Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

. . .PROJECT BIKE· Honda CR250 the valve stack was reworked in order to provide a more progressive stroke. The stock 5.6kg shock spring was left intact, and a Works Bottoming Bumper Kit was installed. Up front is where things really started to get trick. Enzo revalved the forks to ride higher in the suspension stroke by stiffening up the initial compression damping. Stiffer .42kg springs were installed and the stock outer fork tubes were tossed in favor of a set of ultra-trick ESP (Enzo Special Part) Type K tubes. The outsides of the tubes are anodized dark gold for a "works" look, and the ESP tubes boast a special surface treatment on. the insides which lengthens oil service life and decreases the amount of internal friction. The hardening process used on the ESP Type K tubes is identical to that which is used on full works KYB fork tubes. To compliment the new forks, we chose to bolt on a pair of Answer's Pro Taper handlebars. The hock absorption qualities of the crossbar-less handlebars has improved the ride on many of our past test machines, and we opted for the familiar Honda High bend. Because of the handlebar's popularity, the required upper triple clamp kit was temporarily out of stock. Though it would be only a few days before Answer products would have the needed piece in stock, we decided to give the guys at Applied Racing a call. A relatively young company in the MX industry, Applied has been fabricating aircraft parts for over 20 years, and now specializes in making trick billet-aluminum parts for most motocross bikes. Owner John Duffy provided a Pro Taper-compatible upper By Donn Maeda Photos by Kinney Jones 20 he 1995 Honda CR250 is a great motocrosser. An awesome powerband, good suspension, great brakes and decent looks made the CR one of our favorite 250s of the year, and our test unit has kept us smiling week in and week out since we took delivery last September. As a matter of fact, we liked the bike so well, that it actually remained bone stock for most of the year. What reason was there to modify it? Finding a chink in the CR's armor was quite a task. But then it happened. One day - a good six months after we took delivery of our '95 test bike - we noticed that the bike looked, well... beat. As the fa vorite bike of one of our mo t active testers, the bike had seen countIe s hours on the high-speed Glen Helen OHV Park course, the jump-filled Castaic MX and Starwest Supercross Park tracks, and the ever-traditional, superrough Carlsbad Raceway circuit. It was time for a faceIift. The first item on the agenda was easy. Though we were super-pleased with the stock suspension after it was fine-tuned by Honda's Eric Crippa, our Kayaba fork and shock were in desperate need of an oil change. Though we offer greater rigidity. The upper clam are IOmm thicker, and the lowers are whopping 20= thicker. Of course both pieces are a bit heavier than stock but Duffy feels that the gains are wo it. Applied also makes a sano set 0 chain blocks. Naturally, the pieces ar made of aircraft-quality aluminum, like the handlebar clamps, offer tw positions. The further rearward positio is capable of compensating for a on tooth change in rear sprocket size. Th machined blocks allow the rear axle t slip flush into indentions that mirror th end cap shape. This makes loosenin and tightening the axle a one-wren procedure. All of Applied's products ar anodized gun metal blue. If there's anything that Honda MXe a re Teall y known for, it's their super strong brakes. Perfection? Not accordin to Braking Brake System's Ludo Boin nard. "We manufacture a front brake lei that can make your brakes just like Jer my McGrath's," said Boinnard. "Oll front disc is the same size as the wor brakes." Braking offers an oversize fron brake kit that includes a 20= larg (260=) front disc, a billet 7075 alu minum caliper adapter and a set 0 semi-metallic carbon-fiber brake pa Though a similar kit will soon be avaH able for the rear, we opted to install onl a set of the semi-metallic carbon-fibe pads out back. Thanks to several rocks and squar edged bumps, both of our stock wh resembled those of Fred Flintstone's One call to White Brothers solved tha problem. Tom White is a die-har triple clamp, and sent along a matching lower clamp as well. In contrast to the An wer Products and stock clamps, the Applied unit offers fore and aft handlebar perch settings. Both settings are taller and further forward than the OEM clamp position - one position places the bars 3mm further forward, while the other moves them forward 9mm. Both parts are machined from 7075 aluminum, and Duffy is quick to point out that the fork bores are much more precise than on the stock cast units. "Ever take your forks out of the clamps and notice black marks inside the fork bores?" saici Duffy. "That's from the forks moving around and flexing in the clamps." Both clamps have thicker fork tube clamping areas, and as a result, both enthusiast, and spends almost ever weekend aboard his personal Kawa KX250. Of course, White's KX is fa from being stock, and is a veritable ca log on wheels. One of the things w noticed on White's bike was a beau· set of wheels - gold Excel rims lace onto gold Talon hubs. "So, you want to build a bike that' almost as trick as mine?" joked Whit "No problem." Though White Brothers sells rim spokes and hubs separately, they als offer complete wheel set. While th Excel wheels have gained quite a rep tation over the years, the Talon hubs ar comparatively new to the United Stat Manufactured in Great Britain, the hu are machined out of a chunk of bill aluminum. High quality seals and be (Right) When complete, our project CR250 drew sla... wherever It went. A good motorcycle in stock condition, the CR became great with only • few small chlInges. were tempted to simply send our suspension back to American Honda for service, we elected to go elsewhere, as our readers would not be able to duplicate our drop-it-off-at-the-factory procedure. Instead, we contacted Enzo Racing. Once a cult-status suspension shop, Enzo Racing has slowly but surely gained a shining reputation in the motocross industry. Owner Ross Maeda spends his days working as an engineer for the Kayaba factory - working with the likes of both Mikes (Kiedrowski and LaRocco), Jeff Emig, John Dowd and Kevin Windham - and there's probably not another guy around that knows his way in and out of a Kayaba fork or shock as well. Enzo Racing started with the rear shock. In addition to changing the oil,

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