fter our 1992 Honda CR250R project a couple years ago, I swore I’d never do another retro build—and then my friends at Bolt Motorcycle Hardware told me they had a 1986 CR250R that was in pretty good shape. That was such a huge year, because it ushered in the production rule for professional racing, and Honda had Rick Johnson and David Bailey under their tent—two of the most amazing riders and personalities this sport has ever seen. The bike looked good in photos, but once we had it in our hands, we realized the motor needed a rebuild; the power valve was not operational, and it can also be a bit difficult to get set correctly on this model. Also, the drain bolt in the cases was ruined after years of misuse. We had Chuck at Metaltek fix that up for us, then we rebuilt the crank and had Millennium repair and paint the cylinder for a sharp new look.

We quickly realized that OEM plastic is very difficult and expensive to find for this bike, as is the case with many retro builds. We ended up going with DC Plastics, and though we had to do some drilling to make it fit, the value and look are great. We also added a Pro Circuit pipe and silencer, and this unit actually had some history behind it. This pipe and silencer were built from the exact same jig they used to make RJ’s pipe back in 1986! The Pro Circuit suspension department also completely rebuilt the suspension, including coating all the internals. Jim “Bones” Bacon explained that without the coating, this suspension had a habit of rubbing and creating a lot of friction. We bolted on a V Force reed block as well—an easy solution for better performance. All Balls also provided many of the parts and components for the suspension (and the entire bike).

The list of parts and service is seemingly endless, but trust us when we tell you this was rebuilt from the ground up. On the track, the first thing I noticed was that these bikes were small! The rider triangle and cockpit are much tighter, and the pocket of the bike is very defined. It feels good in some ways, but it does feel cramped, and you definitely have to ride over the back of the bike more. The power is good, considering the bike’s age, and the suspension work that Pro Circuit did was spot-on. We had some issues with the front brake line and had to bleed it several times to get it to work properly. After some work, it’s fine. The footpegs are a huge improvement over the stock units also. We welded the original holes shut and re-drilled them so we could use some modern footpegs. My favorite part of the day was watching Ricky take some laps on the bike. His wrist keeps him from pushing too hard, but occasionally you could see him get on the gas hard, and immediately I was transported back to 1986. I almost expected David Bailey to pull in behind him and start racing.

This will likely be the last bike from the 1980s I ever do. The only reason we spent the money to build this up was because Bolt Motorcycle Hardware gave it to us in such good condition, so thanks to those guys. This was expensive, time-consuming . . . and totally worth it.

Oh, and a very special thanks to Perris Raceway (perrismx.com) for allowing us to test there privately.