WHAT IS IT? 1990 HONDA CR250R

WHO? Buzz

WHERE DID YOU BUY IT? Market Place

HOW MUCH? $6,000

WHY DID YOU BUY IT?

I used to race back in the 80’s on two-strokes and they’re in the blood. I stopped racing as many did, to save up for a house. Mr Motocross was huge in the day with all the great riders coming to each state and I was in awe of these riders. After many years riding on the road, the bug bit again so I bought a Yamaha T700 and joined SAMA. I had great time but got hurt a couple times and lost time off work so I sold that but the dirt bike bug was still there so I started searching for an 80’s/ 90’s motocross bike.

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO IT?

This bike has been totally stripped and repaired. As many old bikes do, it looked great until it was stripped, sandblasted and the engine pulled apart. Many people bring the bikes back to new OEM but I wanted to go that one step further. On YouTube I had seen Craig Dack’s Peter Jackson Yamaha 250 and thought that was the one to do.

After some searching a 1990 Honda CR250R appeared on Market Place so bought it and a lot of thought went in on how to restore it. This is the first time I’ve restored a bike so the trick was to find some really good people to give the right advice and do the job correctly the first time. Craig’s bikes always looked great so I thought I’d better do a great job to show respect and even though it is a 1990 bike, I wanted to make it look like a 1987 Championship bike.

Competition Conversions did all the repairing of the frame and swing arm, things like flat spots, rust and gouges and engine work. I also had alloy plugs made up for the swingarm to replace where the rubber plug linkage bolts go to replicate the 1987 bike and the crank had a new rod fitted and all seals and bearings were replaced. I tried to get as many genuine Honda parts as possible but some of the parts aren’t available anymore so I tried to get the best aftermarket parts available.

I wanted to run a works style pipes so bought a DEP pipe and muffler which looks and sounds trick, and ended up buying a Keihin 38mm Air Striker carb which gave a few headaches. Panel Garage Crash and Classics did a great job painting the tank, frame and plastics. The wheel hubs were restored and then sent to 727 Moto to fit Excel Gold Rims and O/S stainless spokes. Hoey Suspension Services put the shock, fork, linkages back together after the fork outer top tubes were lightly reground and polished as they were badly scratched and pitted. The lower tubes were re-chromed and K-Teck supplied new springs.

HOW DOES IT GO?

It took about 15 months to build and once finished, I had Kym at Competition Conversions put it on his dyno. I didn’t really care about horsepower which was 44 at the rear wheel what I really wanted was a crisp sounding two-stroke which it is. This is the only running time it has had at the moment.

WOULD YOU RECOMMEND BUYING ONE?

I took the bike to the ProMX meeting at Gillman for Craig to see and sign and must admit, I was a bit nervous meeting him for first time properly and was really proud for him to see and sign it. I think he was a bit rapt that I went to this much effort and quality. It got a lot attention from other teams and people over the two days which is a bit humbling.

5 UNIQUE THINGS ABOUT BUZZ AND HIS BIKE

1) It originally came from the USA

2) Nearly every internal engine part is new.

3) All the bolts, alloy parts and brackets were either chromed, polished, two-pack painted or replaced with new.

4) The rear spring was the only thing powder coated.

5) Nearly all the electrics on the bike were changed.