Vintage Dirt Bike Q & A

Hello everyone,

I'm currently working on a 1974 elsinore 125. I'm building the bike to race.

One of the peg mounts has a crack in the weld and the other one was welded before I got the bike. Is there anyway to reinforce the peg mounts other than throwing another bead of welds?

The back tank mount is also cracked in a few spots. Is there any tips on strengthening that mount?

The back rim is in good shape but I need a spoke kit. I need a front rim and spoke kit as well. Would it be better to find a stock rim or just spend the money to get the excel rims? Also, what excel rims fit the stock hubs?

I'm sure I will have more questions as I begin this project and any help is much appreciated.

Thanks for reading.

Paul

redrider,

If you haven't read this, it is an article by a guy named Rick Sieman about how to prep a cr125m for racing: http://articles.superhunky.com/4/37. GREAT info. for somebody racing a vintage 125 Elsinore. Rick Sieman thinks the pegs welds are ok on the 74 and 75 Elsinore. I disagree, but don't know what to do about strengthening other than welding again or putting some kind of gusset to reinforce the peg area.

As far as a front wheel, if you want to keep costs down, the front rim on the mid 70's TL125 Honda Trials bike used the exact same rim as the 74 125 Elsinore. The center 3 digits on the 74 cr125 front rim part number are 355. 355 indicates a tl125. The part numbers are exactly the same, as they shared that rim. Don't even try to find a rim from a 74 cr125. Well, if you must have one off of the cr125, I can give you several cracked ones. Since it's the exact same rim, obviously you will have a much better chance of find a good front rim from the trials bike than you would from the motocrosser. By the time you get well into this build, it's somewhat likely that you may want to use the trials rim with larger spokes, at least until you decide you definitely want those expensive Excel rims. Sieman does recommend the next larger size spokes though.

Mark

Thanks for the response. I remember reading that article a few years ago. The article does have some great info and I believe I used his tip on the fiber clutch plates.

I think I'm just going to build up a few welds around the peg area to hopefully strengthen it.

I will keep my out out for a TL125 trials wheel. Worst case scenario I will have to get excels. Do you know what excel wheels I will need if that's the route I go?

When I got the bike I knew that the pipe was aftermarket. It has a PK racing sticker on the silencer. After looking at a few of the FMF reproductions I noticed it looks identical. How would I be able to tell if it's an original (part number, markings, etc)?

Thanks,

Paul

I bought a parts bike a few years ago that had an FMF pipe on it. They look very close to the DG pipe. There were no manufacturer markings on the pipe. It had also been used as a part time skid plate evidently. Terrible shape. The good thing was that it also had an FMF cylinder, which sold for good money. I think I still have the 34 mm Mikuni and intake from that bike. Maybe somebody will chime in here and give you some info. on the pipe.

On the excel wheels..... I don't know what you would need. It's your money, but you might want to keep in mind the amount of money you are going to have invested in vintage racing overall. If it were me, I would set my sights on getting a race ready bike completely put together, and then shop for trick parts later. If not, you could easily have several thousand in the bike before it's even finished. Once you get involved in racing, I am sure you will meet lots of folks looking to sell or trade race parts. By the time you get race ready wheels - if you use the stockers - you will have spent money on new spokes and wheel lacing, unless you lace them yourself. I haven't done that as it looks pretty tedious to me. Either way you go, it's not cheap for wheels. You could have the stock rims re-anodized in a cool color before they are put back together. It's 60 bucks per rim here to get them anodized. I would think a good bet on exel, sun, or other aftermarket wheels might be to check foums in vintage racing club wesites in their forums and classifieds. A used set in good in good shape would save you hundreds. It would also be a good idea to join the vintage racing club nearest you. The vast majority of those guys are great, and very helpful. With the threat of a cold brew or two, many of those guys will help you wrench if need be.

After 2 back operations( that's what Brown did for me ), I just restore bikes to stock specs as the boss put the big ex-nay on the vintage racing. I'm not henpecked by any means, but she's right about this one. I am a HUGE fan though.





Mark

Thanks for all the info. I think after reading the previous two posts my best option is to find a nice stock front wheel and just lace up the stock wheels. Would anyone happen to know where I can get new spoke sets that will work with the stock wheels?

I hear you about the pipe being a part time skid plate. The pipe I have is a little beat up. I'm hoping to find someone local that can pull some of the big dents out.

Thanks for all the info.

Paul

I went with the advice that was given to me on the forum and purchased a stock front wheel. Now I need spokes. I found that I can get the spokes through Buchanan, but they need to know what gauge. I read in the article to get 8 gauge spokes for the front wheel which I planned on, but I'm not sure about the rear. Does anyone know what gauge I should use for the rear wheel?

Thanks,
Paul

I bought a set of front and rear spokes from Buchanan for my 75 CR125. The Buchanan rear spokes I got are just a hair under 4mm diameter which is thicker than stock. I don't know what gauge that is but Buchanan can tell you. They are very sturdy looking compared to the stock spokes. I used my hand drill to drill out the rim holes to get the nipples to fit the stock rim.