2001 CR250 $pecial Restoration Part II - Recreation of a 1999-2000 Japan Honda Factory RC250M

I finally got a full-on anodizing line set up, large enough to do a part up to the size of a triple clamp. I needed to learn to do this myself as I couldn't get an anodizer to work with me on the last few parts. Took a little practice to learn the basic in and outs of aluminum anodizing and the best learning is after making a few mistakes like having my dye solution too hot which sealed the part before dye absorption. Here is my 3 gallon set up.. there are three or four 3.5 and 5 gallon buckets on the ground with various solutions for degreasing, rinsing, de-smutting and nickel acetate sealing.


Here are the HRC replica kill switch/ ignition advance button housings all freshly anodized a satin black... came out nice!..

Here is a pic of the real deal followed by my replica HRC kill switch.. fairly close.. I made 3 of them.. 2 black buttoned ones and one red button switch.




Here she is all mounted up after much work for such a little obscure part, but I needed the extra button on the handlebars to look like an RC250M. There is no HRC ignition advance set up on this bike, so the wire just goes under the tank and not connected to anything.

Finally got the rear axle spacers anodized the same green as the original HRC spacer that I had.. came out great!!







With these mods, the project was supposed to be finished. However, it looks like I may have a new set of HRC titanium footpegs and mounts coming. I would really like to find an HRC rear brake pedal, too

Someday when I retire in the not too distant, I was thinking of offering anodizing to people who just have a few items that the regular anodizers don't want to bother with or grossly overcharge for the low volume. Something to keep busy with. I have all my solutions in sealable pails that I can store away. It takes me about 2 hours to set everything up, go through the whole process, and store it all away again each time I want to do a part.

As you guys can imagine, these old HRC parts were rare and unattainable when they were new and actively being used by the Honda racing teams. Now, almost 2 decades later, these parts are rarer still and very hard to find. One of the harder parts to find, but always one of the coolest, is the HRC billet titanium footpegs and mounts. This generation pegs were used from about 1997 to 2002, but involved 3 different mounts for the 3 generations of RC that used this same design footpeg. The 2nd gen was only 2 years so especially hard to find. There are times when you really want something, you have to make it yourself as I have done on this build with some of the HRC titanium bolts. There are 5 of us diehard enthusiasts from 4 different countries with RC250M builds. After several years of searching, I only found a left side peg. Another guy has both HRC begs but no mounts, as well as yet another guy with HRC mounts but no pegs.

We have collaborated to pull our collective actual HRC footpeg parts together to make a complete set and have them 3D scanned and digitized as you can see in the pictures below. We are about to start having a limited number of sets machined so we can complete our projects. They will be exact replicas. We are ready to start the machining of the titanium this week and they should be completed in about a month. We currently plan for 5 sets for our respective RC replica builds. Every additional set we make brings down the cost a bit more. Each set of titanium footpegs and mounts will come with upper and lower replica HRC Ti bolts, pins and springs. It will cost each of us about 1000 euros to do this very limited run. If we could get a few more guys to join us and get the number up to 10 sets, we think we can limit the cost to about 800 euros for the complete set. There is no profit here whatsoever.. this is just pure cost for the love our projects. If you were able to find an old used set of these HRC pegs and mounts, around 1000 euros is what it would cost you.. if you could find them!

This is just a one time, rare, probably never happen again opportunity if you would like a set of these historical unobtanium pegs for your CR125, CR250, or RC replica project. We can have the different mounting holes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd generation Honda 2 strokes drilled by the machinist.

***** If you would like to join us and share the cost for a set, please PM me your email address as soon as possible because machining starts very soon and once it is done, it is done with no chance to make any more.****

Here are some pics of this work in progress. I hope to have the new set of titanium pegs on my RC250M build by end of November.

More HRC parts coming in..


Original HRC magnesium ignition cover with original unmolested DOW coating on it. The DOW coating wears off really easy and only meant to keep the magnesium from reacting while sitting on the shelf and waiting to be used. These are almost impossible to find well used and beat up. To find one in this condition is remarkable. My guess is this may have been used for one short race as there is almost no wear or boot scratches from shifting. It is going to take me a while to get the courage to sand the DOW coating off the "HONDA RACING" letters as the teams usually did to make it pop.


Nissin/ HRC works front brake master cylinder and correct length HRC steel braided brake line. The Honda Japan team used this type until 2001. US and Europe factory teams used them until 1999 before they switched the current style. My guess is that the design of the perch puts the brake lever in a very old school downward position so the Japan factory riders were really having to rotate the master cylinder up to get the front brake lever in a more modern level position.

Here is an HRC 3-step adjustable clutch perch which was used from the 90's to end of 2001 by the Japan team. They did occasionally start using the newer rotary type in 2001.. particularly Yoshitaka Atsuta while Ryuichiro Takahama seemed to prefer the 3-step for a longer period. It is not my perch.. I am just baby-sitting it until I can anodize the lever black again when the weather warms up and then send it on to its true owner.

I sanded the Dow coating off the HONDA RACING logo on the HRC magnesium cover, which is what the Honda factory teams usually did. Here she is all mounted up finally....


I also picked up this replica HRC titanium air filter screw from the Denton's. It is not the correct one for the year which uses a simpler design. This is the one HRC used in earlier years, but I liked it better as it is a little more intricate in design.

Not me.. it is Phil and Stevie Denton that are amazing! They don't stop coming up with the coolest stuff.

Hi Chance; if they have them in stock, they can ship right out, otherwise they machine you a new one if they don't. I think they did a batch recently and should have in stock.

Happy holidays to you, too, buddy!

mike

I found a few more works parts that i will post pics of soon, but I am still searching hard for the following parts. If anyone has any leads, please let me know!
1. HRC rear brake pedal (used 1997-2001)

2. HRC kill switch/ ignition advance switch (35130-NC8-000)

3. HRC exhaust pipe (E7HM)

Well, the way it works is that when you first look for the rare parts, you may find nothing in the first year or so and it is not until after 2-3 or more years you build up a network which is a lot of work as no one will ever share their own personal contacts on rare parts, or even give you tips unless you have info to share with them. You also have to learn how to search for leads which needs to become almost a daily routine if you want to find these parts. Doing all this, you may still not find the particular parts you were looking for, but run into other great parts that you cant pass up that you weren't exactly searching for. This ends up taking you to a higher level than you originally planned (my original plan was inly to have a couple of major HRC parts on the bike). After a number of years, parts end up finding you now and then.

If one wanted to piece together a complete RC250 factory bike from the past, piece by piece (including engine and suspension), I estimate it would probably cost between $25-$30k+ for a very cool dust collector that will still have some replica parts here and there.. and that is even if you can find all the parts as it isn't easy, and the parts get rarer by the day. Occasionally you do find a great deal on parts and it helps to have HRC parts to trade that you don't plan to use. I have also come across a few complete Honda RC250 factory bikes (that were never destroyed after the race season) in my searches from the 90's to 2001 and they were selling for about $20-$30k+ and that is probably the only way to get all 100% genuine factory parts that were meant to go together along with the provenance of having been raced by a former factory rider. These are often former championship bikes given to the rider after winning the championship or had been on display somewhere, I believe. Only died-in-the-wool MX fanatics or museums will pay these kind of prices for dust collectors that will never be ridden. Unobtanium eventually can become "obtanium" for the average Joe if you wait some years for the parts to come out of hiding, and work really hard at it as well as have good contacts.

Here is an original complete 1996 RC250 factory race bike with a prototype steel perimeter frame that was for sale not too long ago for US$23k.


A lot easier and cheaper than trying to piece one together. These bike sales are quite rare though. I am glad they are being preserved by someone.

It looks like I was quite as finished with this project as I thought.. More HRC parts coming in and I have added a few details that the factory mechanics had added to the team bikes.

I picked up an NOS dust boot and front brake lever that still has the factory silver coating on it. I had polished the one that came with the works Nissin master cylinder since some of the coating had worn off. I also found a mate to the rear HRC green wheel spacer. I think only Japan and Europe used the green spacers. As green is such an atypical Honda color, I think they were trying to draw attending to the CNC'd and anodized parts that were just coming on the scene then, but ubiquitous to most amateur weekend racer's machine these days.


I also picked up an HRC gasket to go with the HRC ignition cover and HRC pipe. The OEM gasket is rubber so you can't tighten the cover too much as the gasket just squeezes out. HRC used a special greenish-gray paper gasket for their works machine's ignition cover that is less likely to leak. The HRC exhaust pipe is the correct E7HM version that the Japan team usually used. I have seen about 4 different versions of HRC pipes for the 2nd gen frame. The earlier versions were modelled after the 1st gen pipes and left a big gap between the pipe and underside of the right radiator. The later version is the one the US factory team preferred and is very similar to the 2001 OEM CR250 pipe and rises higher and closer to the radiator. At first glance the HRC and OEM pipes look somewhat similar but they are made quite differently. This pipe is too badly beat up to repair and use on my bike, so I will continue looking for a pristine one.



The details the Honda factory team added to their bikes never cease to amaze and sometimes seem like overkill even for a pro rider. Here the factory mechanics added rubber sleeves tightly safety wired to the ends of the HRC steel braided front brake like. The plastic oil filler cap was also tightly safety wired on. When was the last time you had a plastic oil filler cap come loose? . Never in my 50 years of riding motocross.

In those days, I was at the track every possible day I could.. lived and breathed riding and all I thought about during the week during the 15 years I lived in Japan but also continued to ride there every summer after I left for quite a while. If it wasn't raining, I was riding, but it does rain a lot in Japan and the reason why the Japanese are such good mud riders. Akira Narita showed Travis Pastrana this when the two battled back and for the lead on RM125s many years ago at a muddy US national.

However, you don't see factory riders and prototypes at the track on weekends outside of a Japan national. I would take 1 or 2 Wednesdays off every month to go to the Honda track in Okegawa, Saitama which was very close to me near Tokyo or to the Shidoki track or Moto Park Mori, both in Fukushima prefecture. This is when the factory riders showed up to do testing, including prototypes or to practice when few people were are around (very few average Japanese would take a weekday off to go riding so it was almost empty aside for a couple of other riders). The Japanese factory mechanics lead a very tough, boring life such that they are always happy to have you around and talk. You never know what you would see at the tracks on a weekday. This was also back in the day when Japan would start selling the new models 6-12 months before the rest of the world which was another treat.

Also, I rode out of a shop called MotoRoman which was 2 minutes from the Honda track. It was a dealership/ race shop that sold only Honda motocross bikes (nothing else) and was the home of the Seki-Racing MotoRoman race team which was supported by Honda. Mr. Seki was a wealthy Japan businessman that loved moto and helped fund the team along with the Honda support. It wasn't a Honda team that had 2nd rate riders compared to the official Honda factory team, it often had some of the top Honda riders during their prime such as Akira Narita (multi time national champ), Takeshi Katsuya (125 and 250 4 stroke champ), Taketeru Atsuta (who quite often beat his brother, Yoshitaka, who won the Japan championship in 2001 on the RC250M) and could contend with the full factory team for the championship title. The MotoRoman race bikes had all the HRC works parts as the full factory team except they used Kayaba works suspension and Bridgestone tires while the full factory team used Showa works suspension and Dunlop tires. The MotoRoman bike didn't get any of the prototype parts that the RC's sometimes ran and they ran the OEM black fuel tanks while the full factory team ran translucent white works fuel tanks and occasionally aluminum works tanks. The full factory team often also ran smaller MotoRoman stickers on their swingarms while the MotoRoman team ran a large MotoRoman sticker on their swingarm. Also in those days, any Honda dealership employee was a formal Honda employee in Japan, so the affiliation was very close between the two teams.

In the picture below, Yoshitaka Atsuta (#5) is practicing starts on his factory RC250M next to Akira Narita (#3) on his MotoRoman bike at the Honda track in Saitama in 1999. You can notice that both bikes have the same HRC pipes, Honda Racing mag engine covers, titanium foot pegs, works billet front hubs, etc. Atsuta has the 51mm works Showa forks and Narita has works Kayabas. I was in the MotoRoman raceshop almost every week so was up close with the bikes and HRC parts as they rebuilt them for the next National. I begged and begged for them to give me a set of the HRC titanium foot pegs at the end of the season, but no dice.. they had to go back to HRC at the end of the race season to be destroyed per their contract I literally drooled over these works parts back in the day, and thus the motivation for what I am doing now with this bike.

While I was quite happy with the replica HRC clutch cover, I was finally able to get a hold of the real deal still with the original DOW coating... It seems there is some sort of copper/ bronze colored base under the coating. The specks in the coating are I believe from the magnesium reacting through the coating. Most all the old HRC magnesium covers show signs of pitting of the magnesium and I don't believe these magnesium parts were ever intended to last decades.



The aluminum replica cover mimicked the ageing DOW coating quite nicely with the acid treatment I did. However, you will notice the way HRC spelt "RACING" with the "A" cutting off the bottom-back of the "C" and the letters of "ING" very close together. On the aluminum replica covers, the letters are all evenly spaced.



The HRC titanium footpeg project led by Corne van Ballegooy from Vintage Honda is making progress, slowly, but surely. The component parts are almost done.. here are pics of the titanium cleats that will be TIG welded around the CNC titanium body, the titanium spring pins, and the final machined titanium foot peg mounts all ready to go. You can see how the foot peg mount was CNC machined from a cylinder of billet titanium just like the original HRC pieces. Corne is also a VitalMX member and has his own Japan RC250M build that is almost completed. It is an exact replica of the bike that Yoshi Atsuta rode in 2001 including the RC engine cases and internals. My RC250M build uses the graphics/ colors that the Japan Honda team used in 1999 (green number plate backgrounds) and 2000, as well as a few changes that I thought looked much better than the ordinary OEM parts that were used in some parts of the factory machine. Both bikes have the unique 20"/18" tire combination that the Japan factory team was running on these machines. This tire combo had a huge change in the feel of the bike which I really liked. Too bad it never caught on.

Finally got around to installing the Nissin works front brake master cylinder. I don't know what the real advantages of it are, but it is sand cast magnesium. The Japan factory team used them until about 2001 while the US team stopped using them in 1999 in favor of an OEM looking unit. I was thinking it was cast aluminum, but when I wiped down a small bare spot with isopropyl alcohol so I could touch up with black paint, it reacted to make magnesium dioxide. Never wipe magnesium with alcohol! .


The master cylinder design was the easiest to bleed in my experience. I had a solid brake lever almost immediately. The diaphram in the works master cylinder is translucent rubber in contrast to the black rubber in the OEM unit. I was lucky to be able find an NOS HRC brake lever and dust boot for it.