Classic Bike Review: 1976 Honda MR250 Elsinore 

I own one and ride it often. I love it so much I couldn't imagine riding a new bike.

Nice video. I started working in a Honda shop back in 1975 when I was 14 and bought a leftover 1974 MT125 right off the showroom floor for $449.00. Within weeks, it had a totally new top end from a CR125 m1. (top end also came with a new pipe and CR carb.) Thank you, Mr. Honda, for warrantying that for me. We also replaced the rear shocks with a new set from an MR250. It was fun to ride.

My wife and I are in the largest enduro series in the USA. The East Coast Enduro Association. At least 20 time keeping and start control races a year in the tri state area. Time keeping is a dying art but most of the events are in that format here.. usually with a vintage class 👍. Thanks for yet another great educational video.

I just rebuilt one of these minus the head and tail lamp. This is a great looking classic bike! Thanks for the video Tony.

In 1976 I was 12 yrs old in Ohio a hometown local pro rider for Honda , Randy "Stretch" Cunningham took that bike to Europe and killed it. There was doubts about that bike at that time and he solidified it. He was long legged. He was in all the dirt mags. As a kid I was fortunate to pleasure ride with him often. In 1978 I was 12 yrs old , I had an uncle that worked at a Honda shop and they had one still in the crate. Got it for me for 500.00. Worked all summer cutting firewood to buy it. I raised the suspension.. I loved that bike. Then came Yamaha TT500. I got one. I couldn't have been 12 ,13yrs old. Heavy bike but an absolute powerhouse beast. I could've married that bike. Raced that bike in Enduros, Hair Scrambles and Flat Track. Blowed guys minds. Here's the kid the only kid that rides this bike and he's killing us..cause I was a hell of a light lighter in weight. Damn I miss them days.

I have a 1977 mr 175 elsinore, excellent shape, runs surprisingly well for a 43 year old bike on original parts. Honda sure knows how to build em. It has a tad over 1500 miles on it.

Good review. The only thing I think you missed is that the MR carb is smaller than the CR carb. I’ve owned mine for over 20 years and swapped on a CR jug and pipe but kept the MR carb. It opened up the top end without much change to the lower rpm tractability. I also titled and street licensed it back when that was an easy thing to do.

1972 XL250KO “slow pig”... That hurts. It won the 1972 Baja 500. I recently restored and am currently enjoying mine. I may be biased. Lol. Great video by the way. Very informative.

This is the second of your videos that I have watched. As with the first one, this video is excellent. It is very accurate from what I remember. Good work. As for the MR250, I had one experience with the bike I would like to share. At the time I owned 5 bikes. A 1975 CB400F for everyday use and chasing RD350s, and a 1976 CB750F set-up for touring. I had 3 dirt bikes. A 1976 KT250 for my foray into trials and just plonking around the woods adjacent to my townhouse. A 1975 MR175 ( green!) for woods riding. And a 1976 GP175 Husky which I used for more open riding , practice motocross tracks and sand pits. In 1976 I went riding at Miles Standish State Forest in Plymouth, Ma. I was on my MR175. I came back to the parking lot from a quick loop to find Dick Bettencourt ( the Big Daddy of Honda in New England and much of the East Coast) with a Holsclaw trailer full with 3 brand New MR250s and a couple of cases of Budweiser in cans. All being pulled by a pink Cadillac convertible! Dick was a very active dealer that supported and participated in many types of bike racing. He was pretty cool to bring two spare MRs with him so anyone who wanted to try one could either ride it all day or just take a blast. Which is what I did. It was comfortable as hell except I had very short legs and the bike was too tall and had a wide seat making it uncomfortable to put a foot down for me. Great torquey motor but was definitely way down on power from my friend's Penton 250 ( an absolute monster motor and a rocket of a bike ). The suspension was crap, even compared to my MR175. Mostly it was just too little travel. It was fun in the woods but get out in the open like a powerline or the like and the suspension made it work to go fast. All the while you were bouncing all around the place on those Pogo Stick shocks. That's what I thought of them back then. Although every street bike from that era came with similar crap for rear shocks. Once again, I enjoyed your video greatly as it allows me to reminisce and validate my memories and opinions.

The Yamaha ITs were great trail bikes similar to the MR. YZ motors with heavier flywheels

let me correct you on the honda sl350.. i own 64 bikes.. out of all of the old dual shock bikes . the honda sl350 is hands down my personal favorite to ride offroad... i have trophyed 6 or 7 times with it... it may be heavy but with some suspension mods i have race hare scrambles done hill climbs and some enduro/ woods motocross.. and i have dual sported it... it will due it all..... dont hit a huge double tho... it breaks off both footpegs and wrecks your boys... keep her under 12 ft in the air your gravy... they are so well balanced. they have 4 stroke low grunt.. but being a twin it has 2stroke snap.. dont knock the sl350 till you ride one...

I just discovered your channel. I have watched about 3 videos so far. I love it!! You do a great job!! I'm 56 but when I watch your videos it brings me back to when I was much younger. Thanks,Ed

A friend of mine had the 1973 Honda CR250m Elsinore in approx 1976. He weighted about 100lbs and could do 3rd gear holeshots on grass. Nothing but "trench" for 120 feet.

I've found several really nice examples the last few months in the Northwest. Bought 2 and there are still more. Now I am looking for an mt250. Very simple and start on the first kick sometimes. The red paint will blind you in the sunlight, a beautiful shade.

I was 13 in 76 and i was getting my first 2 wheel bike. I wanted this bike but dad shot that down and got me a xl 125. Had a lot of fun on that bike tho

First bike I ever rode, an it was a beast!! At 13 I was able to start it an if ur foot slipped off the kickstarter, ur calf was toast. I am looking for one now...

Crm 250 watercooled 2 stroke from from '89-97 was factory made and a superb bike.

Had one when I was a kid. Loved it, one Bad machine.

Made me smile when you said you took a CB350 (68 blue/white) off road. I did too. What a pig those were off road, top heavy, terrible tires, always washing out the front. My Dad wouldn't spring for a dirt bike so I rode his. I even poked a hole in the side cover once from spilling it on the shifter side. It was that or my mini bike though and I had pretty much outgrown that. Somehow I made do. Next I got a 185 Suzuki and stripped it down, larger rear sprocket, and a pipe and I was off. My buddy's dad bought him a 125 Elsinore. I was so jealous. Brought back memories though.

I had one back in the early 80's. For me it was great bike, I really liked it. I rode it for a few years and sold it to a friend. I don't know what happened to it because I lost touch with the friend after a few years. I wish I would have never sold it.

Thanks for this video, I love these old bikes

There is a 77 MR 175 coming up at a local auction, good shape. Thinking about it ! ✌️

Very good and accurate video !! A lot of the stuff I read/see about these one-year wonders isn't. I've had one for about 15 years now. Mine didn't have the speedometer or lights on it when I bought it and the previous owner had installed a Wiseco piston backwards, so the rings caught on the exhaust port the first time he tried to start it. Fixed that and went ahead and put new bearings and seals in it. Currently I have a like-new aluminum CR tank and '75 CR seat on it (if you change the tank, you have to use the corresponding seat base. I got the beautiful CR tank for an unbelievable $57 off E-bay probably because it was listed under "Eslinore" and not "Elsinore" and no one else bid on it. That tank is worth more than I paid for the entire bike when I bought it. I also have '76 CR forks (basically the same without the speedometer lugs) on it. Never could get the 34mm Keihin jetted to where it wasn't rich (I suspect I should attempt again and replace the needle jet), so put a 36mm Mikuni on it. Still looks and runs great. And you are absolutely correct, you can lug it through ravines like a four stroke. The heavy flywheel and lower porting make it a pleasure to lug slowly. The slight difference in compression ratio between the CR and MR is simply the head gasket: the CR uses a thinner copper one and the MR uses a thicker composite one with metal center ring. I keep the boat-anchor muffler in a shed( next to the original tank and seat) and put an aluminum FMF cut down to 14" on it. Really a fun bike to ride on trails or open dirt roads. While it will catch air, the landings are absolutely brutal. Put my face on the handlebar crossbar once and if not for the chin guard on the helmet, I'd have no teeth. I'm getting old and anything higher than about 12" is too high for me anyway these days. I've collected an extra engine, wheels and forks over the years but this thing has been so bullet proof, I now wonder why.

Very comprehensive review

I had two MR250's back in the day and on both machines the front sprocket counter shaft stripped out. The first time it happened I was far from home and had to have the sprocket welded on at a gas station so I could get back home. After the second one did the same thing I got rid of both and picked up a low mileage 79 XR250 which I still have.

My dad owns one I first rode it by myself when I was 14 and I'm 15 now

Just bought one. Working on getting it running. The rear shocks are shot. Sourced some from AUSTRALIA like the ones in the video. Hopefully having running in the near weeks.

Great stuff as always Toni I’m still waiting patiently for you to do one on Can Am motorcycles 🏍 I’ve read some stuff saying that they once again make motorcycles again I sure wish they would I think a modern Can Am MX bike or dual sport would be really super awesome

Interestingly enough, theres a very original, clean, low hour/use example of this fine machine on Ebay right now! How do I know? Because its mine! Great bike, awesome dual sport candidate too!

Huskys of that period were the best enduro bikes

Can you find more on a 1976 CR-250 Crosser , I had the 175 some one tryed and successfully turned into a crosser I brought it back

Great video!! How about a video of the history evloution of the 1988/99 thru Suzuki Rm // RMX that Randy Hawkins won about 5 or 6 National Enduro Championships on... Keep up great work..

I can see you are a bit young and I am an old man. I am not certain where you get your history from, however, let me fill you in for context. I am a Texas man, born and raised. I Ride Harleys these days, however, I still love jumping on the Zx 10r, or the Yamaha r6. I have a whole collection of Yamaha, Kawasaki, Honda, and KTM dirt bikes which I still shred on. Sorry, but I am going to fact check you on this. Back in the seventies in Houston when I was still a rubber man, we loved our Yamaha yz 250's, you know the old yellow and black 2-smokers, I also had a Elsinore 250. Hard core dirtbiking was big back then, we ramped, table topped and "shot the bowls", basicly the concrete ends of baypu's that were 30 to 50 ft deep curved embankments that eneded the bayou, catching as.much as 30ft or more air. No we weren't doing back flips, single double or forward then back, off a second ramp. However we were definatley racing motorcross daily. We did not have sand dunes to Baja, we had tracks with bunks to ramp off of. We raced till the sunset. We were more into dirtbikes than today's culture. I still run dirtbikes. So to say Europe was the only one doing it. Research my friend. You are not only wrong, you are dead wrong. We lived to race motocross as far back as 72.

Can you do a History on the Honda MT series of bikes?

My dad has an old SL 350, needs a ton of work though. A friend of his scored a MT 250 Elsinore, it was in good shape, but a pooch.

I have the opportunity to buy one that needs the silencer, carb rebuilt, brakes, and points. It has been garage kept but has not ran for 17yrs. Will get it for 500 but need to get a title.

Basically the same bike as the 1975 CR250. The only problem with the CR250 or the MT250 was that it had “points”. If you didn’t have an extra set of points and tools you were stuck.

Thanks for another great video, but can you do a yamaha blaster or banshee review video. that would be awesome I mean you have done a three wheeler article on pulpmx so one more wheel can't hurt.

My first bike was a MR50

You are too sharp to promote "PulpMX". Please take that as intended, as a compliment. :)

I enjoyed that. I thought you may have mentioned the mt250. You seemed deny it altogether. The mtx200r The crm250. How is a crf more like the MR than honda two strokes. The crm was a seriously good bike off road. Hey just saying. You should do one of these on the early KX’s. Call them. Keep up the good work.

Had the 175 and ran like crap carb work ran great

Can somebody explain the difference between the MR, MT, and CR?

Honda did they did the CRM 250 road legal enduro.

Here is a nice chart about the Honda Elsinore years, (CR, MT and MR series bikes). honda-elsinore.alp-sys.com/specs/index.html

Honda trying to go Six day racing

The MT 125 had excellent gear ratios but little power. The MR175 had better power but they didn't use the MT125 gear ratios. Honda messed that up big time and the bike was a dud. The MT125 could be fixed with a CR barrel and pipe but the MR...nope...