'76 CR125 Elsinore race build help... now with links

9/15/2020 9:13pm Edited Date/Time 9/16/2020 6:32am
People like Kevin and builds like his CR make it all worthwhile. His bike is top notch- the choices made, the attention to detail, and craftsmanship...
People like Kevin and builds like his CR make it all worthwhile. His bike is top notch- the choices made, the attention to detail, and craftsmanship. All there.

I hope it rips as good as it looks, Kevin- fill us in on any races you've done. Then let's do another one!
I will be at Glen Helen next Tue the 22nd for jetting, suspension set up and practice. Race is at GH the 12&13 of Oct Report to follow. Here are a few more pics of the final updates

'80 cr125 kickstart reshaped to fit


Billet brake torque arm from Stevie Denton


Denton Stainless & hollow rear axle


Denton billet pipe hanger






3
9/24/2020 7:42am Edited Date/Time 9/24/2020 7:47am
So I went to Glen Helen to set up the suspension and finish jetting. When I jetted at home (5,000 ft) I ended up with a 37.5 pilot, needle 2nd clip from top and a 260 main. It wouldn't clean out on the top with a main jet higher than 260 and would just blubber from being way too rich. Seemed about right as most people recomended a 280 main - 300 for a 32 Mikuni.

Since GH is considerably lower than 5,000 ft I put the 270 back in and started there. It ran, but again was too rich. I really had to slip the clutch to keep it screaming or it would load up (especially coming out of two soft dirt turns on the REM track that has you turning up hill. I went back to the 260 and it definitely ran better, but one slight mistake in either of those turns and if I shut the gas off and whacked the throttle from completely off to wide open it would bog really bad and load up (doesn't do it on the stand) and you had to pull the clutch in a rev the shi@t out of it to get it cleaned out. Basically it lost all bottom end

I was thinking of going from the 37.5 pilot to a 35 pilot and placing the needle clip in the center and starting there. Anyone have jetting experience and recommendations for this bike at GH?

Race is in three weeks on the National track. The way the bike is running now, one mistake at the bottom of either uphill and I ain't going up - that's for sure

Some pics from practice


4
10/13/2020 3:51pm Edited Date/Time 10/13/2020 3:54pm
Winning the FPMX Vintage Championship title at Glen Helen came with a price.... but it was worth it... The bike ran great!






6
PK97
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10/14/2020 5:36am
Good stuff!

The Shop

10/14/2020 6:03am Edited Date/Time 11/18/2023 12:21pm

Forgot to update the jetting/engine problem. It ended up the bike was 1.5mm too advanced. It was bogging down low and had no snap coming out of deep turns or when I pointed it up a steep hill. Once we got the ignition timed right (about 2.3mm BTD) it came to life It still had to be absolutely pinned and screamed to the limit going up those big hills on the National Track at Glen Helen, but as long as you kept it in the pipe, it ripped !

1
neverwas
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10/15/2020 1:24pm
Thanks for the update and congratulations on the win!
Hasletjoe
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10/18/2020 10:55am
Jake, congrats on the win and building such a nice bike. I see some Ti stuff and was curious if you weighed the bike after you were done? Also I read your main/pilot jet sizes. Do you happen to know what slide, needle and needle jet you settled on?

I assume the blood spilled was when you wife learned of the cost of some of these items! Just cause I am a good guy, I could store that in my shop if you like!!!!

10/18/2020 12:56pm Edited Date/Time 10/18/2020 1:02pm
Hasletjoe wrote:
Jake, congrats on the win and building such a nice bike. I see some Ti stuff and was curious if you weighed the bike after you...
Jake, congrats on the win and building such a nice bike. I see some Ti stuff and was curious if you weighed the bike after you were done? Also I read your main/pilot jet sizes. Do you happen to know what slide, needle and needle jet you settled on?

I assume the blood spilled was when you wife learned of the cost of some of these items! Just cause I am a good guy, I could store that in my shop if you like!!!!

Ha! If my wife knew what I spent on that thing I would have two black eyes! The parts you see on the bike that look like Ti came form Phil Denton Engineering in Whales. Stevie Denton, Phil's son made the parts for me at special request. I decided not to go with Ti as the bike $$$ was adding up fast. The parts are stainless steel. Also, some of the dished bolts and nuts are from SpecBolts. Those parts are nickel plated.

These were the two jetting specs I used as a guideline. They should work for either a 34 or 32 Mikuni
Joe Newman's
slide 2.5
needle 6dh2 clip 2nd from top
needle jet 159Q0
pilot 35
main 300

Harry Klemms DG
Slide 2.5
Needle 6F5
Needle Jet 159Q2
Pilot 40
Main 280
1/2 Turn out on air screw

I ended up using the Joe Newmann's recommendations as that was the set up that worked best in my bike. I did call and speak to Harry Klemm. He was honest when we spoke and said, I know those are my specs, but I truthfully I don't remember anything specifically from that time.

On Joe Newmann's specs I ended up running a 270 main jet at Glen Helen. GH is at 2,200 ft in elevation and it was 100' temps for the race so I went a little on the lean side. I think a 300 main is pretty fat (maybe on a cold day at sea level it would work). I ran 110 VP mixed with 87 leaded alcohol free gas. I mixed 2 parts VP to 1 part 87 leaded. The bike ripped on essentially a 2nd over barrel, with only slight clean up done to the ports. The air screw was about 1/4 to 1/2 out.

As far as keeping the bike in your shop goes... We can definitely work something out! I built the bike to race it and sell it. I have now raced it at GH and I raced an Arizona Vintage Racing Association in Casa Grande. I won GP1 125 Expert 60+ and took 2nd in GP1 Open Expert 60+ in Az. I have done what I set out to do, so it is time to let the bike go. I put over $8,000.00 into it and all I want to get is $5,000.00 for it. I have a completely restored stock '76 tank that has never been on the bike that goes with it. The rest of the bike is still near perfect condition with a few minors scuff on the ignition side cover and some paint worn off the clutch side cover. I put 3m paint protecting film over the forks and down tube and I am happy to say they came out perfect after three days of racing.

As expected there are a few very minor light scratches on the plastic, but I very diligently spent hours ceramic coating every part of the bike - plastic, cables, every nut bolt spring, levers, bars, grips, rims, spokes, hubs - everything and it shows. There is absolutely zero oxidizing on any of the metal parts. They all still look new.

Anyways, I haven't officially put it up for sale, but I hope to list it in a few weeks on the usual places - Marks Vintage Swap meet, Face Book groups - Honda Elsinore 73-80, Honda CR Elsinore Two Strokes, Elsinore 73-81 and Vintage Motorcycle, Parts & Memorabilia For Sale Group. I am putting the word out now to a few friends and racers as I hope to avoid all the calls from people who aren't serious buyers when I list it publicly.

So to answer your question... Yes, you can store it in your shop... but it's going to cost you... lol
1
neverwas
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10/22/2020 2:05pm
Hasletjoe wrote:
Jake, congrats on the win and building such a nice bike. I see some Ti stuff and was curious if you weighed the bike after you...
Jake, congrats on the win and building such a nice bike. I see some Ti stuff and was curious if you weighed the bike after you were done? Also I read your main/pilot jet sizes. Do you happen to know what slide, needle and needle jet you settled on?

I assume the blood spilled was when you wife learned of the cost of some of these items! Just cause I am a good guy, I could store that in my shop if you like!!!!

Ha! If my wife knew what I spent on that thing I would have two black eyes! The parts you see on the bike that look...
Ha! If my wife knew what I spent on that thing I would have two black eyes! The parts you see on the bike that look like Ti came form Phil Denton Engineering in Whales. Stevie Denton, Phil's son made the parts for me at special request. I decided not to go with Ti as the bike $$$ was adding up fast. The parts are stainless steel. Also, some of the dished bolts and nuts are from SpecBolts. Those parts are nickel plated.

These were the two jetting specs I used as a guideline. They should work for either a 34 or 32 Mikuni
Joe Newman's
slide 2.5
needle 6dh2 clip 2nd from top
needle jet 159Q0
pilot 35
main 300

Harry Klemms DG
Slide 2.5
Needle 6F5
Needle Jet 159Q2
Pilot 40
Main 280
1/2 Turn out on air screw

I ended up using the Joe Newmann's recommendations as that was the set up that worked best in my bike. I did call and speak to Harry Klemm. He was honest when we spoke and said, I know those are my specs, but I truthfully I don't remember anything specifically from that time.

On Joe Newmann's specs I ended up running a 270 main jet at Glen Helen. GH is at 2,200 ft in elevation and it was 100' temps for the race so I went a little on the lean side. I think a 300 main is pretty fat (maybe on a cold day at sea level it would work). I ran 110 VP mixed with 87 leaded alcohol free gas. I mixed 2 parts VP to 1 part 87 leaded. The bike ripped on essentially a 2nd over barrel, with only slight clean up done to the ports. The air screw was about 1/4 to 1/2 out.

As far as keeping the bike in your shop goes... We can definitely work something out! I built the bike to race it and sell it. I have now raced it at GH and I raced an Arizona Vintage Racing Association in Casa Grande. I won GP1 125 Expert 60+ and took 2nd in GP1 Open Expert 60+ in Az. I have done what I set out to do, so it is time to let the bike go. I put over $8,000.00 into it and all I want to get is $5,000.00 for it. I have a completely restored stock '76 tank that has never been on the bike that goes with it. The rest of the bike is still near perfect condition with a few minors scuff on the ignition side cover and some paint worn off the clutch side cover. I put 3m paint protecting film over the forks and down tube and I am happy to say they came out perfect after three days of racing.

As expected there are a few very minor light scratches on the plastic, but I very diligently spent hours ceramic coating every part of the bike - plastic, cables, every nut bolt spring, levers, bars, grips, rims, spokes, hubs - everything and it shows. There is absolutely zero oxidizing on any of the metal parts. They all still look new.

Anyways, I haven't officially put it up for sale, but I hope to list it in a few weeks on the usual places - Marks Vintage Swap meet, Face Book groups - Honda Elsinore 73-80, Honda CR Elsinore Two Strokes, Elsinore 73-81 and Vintage Motorcycle, Parts & Memorabilia For Sale Group. I am putting the word out now to a few friends and racers as I hope to avoid all the calls from people who aren't serious buyers when I list it publicly.

So to answer your question... Yes, you can store it in your shop... but it's going to cost you... lol
I'm interested and serious, sent you a PM
swatdoc
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Temecula, CA US
1/9/2021 8:27pm
Havent been on vital for a while. Just saw your post. Great looking bike!
1/9/2021 9:03pm Edited Date/Time 1/9/2021 9:06pm
swatdoc wrote:
Havent been on vital for a while. Just saw your post. Great looking bike!
Haven't been here in a while myself. A few more pics from the Race at GH.


2
LWC307
Posts
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Location
AU
2/7/2021 1:18am Edited Date/Time 2/7/2021 1:26am
OldPro277 wrote:
Only ONE guy to take advice from on that bike -- Joe Newmann. However I will tell you that Ohlins or RaceTechs are far superior to...
Only ONE guy to take advice from on that bike -- Joe Newmann. However I will tell you that Ohlins or RaceTechs are far superior to any Works shocks. Works are cheap,and easy to find but there is a reason for that. I actually have several sets of Works on some of my bikes ,but on the 6 serious Vintage racers are exclusively Ohlins Piggybacks. All that being said, a well set-up set of Works will be much better than the stockers . Good luck, have fun, and email Joe.

One last thing, If you're looking for the hard to find go fast goodies for any vintage racer , put a " Wanted" ad on Marks Vintage swap meet site. I have 100% ALWAYS found what I was looking for on all of my builds, no matter how obsolete or impossible to find the part has been,
Really???? maybe you can find me,an Aftermarket head (PDI, T&M, FMF, Ocelot, Webco, Al Baker, DG etc) for 76-78 RM250, Fox Factory or Lop swingarm for 79/80 RM250/400, Mototek CD-125 ignition, Fox Fork kit (alloy damper rods) for 77-78 RM125 or 78 RM250/400, any 80's Simons catalogs, CH Industries catalogs and Lop catalogs, 1976 and 1977 Fox catalogs (can be copies), White Brothers/Profab billet triple clamps and Torque Engineering exhaust for 77-79 Suzuki TS250. Have been searching over 10-15 years for all that stuff and cant find any of it and will give an arm and a leg for most of it!

Back to the topic, even though i am a suzuki guy i really like the MR175 (was reading up on them today actually and looking for threads to read and is how i came across this one) at least when they are modded with all the goodies. I agree with other comments, Ohlins are way better than Worxs shocks. I had a really nice DG head for MR175 that i sold for i think $400 USD about 3 or 4 years ago. Was a hard sell, no one really wanting one back then and now in the past few weeks i have seen multiple guys wanting one.
swatdoc
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2/20/2021 6:20pm
Curious what did you have to do to get the aluminum’80 Kickstarter to fit/work?
2/25/2021 4:34pm Edited Date/Time 2/26/2021 1:27pm
swatdoc wrote:
Curious what did you have to do to get the aluminum’80 Kickstarter to fit/work?
Well, there are two ways to go. I happened to pick up a nice "80 kickstarter, but from what I understand all the XR400 owners who want to replace their crappy steel kickstarters have been driving the prices up on the '80 CR125 kickstarters so they have become hard to find and ridiculously priced. The other way to do it is like the kickstarter on Broc Glover's '75 CR125m. That requires both a '97 & '82 CR125 kickstarter, but it may be easier (and cheaper to find the parts).

The '80 lever will bolt on straight away on a 75-78 CR125 kickstart shaft, but the issue is that the back of the alloy kickstarter will bind on the front edge of the brake lever as you kick through the stroke so clearance has to be made. I had a machinist friend of mine make three mods. First he milled down the area in black I highlighted on the picture of the '80 lever. I don't remember how far down I went but I want to say it was just shy of 18mm + or - a few mm. For a point of reference the kickstarter uses a ball bearing that presses against the shaft and ID of the alloy kickstarter. The knuckle shaft has a hole in it wear the spring and the ball bearing sit in. I had the lever machined down as low as I could go towards the ball bearing hole in the knuckle shaft, but still allow for enough space for the washer and clip used to hold the lever on to the knuckle to fit.

There are two pressed in seals on the top and bottom of the alloy lever that seal the knuckle shaft to the lever. If I remember correctly I removed the upper seal and had him machine down to the bottom lip of where the seal was pressed in (maybe a teeny bit further). I did not use the top seal, but still used the bottom seal. I used a file to reshape the kickstarter as it transitioned down to the newly lowered base to create a smooth factory look.

You also have to lower the knuckle shaft and machine a new groove for the clip that holds the kickstarter to the knuckle shaft. Before machining the lever down, however, I measured the distance of the clip groove on the knuckle shaft where the clip that holds the shaft onto the knuckle was from the top of the alloy kickstarter to the groove so I could replicate the same distance on the shaft after it had been lowered.

After mounting the kickstarter I found the clearance was still super tight and did not allow for the kickstarter to fully swing through the stroke without hitting the front edge of the brake lever. You can adjust the brake lever up so there is more clearance between the lever and kickstarter, but it will leave little adjustment if you are near the end of a stretched cable. I used a file and removed about 1mm - 2mm of aluminum off of the brake lever so the kickstarter did not bind. (See area marked in red). I still needed a little more clearance so I filed and chamfered the top of the knuckle shaft above the clip as low as I could go. In the end, it worked perfectly!

On Broc Glover's CR125 Dallas Nyblod did the work. I contacted him and asked him how he did t. This is what he told me:
Using the 82 knuckle and 97 lever I machined the the ID of the aluminum lever larger to fit the larger 82 knuckle post. I could have also tried to machine the 82 knuckle post to fit the aluminum lever but I chose to open up the aluminum lever instead. I also had to machine the groove (smaller groove od on the knuckle post) so the screw that holds the kick assembly together would fit and be able to allow the lever to rotate to the start position when starting the bike. The first knuckle I modified I this groove by hand. The pictures sent are of the the first one I did to see if I could make it work. The second kick assy I did I used a keyway cutter to machine the groove. The first aluminum lever I machined I kind of messed up. It still works but not the best. I also machine the top of the aluminum lever as much as possible to help with the brake pedal clearance. I still needed to re-work the brake pedal for more clearance. You can see in the picture of the set up being used on the bike I removed the grease zerk fitting to help with clearance. It's tight but works okay.

Dallas had the same issue as me and when he installed the kickstarter. The top and back of the alloy kickstart lever bound against the front of the rear brake lever. He told me he used 80 grit sandpaper to remove material from both the brake lever and kickstart lever.

Here are the pics. The first two are of my mod. The second two are of Glover's mod. The last picture shows how wide Dallas made the groove on the knuckle shaft to work with the '97 lever.




Glover's








swatdoc
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2/25/2021 6:35pm
Awesome thank you. I have a machinist buddy that should be able to do this for me!

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