another one in the stables for me

[woodsracer144]

well guys and gals i picked up another toy, I got a 1981 honda Cr80 Elsinore, shes gonna need alittle work but im looking to do a full restore on it. I'll post pics of it tore down in a few days.
this is a little pic from a base start.

[jcs003]

i have seen elsinore bikes in the past. whats the signifigance?

[tri5ron]

Originally posted by jcs003
i have seen elsinore bikes in the past. whats the signifigance? AHhhh,... Lets take a stroll down memory lane,...

1973, First Honda 2 stroke MX machine.
absolutely OWNED Motocross for the first 2 or 3 years.
It can reasonably be said, that it is what moved Honda into the top position as a offroad bike company.

Sure, there was Ossa, Husky, CZ, Greeves, Penton, Hodaka, Maico, Bultaco, Rickman, to name a few,..
(and of course, Yamahaha, Suck-zuki, and Kause-to-walk-y) .

But most of us rode a stripped down Yamaha DT, 90, 125, 250, and 360.
The 250's ruled the track.

We would remove the metal fenders, and replace them with plastic Preston Petty "Mudders",
remove the headlight, taillight, oil induction, air filter box,
and anything else that we could remove, and have it still run.

A foam airfilter soaked in 30w motor oil (because K&N or UNI didn't exist yet),
a aluminum fork brace that tied the lower fork tubes together,
(looked like a big aluminum horseshoe),
some oval plastic number plates zip tied to the forks,
a dual auxillary sparkplug holder hose clamped to the frame,

(how many of you few Oldtimers are reminising right about now ???),

We'd file sharp notches into the pegs, (because there was no such thing as ProArmor),

we'd weld extra brackets onto our steel swingarms, so that we could move the shocks an inch forward for Getting More Travel" !!!

mix the gas at 20:1, (because there was no such thing as synthetic oils yet),

remove the exhaust, and weld up a homemade "Expansion Chamber" with a long "Stinger" tailpipe,

Strap a army surplus WWII canteen to the rear fender,

Put on our shorty, split cowhide, welders jackets,
leather gloves with rubber strips sewed along the knuckles,
and a pair of linemans boots,
(remember laceing those damn things up???)

a psychadelic rainbow glitter open faced helmet,
(sometimes we'd take a faceguard from an old football helmet, and bolt it on).

Then We'd head out on the trail, and try to ride like Malcom Smith, and Steve McQueen.....

I remember waiting in line for an hour, to go see "On Any Sunday" in the theaters.....


But when the Elsinore came out,... There was no faster, better bike to own.
That thing Freakin' hauled@$$ !!!
If you wanted to be "Top Dog",... You rode an Elsinore.
The only things that might come close were the Husky's and the Ossa's , but they were heavier, with less, (and I use the term loosely here)... suspension.

Those were the days !

[K-Dub]

I had a 1980 model. That thing would come out from under you faster than you could blink. My mom tore the back fender off of it the first week I had it. It was just about mint when I sold it, the kid that I sold it to trashed it fast, tried to buy it back once for a momento but couldnt get it. Have fun.

[woodsracer144]

I plan to, I dont plan to ride it, just fix it all nice and make it make you want to cream in your shorts when you look at it..

as stated it was one of the " race ready" style bikes back in the day, if they are totally OE and look nice too they can bring in some nice money also. they had like a 450 2 stroke and a few others, neat bikes looking foward to redoing this one.

I'll do a build on it.

[jcs003]

thanks for the info triron. sounds like a cool resto woodsracer. i hope you do a full nut and bolt restoration.

[woodsracer144]

I'm gonna try to, I think theres a aftermarket pison in it right now, so im gonna get it all honda and do some cleaning and painting and then replace all bushings, bearings, paint, and such,

i have a question about the coating metal tanks, would it be worth more with it or with out it?

So far i've found the plastic and graphics.

[mxduner]

nice find. tri5ron, you got me all excited there. i have a resto as well, its a 74 cr125 elsinore with a custom swingarm and an expansion chamber from some company outta cali. probably gonna be a 'next summer' project for me.:D

[woodsracer144]

I dont know how hard it will be, hardest part is finding a OE seat cover and all that... and a good rust free tank.

[tri5ron]

these might help getting you in touch with some other Elsinore guys...

http://www.bobbittville.com/elsinore-links.htm

http://www.re-mx.com/cr/cr125_cr250.php

http://www.honda-elsinore.com/

good luck

This winter, I'll be doing a resto on an old Meyers Lynx minibike.
(You've heard of the Meyers Manx dunebuggies of the '60s and '70s ???, well they also had their own minibike for a while too.)

It was made by the same guy (company) who produced the Taco minibikes, and is very rare.
Even more so than the Taco's.

[jcs003]

on pawn stars recently they had a restored indian 50cc dirtbike. they claimed it was worth a few thousand restored. good to see these vintage bikes are very collectable. some of the 250r guys have 100% original restored ATCs and TRXs. they will be big money some day.

[woodsracer144]

thats my plan. i just wanna make it mint and put it in my house as a show thing then some day see what its worth.. by the time im 60 god only knows what the quads will be like

[woodsracer144]

Originally posted by tri5ron
these might help getting you in touch with some other Elsinore guys...

http://www.bobbittville.com/elsinore-links.htm

http://www.re-mx.com/cr/cr125_cr250.php

http://www.honda-elsinore.com/

good luck

This winter, I'll be doing a resto on an old Meyers Lynx minibike.
(You've heard of the Meyers Manx dunebuggies of the '60s and '70s ???, well they also had their own minibike for a while too.)

It was made by the same guy (company) who produced the Taco minibikes, and is very rare.
Even more so than the Taco's.

thanks for the tips!

[Rich250RRacer]

Originally posted by woodsracer144
they had like a 450 2 stroke and a few others, neat bikes looking foward to redoing this one.

I'll do a build on it.

The '81 CR450 is considered one of the worst bikes ever built. The '81 CR250 was the first production water-cooled 250 from Japan. A water-cooled 250 was unheard of, since they were considered too powerful to be run hard enough to require the extra cooling. But Honda kicked it off, and by '83 all the 250's were water-cooled. 1981 wasn't a banner year for Honda MX bikes, even though the 250 was the pride of the Honda lineup, it was too heavy and underpowered. I don't believe any of the bikes faired well in any magazine shoot outs. That would all change by '83 though.

[woodsracer144]

Originally posted by Rich250RRacer
The '81 CR450 is considered one of the worst bikes ever built.

never said it was the best, i said it they were neat, meaning the elsinores