Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127680
Bill'sPipes/Enzo Racin gIWhite Bros. Honda CR1 5 2 (Left) When co mpleted, our project Honda CR125was quite an eyecatcher. From the f10ures cent yellow UFO bodywork, to the polished aluminum White Bros. parts, everything about the bike was trick. / By Donn Maeda Photos by AI King hen it came time to modi fy our ' 94 Honda CR125 test bike, I must admit tha t I was a bit nerv ous. Sure, most of our p revious pr s ut th e os t 0 e ak poin Id be imp"'v e CRl er, w a 'diff ry. In st ·0 bike dy blaz ood s an relia d to no ne. ran 't be made d ifying this ake it ha But an assignment is an assignment, an d the deed ha d to be do ne. In the seemingly silly sea rch for more power, we sent our CR's mot or to Bill Cervera, of Bill's Pipe fame . Does the name sound familiar ? Of course it does! Am ongst those racing with Bill's Pipes exh a u st systems on th eir CR125s are Team Honda's de fending 12Sec Nati onal Ch ampion Doug Henry, Steve Lamson, and Team Ho nda of Troy 's Craig Decker. In addition to installing his pipe an d silencer, Bill ventured into our bike's motor in search of more p ow er . "It's really easy to make any bike faster, but keep ing it easy to ride is the ha rd part," says C er v er a . "Getting m ore usab le power out of a Ho nda CR125 engine is actually pretty easy to do. You just have to know where to look for it." Cervera ported the cylinder and modified the head, but lef t the rest of th e engine alone. "You don't need to get into the cases to make a CR125 go fast," he said . "We don't even mess with the carburetor . Like I said, it's easy to do - you just have to know what to do ." W hile w e o r ig ina lly fel t th a t th e motor would be tough to improve upon, we were sure that the stock Kayaba Suspension could be fine-t u n ed for even better handling. Though we were quite pleased with the susp en sion in s tock condition, it was a tad soft in the rear, and the forks could be harsh at tim es . Since it would be impossible to ge t ou r h ands on H enry or Lamson' s factory s usp ens ion, we opted to go the sa m e rou te as De ck er and the res t of th e W Honda of Troy squad. One phone call to Enzo Racing, and we wer e set. Out back, En zo rev a lved o u r stock s hock and ins talled a stiffer, .5.4 sprin g. Internally, the shock was rev alved to be plusher in the initial part of the travel, and stiffer towards the en d. Also, a wor ks-typ e bottoming bumper that Enzo says provides a more progressive com p ression rat io S. d. In 0 wo rd he botm sensa r en I as ha here :ver noti 't the - lied a bes, whi that is m al a special c harder and slicker than stock, resu lting in lower friction and longer oil life. Valving was m od ified to be more p rogressive, an d like the shock, plusher in the told them . "But make it look really trick, okay?" A phone call to the White Bros. offices a w ee k later yielded quite a surprise. "We ll, the bike's still stripped down to the fram e right now," said White Bros: Jim Lewis. "An d the whee ls aren't quite done , and the al u mi n u m p art s aren' t back from the polis her's yet:' A few days later, we took delivery of the b ike and could ha rd ly believe our eyes . No longer was our bike the familia r r ed a n d white. Ins tead , it was a flourescent yellow, red, black an d white motorcycl e. White Bros . rep ain ted the fra me, engine cases and levers befor e in stalling UF O Replica pl a s tic b od y parts. A flou rescen t yellow front fender and rad iator shro uds were mated with a white numberplate, fork guards, sidep an els and rear fender, and th e bodywork was capp ed off with a red Ceet Racing Dyna Cover and a Werks Tank and Shrou d Graphics Kit. Rou nding out the cosmetics of the machine was a bevy of polished parts . Every thing aluminum - the kick starter, brake pedal, shift lever, trip le clamps and master cylinder gua rd - wa s re mov ed a n d p olished to a chrome-lik e finish. It was blindin g, to say the least. In the protection d epartmen t, Whit e Bros . fi tted a se t of (p olished) Devol Frame Guards, a White Bros. Supercross air f Skid PI Bra e Snake Ide tpe 1- • op'ad fro a • 0