Racer X Tested: 2006 CRF250R Bike Rebuild

Name: Racer X Tested: 2006 CRF250R Bike Rebuild
Uploaded: 2013-10-09T10:25:00-04:00
Description: Racer X 2006 CRF250R - The Original Dual-Pipe Honda 250! Sure, the all-new 2014 CRF250 has dual pipes, but we turned a past-its-prime 2006 dual-pipe model into a legitimate racer once again.

October 9, 2013, 2:25pm

Simon Cudby

Racer X 2006 CRF250R - The Original Dual-Pipe Honda 250!

Sure, the all-new 2014 CRF250 has dual pipes, but we turned a past-its-prime 2006 dual-pipe model into a legitimate racer once again.

By Jay Clark

For this project we started yet again on Craigslist and found a clean blown up 2006 CRF250R. Yes, I say clean because we could tell the bike was not severely abused other then the fact it was not maintained well (air filter and lack of oil in the motor.) The crank went out and after the owner had the bike torn apart at a shop he was in sticker shock at the price to fix it, so he decide to sell it as is. If you’re willing to do the work yourself you can make a blown-up bike work for you. In this case we also are very found of the older CRF250’s as we rode them so much from '04-'09 and they were great bikes. We wanted to see if we could still build a full on racer to relive our glory days (for me my mid-thirties).

Since we know these bikes very well we were able to go over the parts and see that everything was there. If this bike was missing any major parts it could have been a deal breaker. However, all was there so for only $500 we were off to build a full blown racer again. With modern 4-stokes the cost to rebuild verses just “parting out” a bike can be very close so you have to be careful before starting a big project. The key pieces that you want to make sure are good before you start are the cylinder head and the center cases. If those are good then you can usually repair most bikes cost effectively with good aftermarket companies.

We started with the lower-end and felt that all of the transmission and bearings were in great shape mainly because the bike didn’t have much time on it. However, the crank and mains needed to be changed out so we went with the new Hot Rods complete bottom end kit. This bottom end kit from Hot Rods makes the lower end rebuild much easier and less costly. For the top-end the cylinder was slightly scored and we could have had it repaired at Millennium, but instead we got a full new 256cc Big bore kit from Cylinder Works. The cost of the new complete kit is nearly the same as buying a piston, gaskets and cylinder or repaired cylinder so it makes sense.

Why did we not go larger with the bore? The '04-'09 250R and X models had to have the cases board for anything larger and creates a lot more work and expense so the 1mm over is a drop in with great reliability.

For the carburetor we were lucky enough to have a 2004-05 carb lying around. These carbs are smaller then the '06-'09 carb and seem to jet better. TMR helped us on the jetting.

For the head we were lucky that the seats were all still in good shape. CV4 helped with the valves/springs with their new X-2 line. These valves and spring kits are much lower cost then their high-end kits however they are good enough for most non-pro riders.

While the motor was out we buffed out the cases to get the dirt stains off. We did the same to all of the aluminum pieces (frame, linkage and sub-frame).

Of course with the news of the 2014 CRF250R having duals again we were excited to try a cleaned up old set of dual mufflers on our projects. Hinson helped with our clutch mainly for good durability.

The bearings were not in too bad of shape on the chassis, however the steering stem and linkage are about a must on any old fix up project. Pivot Works has every kit we needed for the project.

For the suspension we had Race Tech install all new oil and replace all worn parts. Applied 22mm clamps were used to help in turning. ICW does a great job on radiator repair and also to make the radiators better then stock.

Nearly all of our key components and OEM parts were obtained from www.rockymountainatvmc.com

There are many things on this bike we did because “we can”. The key parts to fix up an old war machine are:

Hot Rods Bottom end kit

Cylinder Works complete cylinder kit

CV4’s new X2 valve kit

With these pieces you can get most blown-up modern bikes back on the track.

#26 The Original Dual pipe bike! 2006 CRF250R

Rocky Mountain ATV/MC

www.rockymountainatvmc.com

800-336-5437

Hot Rods

Complete Bottom end kit