Posts
230
Joined
7/5/2012
Location
Benson, AZ, USA
Edited Date/Time
10/30/2026 7:10pm
Please delete if this has already been shared. I just thought it was cool so I thought Idshare it. https://silodrome.com/honda-cr125r-elsinore/?shem=dsdf%2Csharefoc%2Caga…
John
I saw that on Facebook the other day. Beautiful bike.
23" front?
yup
The Shop
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
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".
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
By switching to a 21" front setup, what other modification were needed? Did it work better?"
Ill gladly pay MSRP.
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
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.
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.
Pit Row
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
Another thing to take into consideration is that the baby boomers that would be buying this motorcycle are also a dying breed of blue collar workers who could retire with an old fashioned defined benefit pension worth millions not even counting their 401(k)’s. Those dudes have money to burn.
That is some serious coin! Pretty cool piece of moto history.
More than that. About $1,500 OTD.
1 of many misconceptions popular for bashing people based simply on when we were born. My wife was born 1951 and me in 1958. We both worked entry level low pay jobs starting in our teens. My 1st "on the books" job was 1974 and I made a whopping $1.75/hr. many more like that followed. No pensions anywhere in those. Always worked and went to college at same time after high school. I got an AS degree from Jr college in 1984. It was Computer Technology, and jobs still paid crap- no pensions. Wife was on same path long before I knew her. Met her at work in 1990 and we had a 401k, low wages and no pensions.
$401ks were not some big $ giveaway programs to make people like us rich- you had a deduction out of each paycheck paid directly into the account pre-tax and if you were lucky the company would match some % of your contributions (ours didn't). I left that company after 2 years and cashed out the 401k to get the massive $2k sitting there to pay living expenses. 2nd time I did that. I job hopped every couple years after that and wife stayed put. Got decent pay bumps at each new company- and a voluntary 401k with no pension offered. Ended up at a pretty decent tech company late 1990s that matched 401k and a pension after you were employed 5 years waiting period. Just after my 5 years Motorola bought out our company and had a pension program and 401ks. A few years later they broke the company into several divisions including cell phones, internet-based technologies and some additional radio-based products connected to their main headquarters in NJ. I got transferred to that division internally but not geographically. Anyone that got moved had their previous pension paid out immediately and they started us in a brand-new Motorola pension program. My payout was a measly $5k and your 401k was merged into main Motorola. I stuck it out for 10 years there and quit with $63k in my 401 but left it there. The pension froze in time and you had to wait 25 years because it was an annuity.
This is getting long but after a career break, I ended up at Nokia with great salary and 401k with huge matching and bonuses every year. When I turned 50 IRS allowed extra "makeup contributions" in my 401 annually. That job lasted 10 years until Microsoft bought Engineering group I was in along with Smart Phone division. I lasted 2 years before burning out and retiring at 56 in 2014. And those 2 401ks I had? they took a 50% hit during the "Great Recession" and housing market crash in 2006-2008. I didn't panic and just left them alone and got rewarded when the economy came roaring back starting in 2009. I recovered everything I lost and rode the market up not touching any of it while it doubled and tripled by the time I retired.. Wife had stayed at her former company for 40 years and also had her 401k fully funded the whole time and she retired same time as me with a disability income. We never did end up with millions from the 401k, IRAs and no pensions. Between her disability and eventually IRA withdrawals and my savings + 401k then IRAs we made enough to get by in San Diego and the exploding housing market gave us a nice equity bump too. We knew staying in CA would cost a lot more in retirement, so we moved to another state that was far more affordable and then SS kicked in as our main form of income to cover all our basics and then some.
Sorry for the hijack but the idea Baby Boomers got handed everything in life is a huge lie and many of us had nothing handed to us but worked for what we have and got lucky along the way too.
Not bashing boomers RD . I’m at the tail end of it myself. Sounds like you and your wife worked your asses off for your retirement, congratulations . Just stating a fact that there are many of us out there that were fortunate to be offered pension programs that are no longer available to the currently working generations. I don’t see anyone other than a baby boomer spending that much money on that motorcycle. I actually bought the RM 125 that year. The only part of that history that I’m trying to relive is riding as often as I can , but on modern motorcycles.
No, I apologize. It wasn't about you or directed at you. It was the "baby boomer" thing. I think we get blamed for so many things we had nothing to do with and it's been going on for 20 years and people just accept it without thinking. I shouldn't have addressed that frustration here in this forum.
I have a few old photos on the 79. Honestly, mine had a good motor. I know some say it wasn't fast, but I was good starter to begin with and got a lot of holey's on it. Here at Canyon, first turn right hander.
Post a reply to: New in crate '79 CR125R