New here

[Jamtwo]

Hey Dirt Bike Addicts, I'm Josh, just joined up here. Got my second bike yesterday, a 1989 Honda CR250R. I've been wanting to ride for a long time, I picked up 70s Yamaha enduro last year from a friend and since riding that I knew I wanted more. I'll be kind of restoring the CR over the winter, right now it only really needs a water pump, but I plan on cleaning the whole thing up to get it dirty in the spring. I was looking for a good forum to lurk and probably occasionally get some support from and it looks like I've found it. Anyways, that's that and here's a picture of the new bike.

 

[PALMER84ONE]

Welcome to DBA.

Nice smoker, there are a couple honda smokers here and one that has done full restorations on them lik I do on the YZ.

Kick it, have fun.

 

[SRAD97750]

Welcome! -BIG DAN

 

[Jamtwo]

Thanks guys! Anyone know if it's possible to update the plastics on this bike to a slightly newer year? My buddy was able to use newer plastics on his yz125 and I was wondering if I could use like 92 plastics?

 

[Redordead89]

Ooohhh xxxxxxxx
Shiiiiiiiiver damn it!

 

[Redordead89]

Hey Dirt Bike Addicts, I'm Josh, just joined up here. Got my second bike yesterday, a 1989 Honda CR250R. I've been wanting to ride for a long time, I picked up 70s Yamaha enduro last year from a friend and since riding that I knew I wanted more. I'll be kind of restoring the CR over the winter, right now it only really needs a water pump, but I plan on cleaning the whole thing up to get it dirty in the spring. I was looking for a good forum to lurk and probably occasionally get some support from and it looks like I've found it. Anyways, that's that and here's a picture of the new bike.

Welcome to DBA.

Nice smoker, there are a couple honda smokers here and one that has done full restorations on them lik I do on the YZ.

Kick it, have fun.

Maybe Jims bike one day might find itself a new home in the east end of Glasgow, never say never so may yet get to ride one of your rides maybe but until then keep em smoking baby

 

[Redordead89]

Thanks guys! Anyone know if it's possible to update the plastics on this bike to a slightly newer year? My buddy was able to use newer plastics on his yz125 and I was wondering if I could use like 92 plastics?

I have only went full project on one bike (89 cr250) so a newbie in the rebuild game really!
Cr500 up til 2001 is similar so might be worth a look! Might have to modify mounts but it is a dirt bike and should be doable at the end of the day!

 

[Jamtwo]

Thanks man, the main thing I want to change out is the seat, the current seat is a little too banana style for my liking, even a 91 seat from a CR250 is much better in my opinion. Looking at the two, it looks like the mounts in the front are very similar if not the same, the two tabs in the back look the same two but I obviously can't tell just by looking at a picture online.

 

[CDA JR]

Hey welcome!! yeah i saw a dude this last weekend race one of those on a track similar to the works series. They can still rip! I'm starting to see the older bikes pop up all over the place! good luck on the build!

 

[Redordead89]

Thanks man, the main thing I want to change out is the seat, the current seat is a little too banana style for my liking, even a 91 seat from a CR250 is much better in my opinion. Looking at the two, it looks like the mounts in the front are very similar if not the same, the two tabs in the back look the same two but I obviously can't tell just by looking at a picture online.

If you can find clear pictures of the rear of a 91 tank where the seat mount bolt is and a pic of a 91 subframe to judge if the seat locator lugs are the same then you could do it, however if the seat bases are the same (89+91)
you could just use the seat foam from a 91 and recover it!

This might be a helpful link with free microfiche access!
http://www.cmsnl.com/honda-cr250_model219/

And this might keep you busy for a little while ;-)
https://www.bikepics.com/members/redordead/89cr250/

 

[Redordead89]

Hey welcome!! yeah i saw a dude this last weekend race one of those on a track similar to the works series. They can still rip! I'm starting to see the older bikes pop up all over the place! good luck on the build!

Hey Dustin, about the right time of year to drop one on the Chrimbo wish list

 

[Jamtwo]

Thanks red I'll take a look around. After comparing until I could no longer, I got a graphics kit for a CR500 on eBay for $60 shipped. The panels from the 250 to the 500 look almost identical so I figured I'd take a shot and get those. Funny that your bike is numbered 88, that's the same number I'm going with, sticking with the birth year, I suppose since you're in the U.K. we can rock the same number though! [emoji106]

 

[Redordead89]

Hey bud, the 88 numbers were put on before I bought it and the dude that sold it to me swore it was an 88!
This was good for me as the 88 was worth less than the 89 at that time!
It ended up without numbers in the end with just a few small decals here and there with new backgrounds!
It would be worth considering an earlier complete front end as the 89 forks are a bit crap, 86 and 87 forks were considered the best overall and great to ride with so if you're going to spend any money on the front end over the winter maybe look about for an earlier front end to spend the money on!
Only reason I didn't go earlier front end was to stay true to the USD forks, with a little twist with the gold 91 cr250 upper fork tubes!

 

[ossagp]

Those first USD's were in need of developement for sure. My 88 and 87's had/have virtually the same ones other than the 87's had heavier springs. in 89 the 125 still came with the conventionals and I have a set of those that work as well as any of that lineage did if not better, all they needed was heavier springs to do so.

on my older frames, updating the forks to something newer in the line of 46 or 47 mm legs wasnt very satisfactory. the frames really were not intended for the stiffer fork legs, and the shorter steering stems kind of exacerbated the problem(s) it seemed. the upside to going with newer ones was better damping though.

the 89's just worked better on the conventionals and it is easy to find them still. Mugen made a kit to convert those to where you had damping on the compression side too. SUDCO had them for 250 USD the last time I looked.

 

[Jamtwo]

Well made a bit of progress the last couple of days, I pulled all the plastic yesterday to wash it all up, painted my number plates, threw on some new odi grips. I added my numbers, had to custom fit some of the graphics, some fit, some didn't, going to check out a black 91 CR250 seat this weekend so there is something to look forward to. Anyways, thanks for all the help and advice so far, here are some pictures for you guys.



After some cleaning up and adding the numbers.



After I got my graphics on, hopefully more pictures and progress this weekend.