Mullennix '02 CR250

Here's how she sits currently:

I have a lot of updates, but I'm finding little time to actually sit down and post them. I started a new job shortly after starting this thread, and haven't had more than six hours sleep since. I'm currently at a bar getting some last minute food and beverages before bed, as hammered football fans wearing jerseys with other dudes' names on them scream at the many screens littered throughout the place, and at each other. I have a beer in hand though, so all is well over here.

I was really looking forward to cleaning it up and making the pipe nice. But after looking at it some more, it appears a bit twisted up.



I may still fix it up if it's salvageable and keep it as a spare, but I didn't want to mess with potentially tweaked fitment or the crease still being visible after refurbishing as I want this bike to be pretty mint.

Parts availability at the time of typing this as well as the last year has been an absolute shit show, and looking for a replacement pipe wasn't proving to be easy just going through the big online sites. Out of stock everywhere, no ETA. So I got in touch with my good friend Jake at Pro Circuit (PC Jake) to see if they by any chance had a pipe for the '02 sitting around. Jake said they had four in the entire warehouse, so I claimed one.



Also couldn't resist, and had PC Jake get me a silencer to go with it to replace the blown out FMF silencer that came on the bike. I wanted to go PC on the whole system because I've always loved their products, and it came highly recommended by multiple CR bros I know.

Well boys, back at the bar after navigating the 91 today. Let's see what I can get out...

First thing I really started on was wheels. Rear wheel ended up having a foam bib of some sort in it. I didn't feel like dealing with it to begin with, but also didn't have enough tire irons to get it off. The nipples on both wheels were seized, and pretty chewed up. I hate the front nipples that come on Hondas (and Kawis), and couldn't justify trying to free them up to reuse. So I cut them all out.



I went down to FasterUSA and picked up some quality spokes and spacers from my old boss Colin. I went with Bulldog spokes and nipples for the front, and OEM Yamaha spokes for the rear. I think Yami spokes are extremely durable, and only went Bulldog on the front because the Yami spokes are too short for the CR front. But this gives me a light weight aluminum nipple setup that is still strong as hell.



My OEM spacers were very grooved out, so these Made in USA 7075 T-6 spacers should get me by just fine.

I want this bike to be clean and only trick looking when you get up close and actually see all the details.

If you look closely at the previous photo of the hubs, you'll see where I began shaving down the cast lines. This is something I used to laugh at people doing, but now that I've done that for so many people on their builds I can no longer deny the cleaner look it gives. The hubs won't be the only parts I do this to, and I'll be sure to get photos of that because I spazzed out and went to town on the hubs before I took any shots of them.

Here they are in my blaster, getting ready for some Cerakote. I have a very light grey I plan on using on most of the parts on this bike that I think some people might find too plain jane, and with how stock I want my wheels to look I was thinking of using it on the hubs as well. Some buddies are saying I should break it up a bit and go with some sort of bronze, probably on the lighter spectrum though. So I'm still mulling it over.





Acquired a set of basically unobtainable silver DID STX rims in a trade with my buddy Puffer at Sano Metal Finishing for some Cerakote work on one of his magazine builds. Take-off rims from Factory Honda. Never ridden, but quite a few tire iron scratches from when the tires were removed. You can't order silver STX's in the US, and even the LTX's have been out of stock for a long while with no definitive ETA on when we'll see them land on US soil again. Total score, right?



I went and buffed out all the tire iron marks with some Scotch Brite wheels on my polisher, and planned to blend it all in and make it match the finish behind the sticker as best I could. But then my buddy Robbie at my new job mentioned how he thought it was odd Honda's have come stock with 32 hole rear wheels for so long, while Factory Honda opts to use a 36 hole rear...

Went home and counted my rear rim, and son of a bitch. 36 holes that will not mate up to my OEM 32 hole hub 👎🏻

Luckily, Puffer is a cool dude and said he'd take them back to use on another non Honda build soon. My only option for quality silver rims at this point is the Excel Takasago, which wouldn't be quite as strong as these. I've ran them before though on a few bikes. Great rims, nothing wrong with them, just wanted something with a little longer life span. I haven't ordered any yet in hopes I come across another unicorn STX or second choice LTX in silver, but it looks like I'll be going with the trusty Excels.

Yeah, they work great. Lace up the same and everything.

Found some hours this weekend to begin degreasing and prepping some pieces for cerakote. These fork uppers are an exciting starting point, as they are in great condition. Very tedious removing all of the fork oil saturated inside, but very necessary so I don't run into problems during curing.



Got my linkage started. Removed the casting lines, and began removing the old internals.



So bad, appear to be the original Koyos from '02 though, which is consistent with the rest of the bearings I've seen in this bike so far. It's rough, but very unmolested. I like seeing that compared to pulling out a bunch of Chinese replacement bearings, which would make me really wonder just how many hours this bike has.



Took a lot of time degreasing and cleaning the parts prior to blasting. All the parts here (minus the fork upper, I have some cool plans for those) are going to be cerakoted a very clean grey, and should match many more parts on the bike when complete.



I ran out of plugs with the diameter I need to finish the fork uppers, but I've been meaning to order more of those anyway, so I'm ordering those tomorrow to hopefully wrap up the front end coatings this coming weekend.

I should be able to finish the rear shock body then as well, if Father Time is feeling generous. I had to have JB at Ride JBI press this top shock mount bearing out for me before I can continue any further, because I don't have a press just yet. I tried to make it work, but it's just too problematic during blasting, and it didn't feel fluid after the initial degreasing process anyway so we'll replace it with a fresh one after coating. I'll stick to my guns on the rest of the bike and not take lazy routes like this again.

Some shots of the forks coming together over at Ride JBI. Popped over there Christmas Eve and got lost talking suspension, flex/strength properties in metals, uses of carbon, all sorts of stuff. He's a plethora of knowledge and very informative.

I'll get better shots of the forks soon, but here they are with the cerakote all finished.







Went with SKF seals, I've had great luck with their seals in the past and haven't found anything else that compares.

With the coating portion of the forks done, it was time to turn my focus toward the rear shock. I ended up getting the shock body back from JB a few weeks ago, and only just recently found a few hours to reblast and Cerakote it bronze this past weekend. It was cold and dark when I went to clear it, and the clear I'm using is prone to runs. I need to be able to see everything going on, because I like throwing down at least a couple coats for durability. So I decided to hold off until this Friday, and will get photos once the clear is layed down. But every other part? I decided to get a little fancy, and as much as I tend to dislike polished parts on motocross bikes, I think these pieces should really pop once put back together and wrapped around the shock body. It shouldn't look too cheesy with how clean the rest of the bike will be.

Two step polish on these pieces:


Ordered my springs through JBI, and the shock spring came with a decent red powder from the manufacturer that didn't look too bad, and probably would've been just fine for the build. But I wanted something a little different, so I had Puffer at Sano Metal Finishing strip the existing powder off, and tumble polish the spring and rings. He ran it twice, and what you get is a clean but very raw finish, which I think is cool if done right. It exposes a lot of the pits and casting marks though, so it's not for everyone. He then gassed it out for me post tumble because the steel will oxidize in a heartbeat if left alone.



Here's how they turned out after tumble and gas out:



I laid down a couple coats of high gloss clear, and here's how they looked right after spraying:






And here we have the pieces fully cured, ready to install:





The clear coat actually smoothened the pits on the shock spring, and gave it a shine that makes it appear semi chrome from a distance. Once up close however, the preconceived bro-tions are appeased.

Dry abrasive blasting is mainly used to etch the part for coating. It gives what you're spraying something to grab onto. Vapor/aqua is more for a final finish, it uses glass media which will dimple the surface giving it that clean and soft shimmer. I sometimes will use glass media in my dry blaster for cleaning up parts.

Shock body clear turned out pretty slick. This will need a full five days to cure.

Just Burnt Bronze and High Gloss Clear from Cerakote

Here are the shock pieces waiting on that upper shock bearing to go together. Once that's in this week, my suspension should be done front and rear.

Awesome, copy away. It looks clean when done right. Good luck on yours.

JB finished up my suspension, and man am I excited to pick it up. He said everything went together smoothly, and he took these much better quality photos of it all complete. I'll get photos in the sunlight this weekend when I pick it up because I'm interested in seeing how the metal flake in the bronze with the clear layed over shimmer. JB seemed genuinely stoked on it, which is a huge compliment in my eyes because he deals with the latest and greatest when it comes to custom suspension.

I completely spaced on any natural sunlight photos whatsoever, but I took these after I picked up the suspension from Ride JBI. I am very happy with the end result, and I can not wait to put some hours on it. After riding a YZ125 with a quality revalve, setup for my weight and riding ability, it's hard for me to skimp out on areas like this anymore. It helps me feel automatically confident and comfortable on a bike, so it's a no brainer. But now that we have that functionality and logic nonsense out of the way, check out these Ti lug bolts:



CNC machined and 100% bitchin'. JB carries the gold ones I went with (my stock ones looked like shit, ok?), along with a really cool rainbow version that I wanted but only decided against for the theme of this build. You can order them directly on his website here Ride JBI -Titanium.







The shock:







The full setup.

Triple clamps getting the casting seam smoothened out, they will be going grey to match the fork lugs and many other parts on the bike. Continuing the theme of clean is the goal here.