Posts
308
Joined
2/25/2015
Location
Saint Louis, MO
US
Edited Date/Time
1/25/2016 8:23am
I enjoy picking up Craigslist finds and doing moderate work on them in order to bring them back to life and into the moto world. Got 2 bikes as a package - '04 KX125 (needs work) and a 92 CR250. The CR was rough... and I mean ROUGH! Gas tank rattle canned with major overspray on everything.
I went ahead and started tearing it apart, found the cylinder is shot and the extra cylinder is waaaay overbored so much that there are no pistons that would fit unless I did more cylinder work. Debating on which cylinder to tackle, but in the mean time, sent the frame off to powder coat a fresh white and start the grueling task of trying to get rattle can off all of the parts.
I will post a few other pictures along the way but going to be a long, hard road for this build.
I went ahead and started tearing it apart, found the cylinder is shot and the extra cylinder is waaaay overbored so much that there are no pistons that would fit unless I did more cylinder work. Debating on which cylinder to tackle, but in the mean time, sent the frame off to powder coat a fresh white and start the grueling task of trying to get rattle can off all of the parts.
I will post a few other pictures along the way but going to be a long, hard road for this build.
Your in the right place for info on this bike, its pretty much all here.
Tip; I always powerwash & degrease the living shit out of the bikes before the teardown. Just makes life easier. The current rm125 Im building was spray bombed too, the powerwasher/degreaser took care of at least half of it!
I am sure I will be scouring Vital posts and asking for some tips along the way.
The Shop
frame is straight and you have or have access to the parts you need, are willing to put in the time and effort and have a
realistic budget, you should be able to save another iconic CR from the scrapper.
It's a little late now, but I always tell folks to take a lot of pictures of the bike before they tear 'em down so you know how it goes
back together. I see you already have a Honda service manual. Many of the parts are still available, many are not. The best
source for replacement plastic is UFO, they are the only ones that still make the florescent Red, though it's the "93 florescent
Red. EVO MX sells a nice copy of the seat cover. Best way to get that overspray off of things like your upper fork tubes is
aerosol brake cleaner and a rag. Reded had a good tip on restoring some of the hardware. I don't recommend doing that for
critical bolts like engine mounts, handlebar mount, brake calipers, etc. for safety sake. Pretty much all the hardware is still
available from Honda and since we're talking OE steel bolts, it's not like they cost that much. Clarke makes a nice White
replacement fuel tank but you're going to have to spend some time restoring the airbox. The White airboxes are iconic for
the 92-95 CRs and new ones are long gone.
As for the cylinder, best stock cylinders for the CRs are 2001, 2000, 1995 and 1999 in that order. If you decide to use anything
other than a 92-96, you will need to change from a dome to flat top piston and have cylinder head work done to compensate. If
you don't want to mess with another cylinder, you can have the two you have now resleeved with Aluminum sleeves and then
NIKASIL plated to bring them back to good as new condition. Doing that will allow you to use OE Honda pistons which are
really good.
I've been restoring a '93 CR250 to showroom off and on for the last two years and I'm surprised at all the parts that have
become obsolete. This means you will have to spend some time on Craigs list, Ebay and the like looking for good used parts.
The '92 CR250 is a worthy resto candidate. Take your time and enjoy the journey.
dogger
dogger
something has to be grounded or torqued. Here's a couple of pictures of a brand new just out of the box '93 CR250 frame.
You can see all the mounting points Honda masked before painting.
dogger
Pit Row
@Lane-O103 Isn't that the truth! St. Louis and the surrounding area Craigslist ads seem to be where many good bikes go to die! I have gotten some diamonds in the rough there but plenty of rough to choose from.
Also found some original 92 Acerbis side panels at a great price (they even have the original decal to go with). I will likely get the Acerbis front and rear fender since these are already aftermarket ones on it and go with the UFO shrouds.
(only using the tank from this and possibly shrouds if they clean up)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/191541866449?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPag…
The Clarke tank is slightly off-white but it's not noticeable with all the nuclear red on the 92-94.
IMHO these are the best looking bikes Honda ever made, exceptionally engineered, easy to maintain and with high-quality components. I have restored bikes of all four makes (five, if you count my 200SX project), and my experience is that NOTHING can touch Honda quality. It took the other brands a decade and more to catch up in terms of component quality.
These bikes are a huge part of moto history. All you have to do is look at all the steelie builds and there is virtually nothing on similar years' Suzukis, Yamahas and Kawies (excepting the Pro Circuit/Splitfire replicas).
There's Dogger's '93 build on the All Things Moto site, and Col's 1996 McGrath replica build here on Vital. Read together, these will tell you *everything* you will ever need to know about building these bikes.
There are a surprising number of newer parts that not only interchange or can be readily made to work on the 92-96 steelies, you also get the advantage of easily available parts, better performance and lighter weight -- and you won't have to invest a lot of time in restoring worn out components. Clean and re-zinc the odd fasteners. Dogger has a great point, it's a good idea that stressed parts like the linkage bolts, engine mount bolts, etc. should be replaced for safety.
Personally I would never trade my '93 or '95 for anything. Once you've built yours, you'll likely end up feeling the same.
The older Acerbis fenders are pre-drilled (not always the case with UFO), and seem just a hair lighter in shade than the UFO.
I have an NOS OEM '95 rear fender on my '93, and the front fender Honda is selling as "Nuclear Red" on the front, but plan on putting Acerbis fenders on, front and rear .. Looks like they will be closer to the shrouds and side numberplates, which I was lucky enough to find as take-offs on eBay -- paid $150 for the entire set, in the Honda bags no less. That was a great score.
Other details are easier to find than you might think.
TAG's rear sprocket is pretty much a direct copy of the Renthal Team Honda sprockets of this era (pretty much? Actually they ARE complete copies), and run in the ~$70 range:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/TAG-METALS-REAR-SPROCKET-50-T-WORKS-HONDA-CR-CR…
You can find high-polishedRenthal bars on eBay easily if you search "Honda CR handlebar Renthal" and sort by price -- the older hi-polished ones will generally be used and in the ~$55 range.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/381177559573
You can tell this is one from the early 90s because it has Renthal's product numbers stamped on the clutch side. The "cloth" (actually, drip-dry Rayon) covers on bars that make it from these years are dingy, but clean up quite well with a lot of soaking and stain remover if you carefully look over to see if no scratches or tears before buying. The bars themselves can be readily restored (you generally just need to polish them back to remove the wear).
Here are pretty good reproductions of the team swingarm decals:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/121387038974?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPag…
The late-model Ti YZ/YZ-F footpegs are readily available and cheap! It's a well-known "secret" they interchange
http://www.ebay.com/itm/161616954472?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPag…
That should get you started! I've seen late-model CRF combined rear master cylinder/reservoir swaps. Look into that and you may be able to avoid the whole mess of dealing with cleaning and restoring your rear M/S, the reservoir and associated plumbing -- saving weight, too.
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