician and a specialist in doing such work. I'm in Switzerland/Europe too so sending parts out to have them fixed would be time consuming and get too expensive with all the shipping involved...Tisberger is in the south of Germany , not that far from Switzerland

I just spent the last days of riding in 2018 down in Italy. It's the nearest track from Switzerland, just about 20 minutes across the border. BUT as it turned out during the night before they had -5 degrees Celsius ( 23 F) and so the ground was bonehard and frozen. We had to wait until like 11 o'clock to be able to hit the track. So you had the top melting but underneath it remained frozen and slick. So cornering was a bit tricky and you see me leaning on berms on the very outside to change direction or crossing lines as in the grooves it was as slick as ice....

But anyway - i did a video MIX between my 1989 racebike and my AF (CRF chassis with 1990 Mugen equipped engine).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfbuzUJMuQ4

My 89 Racebike with tuned stock engine:


The 89 engine...it looks bonestock however it is really a powerful 30 year old powerplant


I got some nice colours on my italian Messico exhaust...

It's been quite a while since i've posted here...so here's a little update:

A little over a year ago i finally got hold on yet another 1989 VRP alloy chassis kit. Years ago it was a small group of friends and enthusiasts who asked Carlo Verona, the main man at VRP, to do us some replicas of his original aluminium chassis of back in the day. To tell the truth-at first i was strictly against it as it takes away some of the glamour when there's more such bikes around. Up to that only 12 such chassis got made and i owned two of them. One is still in my possession-that's the one pictured further ahead in this topic.

Anyway - it took him almost 5 years to finally have them ready. So we had an appointment in the VRP headquarters in Italy back in February last year and we met there. For me it was like 27 years i haven't seen Carlo. We were good clients back in the day. From '87 on i had gas tanks and subframes on my CRs, then we had full VRPs and ran his chassis for 3 seasons and had alloy gas tanks and subframes up to '92 still. In '91 he also did me a full race engine as he always said he could do better than what Mugen offered...What most don't know is that Mr. Verona is not only doing chassis parts but he is actually doing some of the fastest twostroke engines on the planet! His engines are now multi-time worldchampions in boat racing. And back in the day he also did a full 500cc GP Roadbike (Chassis & engine). I already showed it in this topic as well

So here's a pic of a engine in a corner of his workshop...this little 125cc makes 56 HP !!


Me and Carlo Verona last year


...and getting the chassis from the man himself:


Some final touches...(check those 125cc cylinders on the bench)


Cardboxes full of individual parts:




So here's the beauty all laid out in my garage:


I then went on and started ordering the missing parts...i already had a lot of parts ready to go but doing such a build from the ground up you obviously need a whole bunch of parts:

I plan to build this bike as a 1990 model with HPP engine to be used in the swiss vintage championships where you can use bikes up to 1990. I already have a 1989 VRP, so this one should be slightly different and i hope i can push/convince myself to actually race it. I have a completely rebuilt engine ready to go. New crank, bearings, clutch...you name it - everything new. Also a 1990 Mugen kit is ready to be installed:


Just the other year i was lucky to get hold of a 1990 Mugen fork kit. The outer box looked pretty used...but the parts inside were actually brandnew and have never been mounted!!


So i bought a set of used 1990 USD forks for no money and had everything sent to my preferred suspension specialist: Poletti Suspension it Italy. So i now have completely rebuilt Mugen Showas, all fresh inside and ready to go:


New lower fork guards, stickers, front brakeline holder....all new:


Problem with those 1990 forks is, that they have the axle thread inside a separate collar which was completely rusted. Obviously this part is no more available...


...so i had several old and rusty parts put in vinegar...it's impressive what simple vinegar is able to do:


...not bad after just some vinegar:


So the forks, triple clamps and axle setup is ready to go:

Let's have a closer look at some welds and details on this VRP chassis....again - i'm not sure if i can really force myself to use that bike for racing. It's such a beauty and the assembly is taking quite a bite and you care for every detail...just to have it put in ugly conditions? Hmm...needs to be seen

Well - if you have spent hours,days,weeks,months...in the garage and in the net to find parts and refurbish every angle...you might think different. At least i do. I had this happen 3 times already

I fisrt rebuilt my VRP and had a hard time to actually use it. I did just one race for the italian vintage championships in 2015 and that was it:


That's when i decided i needed a "stock" bike to compete in those races so i built myself a nice racebike. Same story...all new from the ground up...and the 1st race was a mudder! I was lucky to get a holeshot but the track was pretty muddy that day and not what you want to put your "brandnew" bike through...


So i decided i needed another "stocker", a practice bike for such conditions. I wanted to do just the minimum just to get a good, rideable bike...well - i had a 3rd bike completely redone from head to toe. Mugen engine, Mugen suspensions...everything.

Anyway - 3 builds later i still don't like to put them on muddy tracks. None of them

And now i will have a 4th Vintage bike and will again have a hard time to even bring it out to a track:

Back in the day weight was not of a concern. Never was. I would say for more than 99% of all motocrossers weight isn't considered an important factor regarding Motocross. Only when looking for a new bike you see those numbers where KTM usually beats all the concurrence by several pounds. But throughout the year i have never heard of someone choosing a part because it weighs less than an other...

Anyway - after i quit my active racing career in '98 all my focus went to bicycles. I trained all my racing career on bicycles and really found a "replacement" activity riding my bicycles after MX: MTB and roadbike alike. Since i was accustomed to wrench on my motorcycles i kept this alive and started improving my bikes. Soon i found out that lighter weight dramatically improves the performance of a bicycle. It went to a point where i became obsessed with shaving weight on my bikes...i even had parts made in Asia and also sold a lot of lightweight parts worldwide. I also invented the "tubeless-kit" (no more innertubes...but instead liquid sealant inside the tires). That's all because of my obsession to loose weight.

So when i put my focus back on my Motocrossers back in 2012 this obsession carried over. Now almost every part goes on the scale before beeing mounted. I also put up a album on Flickr where i have put several items on scale on display:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ottospeed/albums/72157673197341717

As mentioned before i managed to save over 8,5 kilos (18,5 lbs) on my CR 125 AF...the difference on the track is HUGE ! Those who ever threw a leg over a 125 know the feeling you have when riding a light bike...well - if the light bike is even lighter you can imagine what this does...my main concern was to help my "outdated" CR 125 HPP engines to keep up with the new and modern machinery. I wanted to still continue racing my old Mugen engines but had to look for a way to get more performance out of them elsewhere...over here in Switzerland i usually race against guys of my age but they are all on modern 450s. So to keep up with them using a 30 year old 125cc engine is not a easy task

Opposed to a tuned engine which is faster in acceleration only a lighter bike offers 4 advantages:
-a lighter accelerates faster
-a lighter bike can brake later
-a light bike handles more agile, lets you change lines with ease
-a lighter bike tires you less, is easier to control.

Lot's of talking here...let's see some weights:

Stock steel chassis of the 1989 CR 125 on scale - 8,25 Kilos




VRP aluminium chassis on scale - 7,3 kilos

Everyone expecs this bike to be much lighter than a stocker, right? Well that's not the case. t's only now that i care about weights that i weigh not only my full bike but also individual parts. The full VRP i had weighed basically the same as did the stock CRs i always had as well. Back in the day the VRP was my racebike, with Mugen equipped engine etc...but i always had stock bikes to train with, to put the hours in. My VRP basically did only the races.

Anyway- since the VRP weighed about the same as my stock bikes, i always thought there was no weight advantage of the aluminium chassis. But as you can see above, that's wrong. The chassis is indeed lighter. However, it's the other parts as gas tank and rear subframe-airbox combo beeing heavier which ruin any possible advantage:

'89 VRP aluminium gas tank inkl. shrouds:


Stock '89 gas tank incl. shrouds...465g lighter (over 1 lbs) !



My 1989 VRP on the hanging scale - verified 94,1 kilos / 207,5 lbs



Now let's see my " stock" 1989 Racebike which i actually use for vintage championships these days - 91,0 kilos ( 200,5lbs)
I managed to save over 2,5 kilos on this one without going too crazy. The Italians require stock looking components so too fancy carbon etc is forbidden. Nevertheless i managed to save quite a bit on the old lady as well. At first i mounted a aluminium VRP gas tank on this one as well...but seeing the weight disadvantage it had to go.

Well - we will see if we are able to come over...Covid makes everything a bit uncertain.

We just had the "European Vintage Cup" at Maggiora the other weekend but it was me as swiss rider and two germans as the only foreigners...it was basically an all italian championship race with 350 riders and many different classes.

But racing at famous Maggiora was just impressive. Maggiora was the most impressive track i've ever raced on in 35 years of racing. The scenic track with its massive up- and downhills, then they added some 30m tables and doubles...big waves....not what you expect a vintage track to look like. The week prior to our race they had the top of the italian riders & some guys like Gajser, Van Hoorebeek etc racing on that same track. We expected that when they rebuilt the track they would smoothen some of the waves, tame some ramps of these huge tables etc...NOT SO ! They left the track exactly the same. So we raced on a modern track with huge obstacles but on vintage iron

Here's my start in the 2nd heat...i'm No 137 in 6th gate from the right. I almost had the holeshot but was 2nd for the rest of that lap...in the end i was lucky to get 2x 5th for 5th overall. I did only 3 days of practice since last october which hampered my performance big time. I was just in "survival mode" all day long and barely could hang on after just 4 laps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuu1VuZbSpc

The famous jump which i call the "O'Mara Jump"...you go up steep and jump over the table right into a angled and steep downhill on the other side...massive! Back in '86 o'Mara had his 125 all whipped tough...


27 meter double here:


the same from the other side:

Here's a lap around Maggiora...onboard with our class winner Ivo Lasagna.

It just starts with the 30 meter table of the finish-line....and check the "O'Mara jump" at around 55 seconds...you get the point
He jumped all those huge jumps...but at his 40 years of age i might have done so as well. Well - not anymore. I did the 30m finish-line jump and that "O'Mara"...and the doubles but there were two other huge tables with no real space to get enough speed to clear them. At least not enough that i felt safe enough to even attempt them.

As always - the GoPro footage doesn't show the steepness of those up- and downhills nor the steep angles of the jumps and the landings...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI6oB3tqPZA

The sound of the bike in the video above on tha lap in Maggiora? That's not mine...and honestly - it doesn't sound like a fast bike but the guy still smoked us alltogether.

By the way - he is No. 191 and in the start i posted he starts from the 4th gate on the right side...as mentioned...i think his bike really wasn't the fastest at all.

I just found some pictures which show you guys the steepness of the terrain much better than what it seems through the GoPro footage.

View from above...this was after a steep uphill with long waves...on top a sharp left and then you faced this lip:


Steep downhill and sharp 180 at the bottom...


This is the downside of the "o'Mara Jump"...the face of the jump was as steep ...25m lenght on top...then this landing is angled to the left going down reeeeaaally steep. That's the jump where Romain Febvre crashed and bent his handlebar a couple years ago...

Here's the italian vintage series promoters own video. The very beginning shows the whole Maggiora track & surroundings...in one word: spectacular !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU_UrhriLiI

My start is at 15:50

How comes i like this screenshot ?

yes- those years Honda was definitely the leader in the class and those bikes are also pretty durable. Hard to beat so most serious racers choice. I am racing 125 CRs since '87 so for me it was a no brainer.

I just lately found pictures of myself of the day i rode my '89s for the 1st time. It was in the french part of Switzerland. I always had two bikes...one later got the VRP aluminium chassis




That year i also raced indoor races on wood which typically took place inside velodromes all around Europe...here's a picture of myself at the Zurich indoor...check the huge, banked curve in the rear of the picture! We actually did it in 6th gear pinned....so at over 100 km/h / 65 miles...it was one of the most impressive moments in all my MX career. Going through that turn in 6th gear full throttle. At the exit it was like somenone took off the floor under you as the angle of the bank is designed for bicycles speed at like 60-80 km/h...at 100 you were leaned over almost fully vertical and you had such G-force that i had my chin pressed onto the barpad. You barely couldn't hold your head up. So at the exit of the corner the track got flat but we were still at full lean angle so you always had this huuuuge slide coming onto the straight. All on wood at max. speed. That's about the time Supermotard / Monobikes started. MX on pavement...scary


Here's a old video of such a race:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOHqY-R-4x8