2002 CR125 & 250-first ride & pics of bike

Back in November of 2013, MX216 (Joel Ard, Weston Peick's mechanic for his new team at the time) posted some pics of his completely re-built 2002 CR250, then followed up with a few pics of his fully built 2002 CR125. I just copied and pasted the pics from the original post below. He had to sell them as he was hitting the road on this new and cool adventure. Anyway, after a few texts back and forth with Joel, I pulled the trigger and bought both bikes. I told Joel that I couldn't deal with them until the spring and he kept them safe and sound for me.

For awhile it looked like he might be able to meet me somewhere in the middle of the country as he headed back east to NY for the SX in April, but alas, he didn't have the room for the scoots. Being in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, I had a LONG way to go to pick up the bikes seeing as they were in Portland, 2800 kms (1750 miles) away from me. So I finally found a few days in the middle of the week and left on a tuesday at 11 am and returned safely at home friday morning at about 3 am after a 5600 km round trip! At first I thought, "what the fuck am I doing?" But once I saw the bikes, I knew it was worth the trip.

In Joel's words, here is the 250:

"Complete rebuild from ground up. New OEM Crank, Cylinder/Head, engine/ tranny bearings, water pump, Clutch Basket. Has New Rekluse Manual clutch kit which includes billet inner hub and pressure plate. New OEM clutch plates. Wiseco Piston. New Pro Circuit pipe and Doma Silencer. Has Met-Tec titanium axles and Swingarm pivot bolt. Met-Tec Titanium Engine Mount Bolts. New Acerbis Plastic With 2010+ front fender. Marzocchi 50mm Works forks. Race Tech built rear shock, Suspension set up for 150LB Pro. All new Pivot Works Bearings throughout the chassis including steering stem, swingarm and linkage. New EBC brake Pads front and rear. Galfer Stainless braided brake lines front and rear with Motul Hi-temp brake fluid. New Sunstar Sprockets with DID ERT2 Chain. Many other odds and ends. Bike has a total of 2.6 HRS since all new parts were installed. "

Now the 125, in Joel's words:

"2002 CR125 . Fully Ported and case match motor. 38PWK Carb. Vortex Ignition. Doma Pipe and silencer. Has a stock cylinder head on it right now as i couldnt get replacement o-rings for the Bud racing head in time for dream race. New oem honda clutch, new oem honda crank, wiseco piston. 3 hours on complete engine build. Showa Forks off of CRF250. Race Tech Gold valves front and rear, valved and sprung 150 LB Pro. Can put a set of Marzocchi Forks if desired but they are not set up for this bike and would need to be valved and sprung accordingly. I got this bike new in July of 2001. It sat in storage from mid 2002 until 2012 when I built it for the 125 dream race at Washougal Last year. Got hurt, couldnt ride it, did ride it this year at the 125 dream race. "

I have to thank Joel for being such a good dude, completely honest and trustworthy. The bikes are amazing and he has been super helpful with any questions that I had. They really are works of art and it is hard to believe that they are from the year 2002. I followed many Vitard's advice with the 250 and put on a 38mm Air Stryker-bought it new from JD Jetting, and it came ready to bolt on. JD has always been great to work with and they were equally good this time around.

So, on to my first ride on these bad boys! I have been hankering for a 125 for a long time, and once I saw this one I figured I had to have it. I know that stock these things were the dog of the class back in the day and the 5 speed may not have been a good choice, but this thing tears! it was so much fun to ride I couldn't believe it. Had a smile on my face the whole time. I forgot how much work a 125 is to keep percolating, but fuck it, whatever, fast, slow...it was a blast. Felt like I was going so fast but the reality is I wasn't, but the fact that I felt like it was good enough for me. Handles amazing, sounds unbelievable. Nothing like a tuned 125 at full song.

I was worried about the 250....but the thing ran perfectly, I'm sure in part b/c of the carb. But there wasn't a hint of detonation, and it pulled like a mother. The only hiccup was the marzocchi forks were pretty stiff and they were 3 clicks from full soft and when I went 3 more clicks, well it wasn't enough. Need a valve job on the forks. Other than that the bite of a 250 smoker is a ton of fun.

I had a fantastic day of riding at my favorite track in Manitoba (Grunthal), with some great buddies, a couple of bevies after the day was done-what more can a motohead ask for? See below for the pics that were originally posted on Nov 23/13: