Vintage Dirt Bike Q & A

What kind of price should I be paying for a 73/74 CR250? I understand condition plays a big part but say for a unrestored bike. Where should I begin my search for one of these beauties? Any help would be great.

Just my op and it doesn't mean much.

A low end CR could set you back ~$1,500. Reason for this is it costs about $4,000 to have it professionally restored and the resulting bike is worth ~$6,000+. I believe there was one restored by Vintage Iron to a museum for ~$16,000 but that was an exception.

FWIW: I think the owner of Vintage Iron considers the early CR250s the only bike, other then the europeans like Maico, worthy of collector status. I read his icomments online and saw one of his restored bikes at a show in San Jose. He does do good work.

You can try eBay.com to find one but I don't think you will get a bargain.

I saw the '73 CR250M Elsinore that Vintage Iron did for the "Art of the Motorcycle" traveling museum when it was in Vegas. It may still be there. It wasn't that great of a restoration. It didn't even have the correct tires on it. Disappointing to say the least.

One I saw in S.J. was a restored Norton with a racing history I think.

The owner of Vintage Iron seems to be somewhat controverial although I do not have all the details. Very opinionated to say the least but then who isn't?

I saw where he said he made a mistake removing dents from factory bike Roger DeCoster rode. He now believes the dents from DeCoster pinching the tank with his knees represents historical value so he would leave them in.

But then leaving stains in a blue dress was a way to get controverial and famous. Same thing I guess.

It depends on what you mean by restore. If you mean show quality, never see a racetrack, have somebody else do it, then it's big bucks. If you mean restore to a functional vintage racing machine, that's different. I bought my 73 cr250 for $600. The motor and tranny were solid, but I had to do the following. Disasemble, have frame powdercoated, new spockets and chain, paint fenders, new side panels, new cables all around, paint engine and tranny myself, and new Cirlce F pipe. I figure I put about another $1000 into it after the purchase price. In addition, I have a bunch of spare parts on hand including wheels, cables, carb parts, levers, fenders, etc. I raced vintage with it the first season, then recently had the top and bottom end rebuilt as it was starting to get loose. It's not especially cheap, but it is fun. And yes, if you race it, things will need replacing and maintaining unlike a strict show bike. But it was built to run in the sun, and that's where fun is.
Dennis