1994 CR125 with an EG 144 kit and Team Honda 95 Graphics

Well, it is finally back together. 7 Weeks at Eric Gorr's shop but I finally have it mostly done. I literally replaced every nut and bolt on this bike with factory honda stuff. I got sick of all the crappy nuts and bolts that required me to change the wrench on every bolt on the tank, radiators, seat, blah, blah, blah. The only thing left on this bike is I would like to replace the pipe with a new fmf fatty and paint the case sides all black (you will notice that they are mismatched). Anyway, I am pretty happy with the way it turned out and thought I would share. Haven't been able to open up the engine yet, just ran it around on the street for the first heat cycle on the motor.

Looks great man! I got a 97 my self, love these cr's

Nice job ! Looking good........... What all did Eric do ? Great bike BTW !

Outstanding! I can't wait to hear a ride report!

Nice job ! Looking good........... What all did Eric do ? Great bike BTW !

144cc big bore kit with his "mo betta" porting. I think of it as a compromise between his low/mid and his mid/top porting. I didn't want a rev monster and I didn't want to lose any over rev that the 125 would have had. Others I talked to said that it has more over rev then a standard 125 and with the big bore kit and the porting combined it should have way more low end torque. One last thing. I didn't have the money to have the frame powder coated with this particular rebuild. I plan on getting a stroked crank from Eric gorr when it needs its next top end so I am going to have the cases and the frame powder coated at that time. I will post a ride report after this weekend, when my Son and I plan on taking it out.

Looks sick man! Can I ask you where you got these graphics I'm looking for a set for my 95' gotta love those Honda's BUILT TO LAST!

Looks sick man! Can I ask you where you got these graphics I'm looking for a set for my 95' gotta love those Honda's BUILT TO LAST!

http://throttlejockey.com/product/x_5UTN93QWawZSN1EY2lkPT/RETRO%20REPLICA'S

They are a nice kit, it cost me about $150 which included the stickers and seat cover. I got my plastics from motosport.com. It was the UFO kit and they let you mix and match colors so you can get the black shrouds, white side covers, red front fender and red or white rear fender and the kit is only $119. I also bought the UFO front number plate for the 94 model year so I didn't have to modify the plate to fit my 94 triples.

Thanks man I could use the new plastics and graphics, thats the same site I bought fork guards from and my friend got his CR250R plastics from. I love their quality my order wasn't a day off

what forks are on the bike? 95+ ?

*hated the forks on my 94 with the "grease strainers"

looks great, but needs a few small changes.

- flip the dunlop decal on the left fork guard

- front brake line adjustment at the fork guard. too much line next to the spokes

- personal preferance here, but i would opt to remove the black paint from the bottom end. please correct me if i'm wrong, but the graphics are 96, which had a model year with bare aluminum bottom end. 92-94 had the black cases.

- works connection frame guards

nice looking! I hope to one day convince my wife i need to build a 95-97 125 to a factory replica.

chris<pixelmonkey>

Looks fantastic! I sure needed to run across your post too... Last friday I bought my first "modern" bike (I'm a vintage bike guy), the told me it was a 2002 cr125rr... wouldn't run... been sitting for a couple years... etc. So I bought it real cheap, only to find out it is a 1997 cr125. Needs top end, about 50 nuts and bolts, tubes/tires, throttle and cable, radiator leaks, and on and on... I was kind of bummed about it, but seeing how your bike came out is awesome and inspiring!! I read some reviews of the '97 cr125's and they talked it up pretty good too... Thanks for posting!!

One question: I was looking for radiators and all of the '97 ones I saw on ebay are one piece. The bike I bought has two separate radiators. Did the 97's have one or two? Just wondering if the previous owner changed something with another year or what... Thx for any info.

Here's a pic of the ugly beast:

what forks are on the bike? 95+ ?

*hated the forks on my 94 with the "grease strainers"

looks great, but needs a few small changes.

- flip the dunlop decal on the left fork guard

- front brake line adjustment at the fork guard. too much line next to the spokes

- personal preferance here, but i would opt to remove the black paint from the bottom end. please correct me if i'm wrong, but the graphics are 96, which had a model year with bare aluminum bottom end. 92-94 had the black cases.

- works connection frame guards

nice looking! I hope to one day convince my wife i need to build a 95-97 125 to a factory replica.

chris<pixelmonkey>

The forks are orig 94 forks. The front brake line is a Galfer steel braided line and I am pretty disapointed that it is so long. I have been trying to figure out how to shorten the brake line since I put it on since the red part is too skinny to put it in the clamp and have it hold. Maybe some black tape? I put a Front brake master cylinder from a 2007 125 on it and I am considering putting the brake line on it from the master cylinder but I like the idea of a steel braided line so I haven't done it yet.

As far as the black cases go, I like them. I am going to keep that 94 orig and have a black bottom end with the aluminum cylinder.

If anyone knows where you can get works connection frame guards for a 94, I am looking. I can find them for a 95-97 but I don't know if they will fit a 94 and works connection has not answered inquiries I have sent them on this question.

Looks fantastic! I sure needed to run across your post too... Last friday I bought my first "modern" bike (I'm a vintage bike guy), the told me it was a 2002 cr125rr... wouldn't run... been sitting for a couple years... etc. So I bought it real cheap, only to find out it is a 1997 cr125. Needs top end, about 50 nuts and bolts, tubes/tires, throttle and cable, radiator leaks, and on and on... I was kind of bummed about it, but seeing how your bike came out is awesome and inspiring!! I read some reviews of the '97 cr125's and they talked it up pretty good too... Thanks for posting!!

One question: I was looking for radiators and all of the '97 ones I saw on ebay are one piece. The bike I bought has two separate radiators. Did the 97's have one or two? Just wondering if the previous owner changed something with another year or what... Thx for any info.

Here's a pic of the ugly beast:

97 has 2 radiators. Mylers can fix your stock radiators or they have aftermarket aluminum ones for it too. That is what I did with mine, bought Mylers aluminum ones.

please correct me if i'm wrong, but the graphics are 96

You are wrong....The 96 graphics were slightly different.

95:

96:

Looks fantastic! I sure needed to run across your post too... Last friday I bought my first "modern" bike (I'm a vintage bike guy), the told me it was a 2002 cr125rr... wouldn't run... been sitting for a couple years... etc. So I bought it real cheap, only to find out it is a 1997 cr125. Needs top end, about 50 nuts and bolts, tubes/tires, throttle and cable, radiator leaks, and on and on... I was kind of bummed about it, but seeing how your bike came out is awesome and inspiring!! I read some reviews of the '97 cr125's and they talked it up pretty good too... Thanks for posting!!

They must have been trying to pull a fast one on you if they told you a 97 was a 02. Substantial difference, especially being that the 02 is the 3rd gen aluminum frame and the 97 is still the steel frame. You got yourself a keeper though....These are my favorite CR's.

Bike looks nice man! Your project is very similar to mine, actually, and have found your opinions helpful! I'm rebuilding a 93, but using the shrouds/side plates from a 95+ (they came with the bike and I may eventually switch them back to the correct version). I also opted for the correct 93 front plate since it fits the 93 triple clamps.

I'm in the process of painting my cases and have decided on keeping them black, but I'm not sure if I have the right color. There were gloss black and flat black. I bought the gloss since the flat seems like it would juts look like primer and I expect to have my frame powdercoated in the next couple of weeks so I think it will look better.

My biggest decision will be frame color. The current frame is black, but I'll be getting a spare frame PC'd. Originally I wanted white like original, but the black should be easier to keep clean and it kind of fits well with the current color scheme I have. In addition, my tank and airbox are not so white anymore, so I think the black may hide it better...

Should be updating my thread very soon and hopefully get the thing dirty FINALLY!!

FRDBTR - Thanks for the radiator info. I'll look into geting them repaired if it'll save some $$.

KCDAVIS - Yeah, the kid didn't mean to lie to me... but he knew a lot less about it than I did. He bought 3 years it as a learner bike and it scared the hell out of him, so he parked it in a shed where it sat ever since and then he bought a quad. He said he paid 1200 for it and sold it to me for 400... so hopefully I can put a few $$ into it and have a good bike.

I race vintage flattrack on an old '79 xr250 in a Baker frame and putt around the woods on a '73 Yamaha 250 2-stroke, my buddy says I'm gonna be real surprised by the power of this 125 and he doesn't think I'll like the way it comes on. We'll see about that! I just love the plush feel of the modern suspension!!

Thanks for the advice and hopefully I'll post back in a month or two!

Great looking bike. I bet it's a blast to ride too. Where do you go to get her dirty?

Great looking bike. I bet it's a blast to ride too. Where do you go to get her dirty?

I grew up in SE Utah so most of my experience on bikes is Canyonlands and down south of Blanding Utah. I am still learning the places to ride up North. I have been to Knolls, Cherry Creeek, and Little Sahara. Out of the 3 my favorite was Cherry Creek. I still want to do some of the single track here in the north like Hobble Creek, but I am completely unfamiliar with places like that. I have a Cousin who is but we haven't been able to get together on a day when both of us can go yet.

As far as a ride report, I took it out yesterday to a little sand pit close to my house and tried to ride it hard. It seems to have some sort of an electrical problem since it won't transition into the top end. It will accelerate fine and then when it tries to hit high rpm, I get a really fast hesitation and it falls on its face. I disconnected the kill switch and that didn't help. Eric Gorr said to check the grounds on the kill switch and the coil. Also check the ohm levels on the coil, the ICM and the stator. I really don't want to bother with an electrical problem so I am probably going to contact one of the speed shops I am familiar with and have them do it. It feels really strong all the way until it should feel its strongest and then falls flat, very disapointing.

An update:

I found out that the issue with the 125 was my jetting. I had jetted it per Eric Gorr's recomendations and that was WAY too rich. I was running a 168 main and a 55 pilot and Now I have a 162 main in it and it stopped the stuttering in high RPM's. I am going to put a 160 main in it and a 52 pilot when the 160 main comes in the mail (I didn't have one so I ordered it). I will report back when I am able to give it a better run then up and down my street and when I get it leaned out some more.

Well, I talked to Eric Gorr yesterday about my lack of power and he had me check a couple of things. There is good news and some bad news. The good news is, I checked the compression and it came out at 150psi. The bad news is, I have a bad flywheel side crankshaft seal and it has sucked dirt into the crank case.? I am going to try to call Eric Gorr again tomorrow but maybe someone here can help me out with my options. I am pretty sure it sucked in enough to put vertical lines on the piston (I looked at it through the exhaust port) so I am freaking out a bit here. Do I need to pull the top end and the motor and clean out the crank case with brake cleaner? How much life would be left on the bottom end if there is still no play in the crankshaft (there wasn't any when I put it together) or the main bearings? I was going to ride it with this bottom end until the current piston needed replaced (at about 30 hours) and then have EG put a stroker crank in it to get it to a 153 but this might put that on the fast track. I am pretty sure we have found the source of my lack of power and the rich jetting though.