Doug Henry’s Personal 1993 CR125

What’s up Vital 

Figured I’d get this all wrapped up before posting the full build in here as it was a surprise for Doug

This is his personal 93 CR125. This was a practice bike given to him by Honda littered with a bunch of unobtainable HRC parts. From what Doug was saying, at the end of 93 he took the bike down to the frame, stuffed it in the corner of his barn, and had parts robbed off it over the years for other bikes (even some HRC pieces 🤦🏻‍♂️). Between sitting at his first home, being moved to his second, it sat apart for 31 years until this summer. After a ride day at his track, a close family friend of Doug’s mentioned he was having trouble getting it completed and really wanted it finished for Doug’s birthday. From there I took it and brought it to my shop where I could lay everything out and take account of what we had and what was needed 

The big pieces were luckily still there. Factory Showa suspension, motor with HRC ported cylinder, Factory Nissian front brake setup, 90% of his race plastic from 93, Factory Bills pipe, and a few other odds and ends

The tough part was sourcing the HRC Linkage to fit the bearing clevis Showa shock, and a set of HRC Clamps (the original HRC clamps were missing the top clamp/bar clamps, as well as bearings/races which the team ran)

After picking it up in Mid July, our early September due date was just not possible with the kinds of parts needed and wait time for them. Triple Clamps had to be made and sourced out of England, bolts needed to be sourced for the HRC linkage, and the motor needed to be massaged as it was tired. 

While waiting for clamps and other chassis parts, I tore into the motor and replaced all seals, measured gasket thickness on the base and head gaskets to get a correct match, and matched it with a stock bore Vertex piston. After talking with Doug, honda setup this motor a little different than the race bike so he would get more time out of it practicing which made things a little easier to source parts for. 

Once I got the clamps in, I had to make a few tweaks to make them fit up properly with the forks. The bottoms were bored a hair too big, the tops too small, and the steering neck provided was too short. To fix these issues I had my machinist bore the top clamp, shim the bottom clamp, and I pressed a stock CRF450 stem in the clamps. A bit frustrating, but they came out looking just fine 

Once I had the bike rolling, the time came to fire it up. This came with a little difficulty as the plug that is ran with the cylinder setup was fouled and not available for purchase any longer. The bike would fire up when cold, but once warm it would backfire, pop, then die causing a scramble trying to figure out which electrical component to check, if reeds were cracked, etc. To get around this, I took it up to good friend Dennis Okeefe who runs Two Strokes Cycle and Sled in Southington who was able to match a BR9ECS to replace the original NGK plug marked “85”. Once we popped that plug in, it fired up first kick and ran great. Now all that was left was to tune it according jetting wise. 

Once I got it running properly, I did the shakedown up and down the driveway making sure it was good to go. The bike was built just for display, but Doug’s friend wanted it mechanically sound just incase he ever did want to pull it out for a vintage event. 

After that, I detailed it, loaded it up, and sent up to Doug’s place to surprise him with it. He was stoked on it! It was super fulfilling to see after all the hunting for parts, running around for spark plugs, and trying to make this part and that part fit properly. What an honor it was to work on a bike for what many people including myself call a hero! 

Thanks for reading, till the next one ✌🏼