Vintage Dirt Bike Q & A

I recently decided to restore my 74CR125M and dont know about the tires,I got one of these for my 14th b/day back in late 73 and think it had Cheng-Shin knobs on it but I cant remember that. The one I have now has Bridgestones on it and they appear quite old but I really want it all original. Any help on this will be appreciated, good closeup pictures of these old puppies are hard to find. Will be posting pic's as I go. Unsure of parts for sale here but I'm hunting some plastic's if anyone has them silver/green side covers are needed for the 74 model.

Mike

Stock tires for the 74-75 CR125 were 275/21 front & 350/18 rear Bridgestones. Good luck finding those tires. Keep your eyes out on e-bay for side panels you might run across some oem's or some real nice panels.

Good Luck.

I am still confused on the original tires for the 74 Elsie, I really think they were ChengShin knobby's rather than Bridgestone, maybe bridgestones were on newer models.

I have actually found both sets and have bought them, one seller claimed NOS Cheng Shin Elsinore tires which were 3.50x18 and 2.75x21. If I remember correctly although it was 33 years ago, my elsie had the chengshins. Have checked alot of websites and still cant find the info.

Thanks for any help

The OEM tires were Bridgestones. Cheng Shin was never used by the OEM's as a supplier. You see a lot of Cheng Shins on restorations because they are one of the few tires available in the odd sizes that were used back in the 70's. At least they protect the rims from the ground.

If you can get ahold of the Honda parts microfitch for your 125, it should tell you what came on it. My MR 250 shows Bridgestone, my TL125 shows Nitto and Bridgestone, Cr 250m,m1 and '76 shows Bridgestone and another unnamed tire. Ct70 shows Nitto,Bridgestone. Late 1960's S65 and Z50 did not show brand, but the xr70 shows Cheng Shin and IRC. My MR has the original tires on it, they are Bridgestone, my TL has it's original Nitto's and my Z50 and CT70 had Bridgestone on them. My XR70 has Cheng Shins. My memory not being what it was, I don't remember Cheng Shins being available back then, at least in the midwest but I could be wrong. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the responses guys, The Bridgestones look better than the Chengs anyway.

As for the microfiches I found several complete sets and grabbed them as well as a micro machine which will be here next week. Upon recieving them if anyone needs any info from them let me know.

Also found a great site that I use for a virtual microfiche machine as well as 30% discount on NOS parts if anyones interested. Not sure if I can post the link here so just pm me for it.

Mike

I know for a fact they are Bridgestone tires ....I have the ones the bike came with still..

_________________
2-1973 cr250m
2-1980 cr250r
1979 cr125r
1979 yz400f
1971 mini trail 70
2005 VTX 1300c