CR250R Two Stroke Rebuild: From Family to Crown Jewel

Riding dirt bikes is a great way to spend time with the family. Every weekend millions of people meet up to hang out and ride. So, it is not uncommon for a bike to change hands within the family multiple times. Our latest two-stroke project started with a conversation around the campfire with “Crazy Uncle Dave.” He had blown up a 2002 CR250R about four years earlier, and it was sitting in his garage occupying two boxes and an old milk crate. Jack mentioned he didn’t want it anymore, and without hesitation, we made a generous offer. Moments later, the deal was done and a delivery date was set.

We give the “Family Jewel” some much-needed TLC. All the chassis bearings, cables, brake caliper and brake master cylinders were rebuilt using kits from All Balls Racing. The DS Moto Customs graphics and Thrill Seekers seat cover gave our CR250R a clean factory look.

With the delivery of the bike, our favorable memories surfing through the Glamis sand dunes faded and reality hit us hard! Crazy Uncle Dave had taken the bike apart four years ago after it blew up and never put it back together. The 2002 CR250R would need a complete engine rebuild, including a crank, cylinder, piston, etc. But, what we didn’t think about was how hard it would be to clean it after four years of the parts sitting in the garage. We are not sure how many layers of oil, dirt and sand were on the bike; let’s just say Jack’s not big on cleaning. Getting through each layer of dirt was like taking a bike out of a time capsule. Some parts looked like they had come off the showroom floor in 2002 and had never been touched—the factory graphics, steel handlebars, front tire, grips with the original chain and sprockets were still in good shape.

The Galfer oversized front rotor and steel-braided lines improved stopping power.

After the initial cleanup was finished, we had the engine soda-blasted by the crew at Race Tech. Soda-blasting is nonabrasive and cleans the metal without removing material. It’s always good to start with clean parts when doing a rebuild. With the engine cleaned, we enlisted the help of Mark Kalpakoff and his crew at L.A.SLEEVE for a complete engine rebuild. The cylinder was re-sleeved while the top and bottom end were rebuilt using a complete Wiseco engine rebuild kit with the stock specs. The kit contains a crankshaft with connecting rod, all applicable bearings and a complete engine gasket set with a piston, rings and top-end bearing. The Rekluse Core Manual TorqDrive complete clutch and cover allowed us to dial in the desired pull and power delivery. The clutch is also designed to decrease operating temperatures and reduce clutch fade. Although the major internal settings would be stock specs, we did want to increase performance. The CR250R always needed some help in this area, so we bolted on some key items. A Scalvini exhaust system, featuring a handmade cone pipe paired with a carbon fiber silencer straight from Italy via U.S. importer Motoman Distributing, gave the build some international flavor. Another key item we installed was a Moto Tassinari V-Force 3 reed cage. On the 2002 CR250R, this is more involved than on other models and requires cutting the stock unit, so there is no going back.

On an older bike build like this one, it is always good to inspect chassis bearings and go through the braking systems. All Balls Racing makes kits to replace all the bearings on the chassis, rebuild the entire braking system and the carburetor, and they have OEM replacement cables. Because the machine was apart already, we decided to do it all! While we were busy replacing and rebuilding things, the suspension was in the very capable hands of Factory Connection. If you remember, back in 2002 Factory Connection was doing suspension and running a factory team for Honda. Factory Connection even man-aged to win some championships. So, we figured Factory Connection would be able to make the suspension on our project CR250R work the best. All seals, bushings and oils were replaced with Factory Connection re-valving, and we installed the correct springs for our application.

Bolt-on items from Rekluse, Scalvini, IMS, Samco Hoses, Factory Connection and Torc1 gave us that factory feel we were looking for and the performance benefits are a major plus

With the power and performance resolved, it was all about pleasing the eye. Although Cycra makes updated plastic, we wanted to keep the styling correct for that model year. We decided to use a Cycra 2002 Stadium number plate and pair it with UFO plastics from MTA Distributing. For our wheel needs, Dubya got the call. The wheels are Talon Pro Billet hubs with stainless steel bulldog spokes and D.I.D. ST-X Dirt Star rims. With Dubya offering a wide variety of colors for the spokes, nipples, rims and hubs, we chose red hubs and nipples with black spokes and rims. We outfitted the wheels with Galfer rotors and a Talon sprocket. The front Galfer is a 270mm oversized rotor teamed with steel-braided brake lines to bring the braking out of the Stone Age. We chose to go with Maxxis Maxxcross SI tires for our soft/intermediate terrain, since most of this machine’s life would be spent on tracks. Some of the finishing touches include an Arc RC-8 clutch assembly with Memlon composite levers, IMS Core pegs for much-needed grip, red Samco radiator hoses, and Torc-1 handlebars with oversized mounts and grips. DS Customs topped off the build with a custom set of graphics, and Thrill Seekers designed a gripper seat with traction ribs to match.

Bottom left: Dubya upgraded our wheel to add some style and strength using Talon hubs, oversized spokes and D.I.D. Dirt Star rims. Bottom right: L.A.SLEEVE completely rebuilt the 2002 CR250R engine using Wiseco parts and repaired the cylinder in-house with a sleeve.

After installing the last of the graphics, we couldn’t help but admire the machine sitting before us. Seeing all the man hours of cleaning, the handcrafted exhaust and the new bolt-on parts come together as one, we almost didn’t want to get it dirty—almost. That feeling passed very quickly, and we headed to the track. When the engine came to life for the first time, everyone involved in the build was all smiles—and those smiles are still on the faces of our testing staff weeks later! We love seeing a bike go from a box of parts to a work of art doing hot laps at the local raceway. By the end of the build, we were thinking of changing its name from “Family Jewel” to “Crown Jewel.”

Courtesy of Dirt Bike Magazine