Vintage Dirt Bike Q & A

Hey all, brand new here. Apologies for the noob questions. I picked up a Honda MR250 that has a strong healthy motor, but pretty wrecked suspension. The fork tubes are slightly bent. Both wheels are pretty trashed. I've thrown some new gas shocks in the back, a big improvement. Also trying to shed some weight.

It's a fun bike, but as I'm not planning to race it I was wondering if there is a straightforward way to upgrade the front suspension and possibly the front brake to a disc -- as long as I've got to get new fork tubes and a new front wheel. Its not a bike calling out for a restoration. I'd rather just make it more fun to ride.

Anyone have an idea for what might be a possible fit?

Otherwise I imagine I'll just get new rims (suggestions?) and order some new fork tubes and springs.

I like it. I'm curious what that pipe is from, or if you made that. Been wanting to make a new pipe for mine.

On the forks, if the tubes are bent, you might be able to get new ones from Forking by Frank. I've never used him, but know people that have. Mine were pretty straight so I sent them to Race Tech and had Matt Wiley put new springs and Gold Valve emulators in it. I'm racing mine with AHRMA in Cross Country. Seemed to help quite a bit, although I had to go up a step in oil weight to calm down the rebound. I also had them build me some shocks for it as well, they work great. So much better than what I had which were cheap Progressives. Those you have are probably pretty decent.

On rims, you can probably get some on ebay from the Thai/China dealers on there. I know a few that have used them and didn't have any issues with them, same for the spokes. A CR rim set will work, spokes will be different though, at least on the front. Think the rear is the same. I need to replace my front, it has a pretty nasty dent from before, but not bad enough to make it unrideable. A friend has a NOS CR125 complete wheel that I'm going to take apart and get new spokes to fit with my hub.

Oh, and CRF50 footrests will bolt right up to that if you're looking for a wider peg that's aluminum. Other than that, I don't know much else you can do so save weight since you already don't have the tool box. I tried using a plastic tank from a late 70's XR that worked for a minute, but it cracked so I went back to the steel tank.