Vintage Dirt Bike Q & A

After a long period (about 5 years ...) experiencing all stages from desperate hunting, let go, searching incidentally, getting proactive and so on ... I finally ended up owning a 74´CR250M Elsinore. Definetely not easy at all if you consider that I live in germany ... so let me say hello to all of you and use the chance to apologize my english ...
Back to my problem (don´t know if it is one): the Elsinore that proudly sits in my garage now is a true survivor. All original, good overall condition. Aged and used, of course. I´m not sure yet, but i think I will restore it during the winter. No problem – if there was´nt the fuel tank. It´s all original alloy with original paint and stickers. Unfortunately it has – like most of them – some shallow bumps, nothing really serious. When searching through the net, I found more than one restored CR having a tank painted in silver, which looks very nice overall. Now I´m torn apart what would be the best way to do: leave a dented original alloy tank on an otherwise restored bike which might look inappropriate? Or revise and paint the tank, ending up in a nice and smart look but being "incorrect"? What option would you prefer?
Thanks to all
Markus

_________________
half-baked things are the sure way to a life unfulfilled: http://hlx500.com

Markus, How about posting some pictures of the bike. Remember they are only original once so if it's in decent shape and just needs some TLC they I would leave it but if you would be happier with the bike restored then I would restore everything.

_________________
1973 Honda Elsinore CR250M

Here is that little hero:









Left side of the tank is ok, right side you can see what I mean ...

Markus

_________________
half-baked things are the sure way to a life unfulfilled: http://hlx500.com

Markus, If it were me I would do a total restoration. Nice bike, looks like just about everything is there. Joe Abbate in California does really nice work on tanks. You can find him on Youtube and Facebook.

_________________
1973 Honda Elsinore CR250M

By the way, the bike looks pretty much original except for the muffler or "pickle" support is incorrect.

_________________
1973 Honda Elsinore CR250M

looks like the kickstarter is a later year and so is the points cover, plus its missing the chain guide and front number plate.... but it's beautiful as is and I would leave it (unless you have $5000US spare dollars to give to make her perfect)

Thanks to both of you. I knew about the chainguide and the muffler stay. If someone has a source for these, I would appreciate. Actually there was a number plate mounted, but it was an ugly 75 black/red replica, which I ripped off instantly to make the bike look better. By now a new silver/green substitute is on it´s way ... What I did´nt know is the wrong kicker and the points cover. What are the differences? Can someone post a picture? Many thanks for your support.

Markus

PS: I checked the Joe Abbate links. Looks like he really makes a good job, but the prices are outstanding. I recently stumbled over a site offering perfect looking alloy replicas for reasonable prices. I have to look after that again and will come up with a link.

_________________
half-baked things are the sure way to a life unfulfilled: http://hlx500.com

the kicker has 5 rings then the end nub, the points cover is flat says Honda and doesn't have the bump in the center

kicker; http://tenwheel.com/imgs/a/a/i/r/j/1973 ... _5_lgw.jpg

points cover; http://www.vintagefactory.com/1973%20Ho ... %20015.jpg

this bike is in a good used condition near to original.
and it showes it´s life!!!! i won´t restore it.
just do it in a technical perfect condition.

marcus, das moped hat ne schöne patina. so was findet man kaum noch.
hingefrickelte und überrestaurierte gibt es zu genüge aber gute originale sind selten.
für die optik würde ich nur den sitz neu beziehen. bei den lackierten tanks haben die leute idr. die dellen nicht raus bekommen und da ist spachtel unter dem lack.
erhalte bitte die cr so wie sie ist.
chris

_________________
80 CR250Ra
80 CR250Ra
78 CR250R
80 CR80
82 Bultaco Sherpa 340
78 Bultaco Pursang 250 MK12
76 Bultaco Frontera 370 MK10
76 Bultaco Alpina 250
73 Bultaco Lobito 125 MK6
76 Suzuki RM125A
90 Kawasaki KX250

@bolly: thank you for sharing that knowledge. You´re right: I´ve searched the web today and found my kicker and magneto cover on photos of 75' elsinores. Brings up the next question: does the covers interchange? Or is there probably a complete 75 engine mounted? Are there any more details that could identify the engines year of manufacture? As I already found out the engine numbers are not very informative ...

@b-joe: yes, deciding this is always the problem. I think I will go somewhere inbetween: smooth resto with keeping and conserving the charming signs of time. The crucial point will be to observe limits ...

Markus

_________________
half-baked things are the sure way to a life unfulfilled: http://hlx500.com

I'd apply some Semichrome to that tank...wunderbar results so use sparingly. Maybe on the yellowing edges first.

_________________
Austin, Texas
73 CR250M - in restoration
69 - Z50AK1

a long time ago, an older man that worked on bikes all the time told me of a "trick" to get dents out of a tank ... i have never tried this and would not do it for the first time on the tank you are going to use, but if you can get another metal tank you could use it as a test ... he said he would fill the tank with water and freeze it letting the water expand the dent out ... he said it had to be done more than once for deep dents

An old man once told me"If it ain't broke,don't fix it!"
I would leave the dent and just enjoy!

_________________
73' Honda CT-70
77' Honda CT-70
78' Honda XR-75
80' Honda CR80R
85' Honda 350X ATC
75' Yamaha GT80A
73' Kawasaki H1 500
76' Kawasaki H1 500
76' Kawasaki KZ900

Very nice bike.
If it were mine I would find a good complete original pipe, kicker and points cover.
I would also look at the possibility of either an original chain guide (everywhere) or, better yet, the aftermarket one made by ...Jastco...?
If you're going to ride this bike you might consider brass bushings for the swing arm pivot too.

Rick

Before I offer any advice, what do you intend to do with the bike. Will it be a rider/racer or do you want to display or show it? The reason I ask this question is I did one of these years ago. The resto (my first ever by the way), started out as a rider and ended up being a dust collector due to
the amount of time, money and the scarcity of replacement parts. If you have a plan for after the work is done, it will be a lot easier to decide how far and to what level you are willing to go.

With that said, one of the unique parts to the CR250 is that alloy tank because the CR125 came with a steel tank. IMO, it would be a very bad idea to bondo over that dent (dents) and paint. The tank on my Elsie was far worse than yours, so I had to get up to speed on how to reshape
Aluminum. I ended up fabbing up a jig to hold the shape and then cutting my tank open at the original weld so I could hammer out and smooth all the dents before welding the tank back together. This probably isn't for the faint of heart, so you might want to source this work to
somebody, like has already been recommended.

Restoring an iconic bike like this is a journey and will have you pulling your hair out in frustration at times, but it is all worth it in the end. I still find NOS parts for mine and replace or upgrade what I had, the most recent was a NOS set of spokes and nipples for the front wheel.

Good luck and have fun with it.

_________________
1973 CR250M
1979 CR250R
1993 CR250R
2008 CR500R
2009 CR250R