"T
he test you've been
waiting for" was the
subtitle for the February
13, 1973, Cycle News' story on
the brand new, shiny-tanked mo-
torcycle from the world's largest
motorcycle company. After being
teased with gossipy bits and
sneaky photos for several years,
the Honda CR250M Elsinore had
arrived and it would pierce the
motorcycling world in a way that
hadn't been seen since Gottleib
Daimler whiskey-throttled his
wooden-wheeled Reitwagen in
1885!
A couple of pages later, there
was another test, this one featur
-
ing the new 1973 CZ 250. Its sub-
title was somewhat less sensa-
tional: "Sill the racer's choice?" It
almost seemed to be warning the
reader that any old-world senti-
ments about European moto-
cross machinery were about to
be swept away. These two tests
bled into a one-on-one compari-
son between the "new-school"
Elsinore and the "old-school" CZ,
two of some of the most historic
motorcycles ever built.
In the motocross world of
2023, it has become nearly im-
possible to distinguish one mo-
torcycle from another. Even an
experienced eye must rely on the
corporate colors, especially from
the grandstands. Such familiar-
ity was not the case 50 years
ago. Side by side, the CZ and
the Honda look as different as
night from day, and CN readers
CNIIARCHIVES
P126
CZ VS. THE ELSINORE
THE COMPARISON TEST OF THE
BY KENT TAYLOR
Our comparison test 50 years ago
of the all-new Honda CR250M
and the once dominant CZ 250
was almost a comparison test of
motocross eras—the ending of one
era and the beginning of a new one.
