build

It is not a 95/96 bike but a 92/93 one.
Enjoy the re build!

judged by the front disc, fork, swing arm, rear wheel and airbox it's a 95.

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Parts look good, did you blast them yourself? The swingarm looks like it had more work done then just the blasting, the sides are usually all scratched up.

Very nice! On the crank Is there a reason you don't want to stay rebuild stock? I run my 96 in vintage here and there, ran if often a few years back and am still on the stock crank as the day I bought it used over 10 years ago.

The airbox is a dead giveaway that its NOT a 92-93.Looks like a 95 , Some of you pin heads shouldn't be allowed around MX bikes.

You do not want a Wiesco crank.
How much was soda blasting? I have a cheapie Harbor Frieght soda blaster. It's an effort but I like the results.

Please excuse my ignorance, who did you get the graphics from and are they available for a CR 500 91-01? Soda blasting looks great!

Nice work Dan...keep us posted as you go along mate.

Thank you, I'll ask him.

If you're still looking for the Honda Racing clutch and ignition covers,
contact the seller from this Ebay link. He has repro covers for both sides:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HONDA-RACING-HRC-REPLICA-CLUTCH-COVER-CR125-CR-…

Here's a set on one of my motors:




Frame looks good.

Good luck with the build.

dogger

loving those graphics! btw I have a nos works pc pipe if your interested, prob would of benefited you more before you sent the platinum 1 away! lol sorry! also have nos apico alloy frame guards,cheers

>95 cr250 have 43mm kayaba forks

Incorrect. The '95-'96 have identical, 46-mm open-bath (I.e., no Twin Chamber, which was a Showa patent).

The single best change you can make to this entire project is to swap an entire '97-'08 Showa CR125/250/250F/450F front end on. You'll need to align bore the '95 lower clamp, but you can use whatever Honda top clamp you prefer, the '00-'01 top clamp is a bolt-on and has rubber-mounted mounts. Less weight overall; much improved braking; reduced unsprung weight with INFINITELY better fork action, vastly improved rigidity, readily available parts, etc. etc. etc.

If you run the later-model forks you in effect will have the forks that were on the actual works bikes.

>I'm starting to get a few parts together now including bearings, clutch, piston, water pump kit, plastics, crank, and a few other bits and pieces.

I've done a lot of research on this for my '93 and '95 replicas. Hot Rods make the best crank kits, Vertex the best pistons (there are a couple of others, but Vertex is generally the most accessible).

The issue with Wiseco on these bikes is that they've tried to stretch the dollar on their molds and tooling, so that in many cases they are using thrashed molds for their components-- so it's hit or miss on their reciprocating assembly stuff. In particular, their pistons are notorious for rattling. (Don't take my word for it, do a search "Wiseco piston rattle.")

On the other hand, their clutch baskets seem to be pretty good and are a lot cheaper than the billet Hinson stuff. Clutches were never a weak part of these year Hondas, so you could even go with a reconditioned stock basket, depending on the hours.

Have the reciprocating assembly balanced, the cases matched, the jug ported and head indexed to the Vertex piston. This is what 718 is building on my '95 Henry replica, and typical dyno pulls with this combination are in the 48-49 HP range. All of this, parts and labor included, run about $950 US.

You can add a Vforce 3 reed valve and a PWK Air Stryker carb from a 2000 CR250 from Service Honda, but those really fall in the category of tuning and rideability, not really track performance.

Any of the aftermarket pipes are going to produce an indifferent result on these motors, possibly accepting Bill's Pipes. The PC Works pipe (which I run on both the '93 and '95), doesn't make a noticeable difference from stock. Looks a lot cooler, though. The biggest change would be a shorty silencer and AFAIK these are unavailable.

> CR250 1995 Kayaba 43mm

go to www.racetech.com and see for yourself

There's a great joke in the '80's movie, "Spinal Tap." The clueless lead singer says, "I believe everything I read, basically."

I've had several suspensions tuned by Race Tech. Unfortunately, the information on the website is incorrect. Of course, I'm just going by what I took off the bike. What came off the bike were 46-mm KYB open-bath forks. But what do I know? Between myself, my buddies Chris and DJ, we've rebuilt something like a dozen '93 and '95-'96 CR250s. Several of DJ's rebuilds are documented right here on Vital.

So since I'm not the only one who's done the swap on a '95, I'm sure that others will chime in. (Cam Potter?)

The 125 may have had 43mm forks, but on the '95 CR250, the forks were 46-mm KYB open bath. Some of the pictures of my '95 with the swap can be found in the earlier McGrath replica thred.

Anyway, the late-model 47-mm Showa TC swap is cheap and completely worth it for those who've done it.