Vintage Dirt Bike Q & A

I just finished restoring the frame and swingarm on my '79 CR250.
I have plenty of finished parts to hang on it. Thought you might
like to see what it looks like before I "clutter it up" with components.

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1973 CR250M
1979 CR250R
1993 CR250R
2008 CR500R
2009 CR250R

Just like the motor; a real work of art. Great job!

Ray

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'74 CR125M (175cc), '75 MR175, '82 RM250Z, '08 YZ250F, '14 Zero FX electric, '14 Zero MX electric, '18 Alta MXR electric

Was it painted or powder coated? Did you do it yourself? Looks great.
Scott

very nice can't wait to see it with the engine in it. when it comes to being cool looking you the man !

How do you handle the model plate attached to the headstock? I assume that it has to come off for the frame to be sprayed or powder-coated. I can understand that one can grind off the backs of the rivets inside the steerer tube, but then what do you use to re-attach the plate after paint? My race frame lost it's plate during powder-coating, but if I do another I'd like to get it just right.

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Michael Stiles
1979 Honda CR250R Elsinore | 2006 Husqvarna SM510R | 2007 Service Honda CR500R-AF

Thanks guys.

After working on this resto for the last year, I'm beginning to see red if you know what I mean.

The frame and swingarm are powder coated and everything was done in (my) house. The only
thing I'm not doing is the cad plating that you see on the swingarm bolt. I was zinc plating
everything before, but zinc is not as durable as cad (going dull in a matter of months) and it's
not authentic either. When these bikes were manufactured, all the hardware was plated with
cadmium (still is). I finally found (after using three different platers), a first rate shop that does
outstanding work, with very fast turnaround (24 hrs in my case) for a very reasonable price.

To keep cost down, I do all the prep work on the hardware using a wire wheel, vibratory tumbler,
belt sander, polishing wheel, etc. By the time the plater gets it, all he has to do is plate and bake
and I get a bright, shiny, totally restored part back.

Below is a pic of the shocks I restored. The shock dampers were NOS but needed to be
repainted because of years of shelf wear. The springs were media blasted and powder coated
with gloss black powder. The spring seats were prepped and plated and the lower shock eyes
and cones were stripped, prepped and clear anodized. A lot of work and time but I think the
shocks looks and performs like they did when new ( no comments on how poor these shocks
performed when new).

It will be a while before the motor goes into the frame. I managed to bend one of the special
chrome bore rings (careless) when I was installing the cylinder and the shifter won't go past
third gear (maybe due to no oil in the tranny). Anyway, I have to correct these problems
before I put it all together.

dogger

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1973 CR250M
1979 CR250R
1993 CR250R
2008 CR500R
2009 CR250R

Michael,

I don't remove the ID plates to paint or powder coat.

Before I media blasted this frame, I masked the plate with blue painters tape and a layer of metal tape
to protect it from the media. Before powder coating, I masked it with high temp silicon tape to protect
it from the powder and to withstand the curing (425 degrees) temperature.

Like you said, it is possible to remove the plate. But to reinstall it correctly, you would need solid rivets
and a specialty solid rivet gun. I was too chicken and didn't want to take a chance of screwing up the
plate while grinding off the old rivets.

dogger

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1973 CR250M
1979 CR250R
1993 CR250R
2008 CR500R
2009 CR250R