1974 Honda CR125 Elsinore versus Modern Bikes at the 2023 Wild Boar GNCC race in Palatka, Florida.
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- Опубликовано: 5 мар 2023
- This video is the start of my race and the first 2 miles of the GNCC event. Later in the lap, I ended up in one of those deep mud holes that everybody tells you to avoid, and I watered out the engine. If I had to do it over again, I would have installed sand tires, solid handguards, and probably went on a diet too. At 220lbs that little Honda Elsinore motor had a hard time launching me from the dead engine start. This '74 CR125 engine is probably the fastest one I ever built and once you get it going it really covers some ground in a hurry and the bike corners like a demon too. After drowning the motor, I finally got it running again with the help of a course official pulling me with his ATV. After that, I took an easy tour of the rest of the track that had to be the roughest terrain I ever seen in my life. I just enjoyed the Florida sunshine and tried to stay out of the way so that I didn't end up being a hood ornament on one of the flying expert riders. My friends and I had a great time at the GNCC and every person that worked the event was super nice and patient with my bucket list attempt of riding a 50-year-old motorcycle at a GNCC National.
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I'll bet those young bucks on the modern bikes were pissed as hell to get passed by a BIKE that's 30 years older than them. Nice riding!
Actually it's almost 50 years older..lol
@@lanceladue2818 I think kingbee may have meant that the 125 is likely to be 20 years older than the other riders, rather than their bikes.
Very pissed 🤣😂🤣
Try a 49 year old bike and still kicking ass...👊✊💥💥💥💥💥👍
1973 released 74' Model = 50 years older!
Great riding , 50 year old ,no power valves , drum brakes .Awesome.
And no suspension with straight up shocks ..no laid down
What a rough ride though. Probably a better flat track bike.
Campaigned one in ‘74 and ‘75 and trust me, with a bullet-proof gearbox we didn’t use the brakes - or the clutch!
That hurts just watching...have just accepted at 52 my elbows, knees and shoulders can't take the beating from my -81 Husky 430 on track anymore😢.
So cool to see someone that actually knows how to ride that 125. If you keep that thing on the pipe it will scream! I was very impressed with your ability to keep that bike humming through that terrain.
Not only humming, but up on two wheels too lol
That bike has absolutely no bottom end. You can hear it trying to bog multiple times. This guy was amazing on it.
My 74 Elsie. Weights 161 W/ a half tank of gas has DG aluminum swing arm ,1979 125 aluminum tank,FMF porting DG pipe,and Pro circuit silencer a rocket ship to say the least.
@@othgmark1
If you grew up racing bikes like these you studied the sprocket and learned where the sweet spot was in its power band...the object was to run in the band AND never loose that fine line between torque and power...Those that had more sprockets than cash and knowhow to properly utilize them from place to place, were usually the guys who took home the money at the end of the day....not always because a blind dog can find a bone once in awhile but....if you did your homework over the course of a long season you wound up in the money more times than in the trailer going home early.
@@IRONHORSE427RACING l raced that exact model on numerous occasions if you didn't you are mistaking a powerband for gearing choices. Additionally on the cross country in question it goes from almost a complete stop to wide open in sixth in sand. Not sure what gearing choice you think would make a difference. I raced these from small night race tracks to desert races where we were regeared for up to 80 miles an hour. You ride that bike with the throttle pinned all the time rowing the gearbox and using the clutch especially in deep sand. Roll off the throttle in the wrong gear and the bike bogs and almost stops. This guy mastered the job of keeping it on the pipe and moving. Anyone that has ridden a small bore piston port 2 stroke without reeds or exhaust valve knows how difficult they can be. His performance has everything to do with his ability not changing sprockets.
I was riding at Wildwood MX park in Kentwood, LA. Kevin Windham passed me on a 1974 Bultaco like I was sitting still. A talented rider is a talented rider no matter what bike they are on.
Had a '75 CR125 Elsinore in - 1975! Great times that's left me with great memories!
Wow, I had this exact bike and raced it in '74. Basically you pin the throttle and row through the gears, no clutch. I was amazed it seemed to pull with the water cooled/ power valves modern bikes, pretty impressive with maybe 7” of suspension! But 180 pounds and skinny as a mountain bike. Damn good rider. Nostalgia, man.
I raced against you guys in the 70"S with a KX 125. You guys were unbeatable!
The best MX bike ever made. I had a '73 250 and ran the same spark plug for seven years. This bike was a freak of engineering.
This 50 year old thing still competes with the new machines. WTF!
What an era. To those who weren't born back then my sympathy goes out to you because you missed out on the greatest era of MX.
I had a 73 250 too in 73. I ran B9EVs (gold palladium) most of the time but, a B8ES (standard plug) if it was muddy. The B8ES gave a bigger window from low power to total wheelspin. Seeing this rider go through the trees made me remember how stupid I was. Center punching a tree at full tilt stopped me for a few minutes and only slowed me down for a little while.
I as well had an early 70’s 250 Elsinore. Scary fast! As an old guy now I wonder why a lot of the newer competitive dirt bikes are over 450 cc and still do not have the same power. Maybe time has fogged my memory but I jumped on a 450 and thought it may rip me off the seat pulling away from a stop. It didn’t! It also weighed so much more.
@@herb7877 I don't know about everywhere but, most tracks I raced on, the 125s turned the fastest lap times. They didn't feel as scary but, I think being easier control made them quicker in the slow places. I didn't get into watching motocross very much until I recently found Lotte Van Drunen. She's 15 years old, first year on a 250 and she's riding a Kawasaki KX250. The hp number for a 1974 CR250 is 34hp, for the KX250 it's 40hp. I'd bet she would look scarier on a 74 CR250 and turn slower lap times. Smooth is fast.
@@herb7877 not faster at all but harder to control. By 1978 any Rm250 was flat out better. By 1987 the Cr250 defined motocross bikes until the switch to 4 strokes. Disc brakes reed engine with exhaust powervalve, cartridge forks and liquid cooled. Until the recent adoption of fuel injection two strokes really didn't have any big tech breakthroughs. Refinement of what Honda released in 87 was the progress made.
@Herb Nothing like 2 stroke, I still got a 96 KDX 200
Brilliant ! From ' the ' epic decade of Motocross. These Elsinore's are works of art.
You're right. beyond being the best bike in 74, they were also the prettiest bikes in 74.
Gotta love that "angry bees" Elsinore snarl... WFO! Brings back the good old days. Thanks.
I am in tears seeing this amazing video. I purchased my 125 Elsinore at Ed's Cycle shop in Highland Park Calif,in 74 from the very first container shipment that arrived in LA. I raced and rode that bike in the Mojave desert for years, and loved every second of it. I kept it bone stock, as I kept passing all other modified Elsinore's and or 125s that were hot at that time. Your video proves my point. After I went thru my motocross years, I then discovered road racing on another famous vintage bike, the Yamaha RD-400. I raced it in the 350~400cc Production class, and climbed into the top 5 in ARRA and AFM club road racing series in Calif. Again, I left it bone stock only changed to sticker tires and rear shocks. This proved that often it's best to leave things alone, and just ride it to death to get used to it so you can extract the very limit of its performance.
THANK YOU, the sounds and how it rides was exactly how my 125 rode and sounded like... THANK YOU Again, Sincerely Dan Sotelo
Yep the sound.
Great post, Dan. I can feel your passion and appreciation!
I was a big Marty Smith fan in the 70's, and he and the Cr's were the first rock star racers. My first good 125 was a 79 YZ, and it really was a game changer with the monoshock.
Highest paid teenager in the world. He was my idle. Deeply sorrowed by his wife and his tragic deaths. Still hurts.
Currently re building my SL Honda 125 from 75. Wonderful year for Honda
I bought a 75 mt125 for $50 a few weeks ago. Just got it running for a good minute last night! I'm stoked!!!
God !!! The sound of that motor brings back a lot of good memories.
WOW! That was incredible and took me back to 1974 when at 15yrs old, my dad bought me my Elsinore 125! I learned how to ride wheelies on this bike and man, was it fast! Thank you for posting this vid! Had a huge smile on my face and felt so very proud to have owned one! Ride safe…
Man that's a well tuned bike and it's rippin'. Those CR M series has a distinct and unique sound of its own especially with those down swept pipe.
agreed. it seems perfectly tuned from air intake to fueling to exhaust & it shows. especially when it’s ripping past bikes with 50 years of tech innovation(s)
Man love the sound of old 2 strokes. They we're the funniest and fastest thing made.
Epic!! I was scrolling through my feed and the gas tank of the CR stopped me in my tracks. I had the 250 version as second bike in 1975. It was a '73 leftover I got for 999.00. it beat on me like I was a pinata. It damaged me. But, I remember r when they unloaded it, that silver and green was so gorgeous. I could hear the Halaluja chorus eminating from the heavens. Very cool to see one of these in action. I will always prefer the vintage iron over the new stuff just because of my age and all the great times I had on dirt bikes from that era. This looks like it was a great time ☮️
Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!!! Brought me right back, trying to keep those old piston port motors boiling on the pipe and trying to hang on through whoops with barely a handful of suspension travel! Love it!
Isn't that the truth
The Honda Elsinore was the premiere platform of its time. A beautiful work of art and engineering. This video brought a tear to my eye as the rider on a nearly 40 year old motorcycle that wasn’t designed to be a woods/GNCC racer, moves through to the front of the pack. 😢
When i picked up my 250 Elsinore in 73, I was sure no one could ever build a better bike!
I had mine in 75 from memory. I thought the same thing at the time..
I had a 74’ Elsinore and wow was that a wicked power band!
Good to hear the old Elsinore again. I had red one back in 81 and LOVED it! It would keep up with much bigger bikes. An awesome machine.
The Elsinore was, and still is an awesome ride
The front mud flap was so mid 70’s ! Iconic period in motorcycle production history . .
Hats off for the pilot !…and doing it with an old favorite 👍🏼
That's the way to do it! Keeping it in the powerband with a little fanning of the clutch and quick shifting one of the slickest transmissions ever made, only required a slight nudge to blaze through the gears. Hardly ever missed a gear on my 1976 Elsinore.
The sound of that Honda 125 brings back fond memories of motocross and dirtbike riding in the mid to late 1970's. That Florida wet sand equals traction!
My knees hurt just watching this..
Thank god for long-travel suspension!
Brought back memories of 16yo me in 1974 getting a new 125 Elsinore, loved that bike, my all time favorite.
Love it!!! Awesome riding had a 250 same year when was 13 years old don't know how I survived
The dude can ride! 🤟
Makes me miss my 1975 1/2. RM 125... The 70s were fun. 😊
Did it have a down pipe
@@donbrashsuxRM'S all had high pipes!! The TM had a low pipe
@@arthurmchugh5184 no the RM125 S and M models had down pipes
Stu had one. Said it was ported.
I’d only begun riding bikes that very day, on a four stroke Honda 100.
It gave a little bit of warning - then *BAM!* it scared me out of a years growth!
@@donbrashsux checked it out and you are right 😀😀
Holy crap, 50 friggin years ago pop got me one of these at the age of 13. That's a mind warp!
Those Elsinores were so much fun... I raced my 75 CR125M in Pepperell and Southwick Mass and watching your well-tuned bike pull away from more modern bikes was pure joy to watch, thanks for posting!!!
I had the 73 model and as you know they were fantastic bike's and mine never broke down and was easy to work on. Hi from Brisbane Australia 🎉
We were 12 years old and my buddy gets one of these for Christmas. Holy crap, we were all hooked, I finally got a 1978 model a few years later. Those were the days.
Very impressive !!! I would not dare to hit the mud on that awesome masterpiece of motocross history
This was a joy to watch, brought back a lot of memories.
That is some good riding, i grew up riding bikes of this era , they are back breakers !!!!
Proves it's one of the greatest bike ever made. That's a scary track by the way. I was so lucky to own one of the 74s soon after they where put on the market. So much fun so reliable.
That's cool, bought my fist bike in 74, with mom and dad's help, a Penton, then in 78 went to Kawasaki, never looked back.
@@user-Dr. just looked at the penton nice. Made by KTM which I have now.
@@raydenny7197 Yup, I believe Penton became KTM, can't remember if Penton changed their name or if KTM was a larger existing company that bought them out, we knew the Penton family (a little through racing) before the Japanese began building competitive motocross bikes, I do believe either Penton was the beginning of KTM or at least the beginning of KTM getting into motorcycles, I think.
LIL Elsie can HUNT
Savage machines thanks for the memories. 🎉🍻👏👏👏👏
Lo mejor que he visto en años! Excelente conducción de ése Clásico de Honda. ✌🏻✌🏻✌🏻
That was awesome man! Brought back a lot of cool memories. Had a new YZ400 back in 79 that was insane to hold on to. They were amazing machines for their time for sure. Got a ride on a CR IN 74 and it’s what had me in bikes my whole life.
My back hurts already , watching 3 inches of travel . Nice ride tho! Imagine getting beat by this thing on your new 250f ? Hurting feelings😎
You are sitting down too much, you should be standing almost the whole time when you are watching this. That's the way riding a bike like this.
@@merakrut True, you dont sit down and take a cruise around a motocross track.
4.1 inch rear travel on the 75 red tank model
Awesome ride, thanks for the video
Wow - I'm 59 now and had that exact bike when I was 14 yrs old - what memories this brings back!!!
Damn man , I wasn’t sure how this ole girl was going to fair with some of the more modern monsters in the field ! Then here comes this 74 CR ..one by one knocking off the field. I was impressed brother ! Shame you sunk in the mud ☹️
Great ride! Shining it on em, old guys rule!!
My dad rode for many years and finished when he had one of the newer YZF 400s and he still to the day he died said his 125 Elsinore was his favorite bike ever. Thanks for the video and nice riding!
Crikey! HOLD ON! Some serious arm pump after that race!!
Brings back memories for sure! Thanks for the video!
Super cool. Hurts my back just watching. Nice riding! Long live the 2 stroke.
I rode this when my older friend let me take his around the tracks for a few laps. I was probably 12 and could barely touch the ground. He told me to scoot up on the tank as far as I could to keep the front end down when I hit the power band !!
I will never forget the sound and explosion that day on the mighty Elsinore.
This was my first bike at 13 years old CR 125 M1 1974. I am now 49 years old. I wish I still had that old bike. It was a screamer and performed way ahead of its time.
Oh my..
I remembered that two stroke sound from my childhood..
So cool..
Thanks.
DAMNNN!!!!!! You are a BEAST!! As an old timer I was ginning from ear to ear watching this!
Damn, this video did my heart good! That old Elsinore was ready to run! Forget all the fancy suspension, fancy race mods, all that shit, that old bike was ready to be get up on the pipe and embarrass some folks! Great Job riding that hellion! Great video!
Nice ride. That 125 had about 22-25 hp back then.
You had it running great.
Good video
Good freakin job, as soon as I heard the ring from the fins it brought back some good memories. 👍🏻
Excellent ride! Just because it's old doesn't mean you cast it aside! 🖖🙂
I raced a 250 back in the day!!! Those bikes were fast ,light and fun !!!😅😅😅🏍🏍🏍
That is a good rider right there you can see the bike burp and cough and he still managed to show the newbies how it's done on a 50 year old bike great work dude
your video put tears in my eyes the sound of that brings back memories thanks
As graham Jarvis always says 80% rider 20% bike. Great riding man, and that bike sounds real good
Awesome video and impressive riding! Great to see that Elsinore still out on the track & doing very well. Thanks for posting.
All clutch, pipe, and piston port testicular greatness..
Wow, thank you for this! Honda introduced the 250 Elsinore a year earlier, their first attempt at a production 2-stroke race bike, and they hit the nail on the head! The '74 125cc was my first race bike and was considered state-of-art at the time. I always crack up when I see to ole Mud Flap out front. I finally trophied in '75, before I went on to the Suzuki RM125 with a marzocchi front-end.
Nice bit of riding by the way : )
Me, too. I had a '74 CR (Crotch Rocket) I bought brand new. I worked at a Honda dealership in high school (Tifton, Georgia) so I was able to buy it myself. I laughed at the big mud flap comment. The six speed transmission was wicked but easy to "load it up" if you failed to downshift properly.. Then had to sit with the gas off waiting to burn that fuel dump out of the cylinder. I rode several races in Hilliard Florida and St. Augustine - that sand was brutal. I am now 64 and to this day, that era is still my "Glory Days". I moved on to the RM125 , too when I moved to a Suzuki dealership. Best of times. I have a million stories. I guess old farts like me do.
That was excellent. Had me on the edge of my seat for sure. Amazing 👍
It did me too!!
I held my breath. I was holding on and trying to keep the front wheel on top of the water while clenching my arse to my chair and hitting the off on switch throttle . I had the 75 red tank with 1/16 turn throttle. Loved it
@@donblunkall5607 back in 75 through 80 I rode Suzuki RM’s. I’ve always put Honda CR throttle assembly’s on because of the short turn 🤜
Yeah, several of my friends had the RMs. Boy, those were the days. I just don't think it could get any better. Everyone had bikes and it kept us out of trouble. Pizza parlor after riding. Even the old folks put up with the noise of the Elsinore. I think it had to do with them seeing us smiling ear to ear and them seeing the amazing animal from across the sea, screaming and blowing rocks and dirt from the rear tire and the front tire was only on the ground when it was parked. Amazing times we experienced my friend.
@@donblunkall5607 like I’ve said 1000 times I don’t care what they’re doing now as far as all the insane tricks we grew up in the best days of motocross and motorcycle riding. I have owned a Lotta motorcycles to the years but one of the stupidest mistakes was that I bought a 73 CR 250 all original back in 96. It ran good the only thing wrong was it had a pretty big dent in the right side of the tank at that time I had lots of motorcycles enough money so dummy me sold it around 2001 for $1200. I only paid $825 for it. I don’t know if this will post. This is the only video I have of it trying to show my dad how to work video camera. 😂😢 oh the first part. I am riding my 95 KX 125.
ruclips.net/video/IrM2hqB_0go/видео.html
The sound , grew on those things , the sound !!
Thank you
That is way cool. Great riding on an incredible iconic bike. It really takes me back. I raced one back in the 70's. The sound is awesome and the smell would be like catnip for an old guy like me. Thanks for posting.
AWWW YESSS the smell of Bardahl castor oil wafting through the air on a crisp sunday morning during practice at the race track was like heaven. I also raced a 74 CR125, I dont think anyone could argue the fact that it was the most dominant MX bike ever built.
I'm 60 years old and not brought back some great times riding off Honda Elsinore I have 125 then 250 they were incredible machine
Thanks for the video brother. Brought back some hellacious memories of good times on mine. Man, that sound. I remember it like it was yesterday.
Nice riding. I heard that suspension bottom out a couple times. 😄
Good lord, it was bottomed out when he sat on it. You heard his teeth bottoming out.
I think that was badass, I’m looking forward to more 😁👍
What a sweet sound. Brings back so many memories.
BEAUTIFUL & NOSTALGIC 😊
Brilliant riding, Bro. Loved those Elsinores back in the day.
My brother owned both a CR 125 and CR 250. I had the pleasure of riding both. My fave was the fun 125. The 250 was beastly and serious.
That old bike is ripping!!!! Good job brother
Definitely a good rider, keeping that bike in the powerband is key. Giving up suspension technology is it’s biggest detriment.
Many years ago it was said in a Dirt Bike Magazine editorial that Roger DeCoster could probably beat most of us on a step-thru 90 lol. Truth to that!
A couple years ago I told that to someone with a Beta who was going to put 2K + into his front suspension. Everyone on the board laid into me for that. It's ALWAYS the rider. Even though you think your fast there's always someone faster.
Now that brings back memories!
I remember going to see all the pro's in the 70's at Cycle World USA in St. Peters, Mo. Great Track.
Love the way those Elsinore's sounded, never forget the first time I heard one, they weren't the most powerful 125's, but they were a good bike, if you wanted to win races in the 125 class in the early to mid 70's you rode a Penton, then in 78 the Kawasaki KX 125 came out and rewrote the book, I personally think that bike may still be the best handling and fastest 125 ever produced, but it's been a while since I've ridden one of any kind, but to watch this Honda put it to em kind of solidifies my thought.
They were the fastest in 74. Nothing was faster or handled better. Within 2 years the competition caught up and surpassed the Elsinore. But in 74, that was THE bike to have.
@@ronpage101 Correct by 76 the yz and rm were better. You had to spend some serious money in 76 to make a Honda compete. I respectfully disagree about the 1977 kx125, the 1977 Yz D model and the 1977 rm 125's dominated in Southern California. After the 1974/75 model year when Honda dominated it was surprising to see the 76/77 models were just warmed over variants that weren't remotely dominant.
This is awesome! Dudes one hell of a rider and that bike is sweet. I have a love for vintage dirt bikes
I had one of those back in the day , fun bike and wicked power band , sure needed suspension .
So bad ass! I always dreamed of having one of those back in the day. One of our neighbors in the early 1970s had one exactly like that. So cool.
OLD IS GOLD! Nothing like a well made 2-stroke 'screamer'! Hell... even my little Honda MB5 50cc bike is way too much fun to ride! Imagine a 7 HP, 50cc motor with a powerband!
That would be a pretty slow 50cc engine, even back then I think, (7hp), for a 2-stroke. I am sure they were getting 10-14hp from the 50cc race engines. I sell a 46cc cylinder reed engine, with a cylinder than has that older porting configuration, (single exhaust port for the big factor), like those days, and I am pretty sure they are hitting 10hp with a pretty wide power curve. My most popular engines are more 30cc-34cc, (also 60's/70's single exhaust port.), and they are making up to 7hp, and rev up to 21,000rpm.
It is better to listen too than the music today. :)
Brings back great memories. This was the first 125 my parents got me as a child. Wish they were still making two strokes today, my 60 yo ass would buy one!
Hell yeah! Ripping it up! That was same bike my uncle had and when I was a kid I would stare at it all day. Would love one in my collection one day.
I had that same green ‘74 cr 125 some 30+ years ago…i remember i was a teenager and the back brakes were shot so i had to downshift and use the front brake to stop…..that bike was soooo much fun….air cooled bikes just always ran better compared to the later liquid cooled ones ive owned later on in life
That's so awesome! I remember those bikes when they were new. I got a '73 XR75 for my 13th birthday but admired those bigger Elsinores. Just too much bike for a small girl. Loved my XR75
That was awesome! Took me back to my first bike which was a 1974 yamaha 2 stroke 125 @ 7 years old 😂. Had to lean it against the house to stand on it and kick it over, Thats when I learned how to crash with style!
Thanks for sharing!
I stil have a similar bike, and with -74 suspension travel, that was just amazing to watch. The engine is just amazing, but the suspension is just -74, so riding that fast is really, really fun to watch. I bought mine over 40 years ago, I wish I could still ride it off road; I have a muscle disease, IBM, so I can ride only gravel roads max, and this may be my last summer even being able to do that. But I had a good life, and fond memories to take with me to that other place.I hope it has bikes...
I was 14 years old in ‘74 when that bike was made . I’m 63 now & ride a ‘99 YAMAHA WR-400f & just wanted to say AWESOME riding on a Bike that next year will be 50 years old !! Gotta be worth a small fortune , and yet here you are riding it like you stole it 😉😆👍. Great example as someone said about a good rider can ride anything fast . Those old Elsinore’s were game changers back then , and prove here that they still hold their own . Thanks for sharing this with us. I constantly piss off my riding buddies on my 24 year old bike too …..👍
What a great bike, wish I still had mine. Amazing to see how well it performs after 50 years!
awesome!!! that looks like SO MUCH FUN !!!
It ALL about the bike AND the rider. Great going mate well done. The early 2 strokes were animals. I still love the early dirt bikes like the Husky and the Maico, Bultaco,. Crazy
I've raced my Yamaha 1975 DT400 in a couple vintage races. So much fun. Really liked this video, that dude can ride it like it was meant to be ridden.
Wish I still had mine!
Best bike ever!
I raced CR125's until 1980. Started with a 74 model then a 75 and 78. That 74 like the others you had to stay on the pipe as we called it. Get the power band to kick in. It was not a woods bike for sure. On a motocross track you got your weight over the rear wheel and held on lol. WFO! Starts were awesomely wild and fun.
Boy that's what you call a riding masterclass just brilliant you sure how to ride that great classic top skills last guy was tough to catch but you left him for dead great vidio