09hahug: I'd bet a shiny nickel this guy, Wolverine owned or bought a 1976(?) Pontiac Firebird gold and black edition 6.6Liter, after watching Smokey and the Bandit in 1977. Bet also a shinny dime that it was his first car 🐴🍻
Beautiful. I used to have the 81 cr125, I think the first of the water cooled. Always been a cr fan ever since my '74 cr125m elsinore. Got a susie 250 now but I may get one again. The oldies just look way better.
Back in 99 I bought a blown up 86 CR500. I was 17 and working after school at a local bike shop. I’d get parts at cost and look for projects to fix and turn some profit. Long story short when I assembled the bottom end I quickly realized that something was wrong. Turns out the rod that replaced the original was for and 87. I was pretty upset. The guy I worked for said not to worry and he’d take care of it. After returning from dropping some parts off, he handed me a piece of aluminum that he’d made into a spacer along with two base gaskets. So .060 over, long rod, Boyesen reeds, Pro circuit pipe and silencer, and some carb tuning later, I was one happy young man. Pulled like a freight train. When I went to sell it, I couldn’t give it away. No one wanted big bore bikes back then.
Thats the bike I learned how to ride on, My uncle had won some money and got that bike brand new for the cottage. As a kid he would let me do what ever I wanted. Every body that tried ridding it fell off lol So that stuck in my head and I babied the clutch at first till I got really good at it. My uncle would have drunk friends come over see a kid doing shitty wheelies and try ridding the bike, Every single one went over the handle bars or the bike landed on there chest lol
@@erikbreaman9124 wow Eric not many alive to tell THAT tale! Suzuki made GREAT open class works bikes but Rogers input never seemed to reach the suzuki engineers ears. Honda engineers however did have ears to hear! #godsavethefullfloater #guycooper #theman
Adam peters You know Adam, some people just have to rain on everyone’s parade by saying something negative about what other people like. It makes them feel better about themselves. If we ride CR500s, somebody else knows better, because they watched an Opferman video... They [Honda] sold more than any other 500MX and people still ride them today, even though production stopped almost 20yrs ago. So yeah, there IS something about a CR500. I’m with you Bro! 🏁
Max Baigs Fair enough. There’s lots of great open class bikes out there. Honda doesn’t make the CR500 anymore, but Service Honda still makes their own version called the CR500AF still to this day, only they stuff that 500 into an aluminum frame! They’ll custom build one of those beasts for you and they’re pretty darn nice. I’d probably order one, but my Husqvarna TE630 has been meeting my specific needs for now! Stay safe. 🏁
Damn man what a bike. You guys rock. Bringing back memory's of my bad ass days tearing up the county running from the law on this bike was crazy. Omg what a blast we had. Harmless fun nobody got hurt just 10 bad ass bikes ripping up the streets. We paid enough in fines to pave all the dirt roads lmao
So true about those lower frame rails,my 1985 after a season had them squished flat,and the poor front rim had a few cracks..That 86 was an improvement engine and suspension wise.One thing I wont miss was the way they chewed through rear tyres.
If a privateer just get rails cut out and replaced.Racer would have a few bikes spare,so junked them.Many a 125 got compacted,or returned to sponsor.Many had their engines pulled and stuck in a kart. To be honest all frames stretch.Any damage like that effects flex and normal designed properties.You learn to start the next season with a skid/glide plate.Even the way a glide plate is attached effects frame flex.Back in the day no stock glide plate,but the XR's had them stock.Works RC 500's often had the plate welded to the frame and all painted a nice shade of red.Finding a good frame from 1985 is tough,many are bad,some if your lucky just have a tweaked subframe,but don't worry about rear fender being a little squint,once you start CR500 it will shake so much it don't matter ^^
Interesting to note that Honda de-tuned the CR500 motor every year after 1985. You can recognize the Honda open class owner by his limp! I raced one for 5 years in Az and have the bone chips in my shins to prove it! We took chromoly tubing and split it then welded it to bottom frame rails so we didnt sag frames as quickly. I still went thru 2 during the years i raced it. But you really have to ride one in the sand dunes to appreciate the POWER these things put out. PS if you didnt get the holeshot at canyon raceway and another cr500 did you got BLASTED by baby head sized boulders! Tip- start the race in 3rd gear! Youll only shift once to the 1st turn and when you wind it up in to 4th youll pass everyone starting in 2nd as they shift! Rad machine for sure! Anbody seen Hannahs helmet?! Lol! (Insiders joke!)
I love your passion about the bikes. All of them. I'm the same way. I had an 81 Husqvarna xc 430. I'm fond of those. I now have a 96 KTM 360 MXC. Not a 500 but its pretty darn fast especially when you tell competitors it's a 250. LMFAO. We old guys have to level the playing field.
I need to start sharing this channel their are literally millions of old and young 2 stroke lovers out there who have no idea about these amazing bikes you mad lads have in your museum
I just picked up an 86 CR500 for $500 its nearly all there, just needs a new crank rod and piston, and already had a the cylinder redone. pretty excited to build it.
Wolverine I always say that ever time I see him dude is the vintage motor cross god I love this whole team I would love to see this place some day just amazing people I WATCH EVERY SHOW I LOVED THE OLD YAMAHA Dt 400 then the trailer full of 500 two strokes was epic the vintage steel in that trailer was breath taking almost like watching a fashion swimsuit run way modeling festival seeing them bikes in there was like mind blowing just no plastic surgery or fake plastic lololol just stock vintage fashion lol
paul grogan it's an equalizer when I race against the small guys I need the extra 20 horsepower to win against the average hundred and 60 lb motocrosser
My buddy had one of these back in the eighties. It use to take two of us to kickstart it...lol...We were young teenagers. We use to ride the trestle trail from Coventry RI up into CT all the time. One day he was riding at the front of the pack, he wacked the throttle and shot a massive rooster that took out the headlight on my friends DT 175. Needless to say we didn't let him ride up front anymore...lol
Greetings from australia Sweet 86 cr the best cr in my opinion Kaplan cycles u rock.I'm chasing some parts if u could help me out I'd be ever so grateful guys
Honda was always the best at highest horsepower,best handling, reliability,lowest weight. My CR-500 would injure anyone behind me when we went blasting through the woods, trails and power lines access roads. The rear knobby would jet-spray ROOST including throwing rocks the size of baseballs, sometimes through the front number plate of one of my buddies bike behind me. I motocross raced my CR-250 more than the 500. The tracks weren't long enough or wide enough for the 500 to be ridden all out, but in the woods and open land that 500 was at home. I share the Kaplan's love for CR-500's & Can-am GP-250 Prototype's(Jimmy Ellis) met Jimmy & his wife at the 1975 Daytona Supercross he won & he let me hangout in their pit in between motos, I worked/raced at a Can-am shop raced a Can-am MX-125 tricked out cantelevered upside down Girling Gas Shocks, air only forks, factory blueprint engine & weight loss modifications including cutting the rotary valve for more power,milled head for more compression much more and I attended a Jeff Smith MX School by Can-am. Best Days of my life.Thanks Mr Kaplan 💪🦍
Wow very clean bike man... I can tell how much you love riding! thanks for sharing... that event you were at reminds me of Carlisle car shows! I miss them
I have always been told 84 was the first year and it was the Ping King. 85 was said to be the most violent. 86 was the fastest. 87 you could actually ride it the fastest and after that they were toned down to make them more rideable for the masses.
Ken, you mentioned briefly about your switch to cr500 mid season in 87( guy had cr's and an old husky leftover) we would love to hear more about your experiences racing these beasts- Video! I heard that they wear rear-wheel bearings quickly from all the torque and can rip the knobs off the tire. Also heard a racer say he DETUNED so the power would get to the ground and went faster as a result.
Absolutely beautiful. Since it's already got an 87 crank, you should put an 87 PRO-LINK swingarm and disc brake on there, then you could call it the "Hybrid 86.5"
I have a 1998 Yamaha YZ125 it belonged to a factory team racer who will go nameless... it's got Excel rims modified to not have the excel logo on them, back then all Factory bikes of all brands have that, they've got Takasago Excel stamped into them. it's got a Wiseco piston, extended crank, a YZ60 flywheel, headwork done by one of the 1998 Yamaha Factory Team race mechanics, pro circuit pipe/silencer, extra large foot pegs, factory connection suspension, dunlop tires, pro taper bars, applied triple clamps, hinson clutch, honda levers (i was told), I always ran hand guards cuz I'm a guitar player & I'm from New England which, in '98, had a like 7 month off-season (Mid-September to Mid-April)... & i had custom machined sprockets in front and in back (22T front to 38T rear)... when I was 128-Lbs & 5'6" tall back in 1998 I could've beat you to the first turn on my 125 (but that thing pushes well-over 45-Horsepower)
My friends dad had an 85 CR 500 and we used to take it out when he was at work. That bike was Super Dangerous and we were 120 pound 16 year olds riding it lol
Aw yes the the red rocket 86 was the best untamed year for bikes .it was a beast to ride open throttle this bile probably put more ankles in traction and right legs in pain than any other bike the kick back from the kick starter was enough to toss a grown man off the bike or break your ankle.it could drive the kick starter lever in most boots if the bike didn't want to start a beast and a thrill to ride they don't make them like this anymore... #RED ROCKET!!
Used to have a cr250m Elsinore. That was the scariest bike I ever had untill I got myself a cr500. Man that bike is fun but she is a handful that’s for sure
