New in crate '79 CR125R

I saw that on Facebook the other day.  Beautiful bike.

23" front?

yup

yeah, Honda was always trying to innovate and frequently experimenting to get an edge. This 1 didn't work and many people switched back to 21".

Ah that brings back memories.  When I got my 79 CR125R I was working at a Honda shop and I uncrated and put my bike together.  Because I was working there I got the bike for dealer cost plus shipping.  As I recall that was ~$950?

I think the 23" would have worked if one had been able to get a 3:00 x 23 Metzler MX/Enduro front at that time.  As it was I was one of the many that switched to a 21" front at the end of the 79 season.

I’m so old I can remember MXA’s report on it. They said that Honda’s argument for the larger front wheel was that a 23” front tyre wouldn’t fall into a hole that a 21” tyre would. But MXA countered, “What if your track has 24” holes?”

So cool! Sending this to my father in law he rode for Pasadena Honda from 74-77 I believe 

$70,000

Did you do the frame mod to change the head angle?

By switching to a 21" front setup, what other modification were needed? Did it work better?"

Ill gladly pay MSRP. 

Yes.  Al Baker's FMF did the frame mod the winter after the 79 season.  But I did do one race with the 21" front before the frame was modified and the bike turned like a SOB.  But the head shake was bad in braking bumps.  So I knew I had to get that frame done.

The '79 CR125 is a big part of my MX story.  It was my first factory support ride.  Honda was not fond of us making changes to the bike.  They did let me run Works Performance shocks.  And midway through the year, they provided a set of custom triple clamps to run a 21 front.  My biggest complaint on the 23 was the lack of good tires.

What, you didn't want to run the "Claw Action" tires. 😁

When brand new, they worked ok in softer terrain...  but they sucked at Saddleback no matter what, not soft enough.  The bike was actually pretty good once it had the 21 and Metzelers on it.

The 23" just looks goofy to me . That alone would make me want to switch to the 21 lol 

DFW Honda had many leftover in 1980, me and 2 buddies bought 3 of them for $600 each OTD.  We thrashed them hard too!  

I raced one. Over that season I swapped the 23 for a 21, some light port work, larger Mikuni, DG head, and Fox Airs out back. Fast. But still wasn't as settled as the RMs I was trying to beat.

The 1980 CR125 was much changed over the 79.  Then the 81 CR125 was changed even more.  Honda making up for making very few changes to the CR125 1976 to 1978.

Man, $70k is insane.

crazy, I had one of these, bought it off Marty Smith. I want to say 1981 ish. I was to young to understand it, but definitely remember the 23" front wheel. If I remember correctly the hot tickrt eas to send the carb needle to Al Baker to get re shaped, which I did. Dont remember much else. 

This is how I raced my 79 CR125R in 1980.  I did the DG head like you did, it helped the power drop-off when hot. And I did some mild porting also.  Along with the 21" front and frame mods I had Works Performance "Supercrosser" shocks and a fork kit from Al Baker's FMF.  @TalinH112 will recognize those mountains in the background.

Original MSRP ? Would have it been $1000?

How many years will it be until something like this is pretty much worthless? 

It’s an interesting debate. 

The people who appreciate this are now aged 65-80yrs old. 
Once that generation have passed, will younger generations be passionate enough about it to pay the big money? 

I’m 46yrs old, and if you offered me that ‘79 CR for $7k (10% of what it sold for) I’m still not interested enough to buy it. I’d prefer to spend $7k on something that is meaningful to me. 
And likewise, someone who is 20 years younger than me won’t value the item I’m passionate about- they certainly won’t see $70k value in it. 

Sounds about right...paid $650 for 1974 CR125