1973 Honda CR250M 'Elsinore' Motorcycle

Description

Despite his stated opposition to two-stroke technology, Soichiro Honda launched a bike that revolutionised the motocross scene in 1973, the fabulous CR250M.  Following several years of secret development by a group of former race engineers and named after California’s famous off-road course at Lake Elsinore, Honda’s first serious motocross model featured a two-stroke single with a bore and stroke of 70mm by 64.4mm, a close-ratio five-speed gearbox and flywheel magneto ignition.  The CR250M’s chrome moly frame was a semi-double cradle design, with long travel telescopic fork and a swing arm plus refillable shock absorbers.  Combining aluminium bodywork and plastic fenders, the CR250M was an ultra-lightweight machine with excellent off-road performance and quickly proved itself in competition when Gary Jones won the AMA’s 250 National Motocross Championship in 1973.  Sold alongside the equally successful CR125M, both appeared just as motocross was really taking off in America, with tracks appearing all over the country, and paved the way for a generation of sensational Honda dirt bikes.