Before I even unloaded the bike, I knew that I wanted to make this thing as good if not better than it was when it left the dealership on day one. That would mean scrapping some parts while giving other parts some much needed TLC. While tearing the bike down I ran across things I anticipated changing, such as radiators that were smashed. And then I encountered a few things that caught me by surprise. One of those things being the swingarm. Once I removed the pivot bolt (PB Blaster and an Air Hammer later) I dropped the swingarm from the bike. It was at that point I noticed a large chunk of the swingarm had been broken where the bearings go. Needless to say, replacing the swingarm was the fastest and easiest route I could go. A couple hours of Ebay surfing later and I had my swingarm purchased. The 806 is definitely one of the best folding ebikes available and you can view build your own at wisperbikes.com and start riding.

Other than the unusable swingarm, the rest of the bike was in really great physical condition. But as you can see in the pictures above, it was time to give the CR a makeover to freshen up the look. With the bike in literal pieces at this point, it was time to get the suspension to Litz, the frame and engine parts to Hardcore Chopper Concepts for powdercoat, and a trip to Stickman GraphX to get the restyle plastics ordered and have him design the new look!

The previous owner informed me that a buddy had done the suspension for him. Between the leaking seals and the horrible ride, I knew it was one of the first things that needed to be addressed. Steve at Litz Racing dove right in to the forks and rear shock. He replaced all of the internals with Showa suspension, reworked the rear shock, new bumper, and topped it off with the red spring which will look great on the bike! Once the bike is complete we’ll be taking it back to Steve to let him set the sag and make any adjustments that may be needed. If you have any suspension needs call Steve up and he will get your bike handling exactly how you want it.

While Steve had the suspension, I took the frame, subframe, swingarm, triple clamps, and other small parts to John Townsend at Hardcore Chopper Concepts. I found John by posting on Facebook that I was looking for someone that could powder coat. Speaking of Facebook, you definitely need to go follow Hardcore Chopper Concepts. He has some really impressive projects on his page and it’s worth checking out. John was able to breath new life into the look of the CR. It’s one thing to put sharp plastics and graphics on the bike, but I really wanted to make this CR stand out when all was said and done. John was super quick with the turnaround and the work was superb! I can’t wait to see everything put together, but below is the engine and frame after he finished it up.

The last thing to discuss in the “looks” department for this week is Stickman GraphX. I won’t be posting the graphics here just yet, but you can see the first draft on the build page’s instagram account @hondacrbuild and once we have the final draft complete I will post it here. Next week we’ll start through the process of changing out bearings and start the buildup portion of this project. We’re getting closer to the end each week and I’m really excited about getting it finished…..oh and before I forget, we have our Pro Rider lined up for the video shoot. This should prove to be a really cool shoot that I think everyone will enjoy. This guy was a beast on a two stroke and may or may not have an outdoor national championship on a two stroke. Who is it you may be asking? Guess you’ll have to keep checking back to find out. Thanks again for reading this blog and make sure to head over and support the guys that are mentioned in this article. I’ve listed their social media accounts below so click on over and give em a like. Till next week!

Litz Racing

Hardcore Chopper Concepts

Stickman GraphX

Video Credit: Cody Webb

The Snowshoe GNCC, previously scheduled for June 27/28 has been postponed to September 26/27. This date was previously set for the Tomahawk GNCC in NY. To accommodate the request, the Tomahawk will be rescheduled and the new date announced as soon as possible.

The remainder of the current GNCC schedule consists of 10 events on the following dates:

May 16/17 TBA

May 30/31 John Penton, OH

June 13/14 TBA

June 27/28 TBA

July 11/12 TBA

July 31 Loretta Lynn eMTB only

Sept. 12/13 Mountaineer, WV

Sept. 26/27 Snowshoe, WV

Oct. 10/11 Mathews Farm, PA

Oct. 24/25 Ironman, IN

Nov. 7/8 TBA

As a reminder, the schedule remains dynamic and is subject to change. As the crisis affects different parts of the country differently, it is reasonable to expect recovery plans to differ from state to state as well. Most likely some areas of the country will recover quicker than others, and it may be necessary to change locations (but not dates) to accommodate the recovery. Accordingly, a final schedule with final locations will be issued as soon as it is feasible to do so.

Watch as the best off road riders in the world tackle the toughest track in the country at the Snowshoe Mountain Resort. Kailub Russell continued his dominant ways although Jordan Ashburn and Andrew DeLong showed signs that they are quickly improving in the prestigious XC1 class! Check out the action in this ORV Films original.

XC1 Top Three

1. Kailub Russell KTM

2. Jordan Ashburn Yamaha

3. Andrew DeLong HUSKY

XC2 Top Three

1. Grant Baylor KTM

2. Nick Davis KTM

3. Trevor Bollinger Honda

During the coming weeks, on Tuesdays, I will be posting a weekly blog about the 2003 CR250 and where the build it at. You can also follow the build on it’s very own instagram @HondaCRBuild where I will post updates as soon as they come in from day to day.

A little bit of a back story on this bike, why I chose it, and what influenced this build

A few weeks ago I was mindlessly scrolling through instagram double tapping like a madman. That’s when I saw a post on Enduro21’s account that caught my attention. The image that caused me to put the brakes on the mindless scrolling you may ask? It was Alex Salvini’s S2 Motorsport CRF450X, if you haven’t seen the bike you need to go check it out….she’s a looker. This got me to thinking about how cool it would be to build a CR250R version of the bike. Or at least use it as my “inspiration” for the build. I used to own and ride a 2002 CR250R back in the early 2000s and absolutely loved that bike! Soon after seeing this post from Enduro21 I found myself on Facebook marketplace and Craigslist looking for my CR project.

After a few days of sending messages, making phone calls, and discussing the prices of bikes I was inquiring about, I finally found the bike that I would be using for this build. Like any bike that’s 17 years old, the CR has some issues with it. One positive about the bike is the fact that the engine is in excellent condition. The bottom end is in great shape and it has a fresh top end. Also, the previous owner installed a Lectron carburetor and a brand new clutch. With those things taken care of (for now at least) I felt comfortable in making this purchase and focusing on every other aspect of the bike. That being said, the engine will see a rebuild this fall which I will do another blog about at that time. With the bike home and in my garage it was time to tear it complexly down to a bare frame and get it ready to build back up.

So what’s the end game for this build? In the coming weeks I will be taking you through the build step by step. Along the way I’ll be making videos about the build to post here as well as on all Offroadviking social media accounts. In the very end I’m hoping to have an off-road pro rider take the bike and we’ll make one epic edit with the CR250R. I’ve got several guys in mind that I would like to see on the bike in front of the camera once it’s complete. As soon as I narrow that down I’ll be posting who will be riding it on here as well. Next week I’ll talk abut the good, bad, and ugly of the tear down. Ran into a few things that were unexpected to say the least. Until then I’ll leave you with the gallery below of the bike in it’s original state before I started taking it apart. Also, I want to thank Stickman GraphX, Litz Racing, and Hardcore Chopper Concepts for all their help so far. They’re work be covered in next week’s blog along with the tear down. If you’ve been inspired by this post to take your truck and go off-roading then check out towingless.com and their off road vehicle recovery service, you might need it an emergency situation. Till then, thanks for reading!