Is the Honda CR500 the Greatest Dirt Bike of All Time? 

Max, thank you for the shout out brother! Even before that I was going to say this is my all time favorite video ever on RU-vid!!! Long live the CR500R! Hell Yes!

Massive respect to anyone with the skill and fitness to ride these to their potential.

Yes it is. The 86's particularly for me, the period when I was wallowing around in AMCA juniors on an 80cc & watching the 500 Experts on their nutter machines ! Watching the Hawkstone GP that year & shouting for Thorpey. Wonderful times

Raced a 1997 CR500 for years in MX, Enduro, Dessert, and Hare Scrambles. One of the most versatile and reliable bikes ever. Bulletproof. Pete Dennison at Moose made some mods for the woods with porting, pipe, flywheel weight, and damping changes, all positive changes to tame the beast and make it more rideable. Only beefs were suspension needed help and head shake. Raced 3 years on same piston.

The 1985 CR500 I owned in early 2000's still had the original AMA number of 62 on it. Phil Larson was the pro rider who was the original owner of my bike. It was ported, polished, bored, decked head, FMF nickel pipe, Ohlins suspension. That bike RIPPED! I don't know how Phil raced that beast, it was brutal horsepower

Jeff Liesk from Western Australia deserves a mention here as racing CR 480’s and CR 500’s back in the 80’s. Jeff was second behind Dave Thorpe in the World Championship on a CR 500 in 1989, Jeff was an outstanding rider in the 80’s and he won many races on CR 480 and CR 500 motocross bikes. Also he won the New Zealand open class championship in either 82 or 83 on a CR 480 aged 17, he impressed everyone with his sheer speed at this time including myself watching him. Cheers for the cool video and yes long live the legendary CR 500.

So I grew up in the 80’s riding and racing all brands of open bikes my favorite is the CR 480 cause it would wheelie in fourth gear pinned and wouldn’t stop pulling

Absolutely loved my '82 and '83 CR480's as well as my '86 and '93 500's. I will always regret EVER parting with any of them, although the '83 now resides near Winchester, patiently waiting for me to take her to Farleigh one day. I would gladly trade my KTM 450 SXF for any year. Most excellent vid, thank you very much!!

I just recently acquired a 93 CR500.. she is outfitted with Boyesen reeds and ignition, lectron carb, wiseco Piston, FMF Gnarly and turbine core 2 exhaust.

I raced a 1989 Suzuki RMX 250 back in the day. Enduro, Hair Scrambles, and a little MX racing. Thought I could ride a dirt bike! Rode a friend of mines CR500 and you cant ride it like a 250!!! I tried it will slide right over the berm every time.. lol what a beast!

Wow!! That was such a good doco. Thanks mate here from Aus. Big fan of Kaplan America Also. 500s bring em back.

If you are into 2T the CR 500 is heaven, awesome history to back up performance, if you ride it you will realise it has equal amounts of torque to a modern 450 4 T without the complexity, that said, parts are leaning out for these incredible machines , I love them and have one but feel like the spares are running out. Lets keep the beast alive :)

Good video Max. I have a 1991 CR500 and an 1986 CR500 and everyone who comes by my shop drools on em... Have had many offers to buy them, but no ones ever brought me a number I like anwyay!

I'm not a CR500 owner, rider or the such. I'm just an overall big bore lover. My love for big bore two strokes goes a bit older than the 500 days to the pinnacle of air cooled two stroke technology. My love is the 1982 Suzuki RM465. This was a bike far ahead of its time. It had a flat slide 38mm Mikuni carburetor, the awesome Suzuki Full Floater rear suspension, and a heaping amount of torque. I love mine. It's the best bike I've ever owned.

Bought a road compliant one in oz brand new in 02 still have it to this day, lasted 4 days on the road before the cops got a hold of me, he said as soon as he saw me out on the road riding it he knew that I was going to misbehave so he followed me. He was dead right. Still go bush with it when I get time.

This is one of my fav. Channels.... Thanx man!!

Hi, max loved the video,informative and fun . the bike is a legend and never will be forgotten, I only rode 125s and 250 not man enough for big red . thanks again max looking forward to your next video when you'll smash it again.

I say sure! I race the 480cc the 500cc and the big difference of the production bikes vs our race bikes ! We did have different gearings in the gearbox for 3th and 4th because the bike did bogg down in wet sand but that's that's a different thing. I and my friends. I wish to see the 500cc 2stroke back ! The would be so fun. I love this effort done. Best regards from Sweden 🇸🇪

....for sure....it is 🤩👍🏻🤩 the one and only red monster! 👍🏻🔥

Best bike of all time...the real GOAT is the 1984 CR 500... I owned the 1984& the 1987 CR 500 ..The 1984 was the best...and it wasn't a pinging sound ...it was more like a whistle or a cherp....the bike did over 100miles per hour and I jumped it 240ft.day after day.. never had a problem with it..two kicks to start IT,or tow it behind a truck!! Was only hard to start COLD! However,the 1983 CR 250 is always over looked!! Left hand start and fast as f....Great presentation kid!😉✌

Awesome Vid! I got sidetracked on big bore XR's for the last 20 years. Always wanted a CR500.

Yes!!!!,if not on it's accomplishments on their own, certainly on its cult status and legendary ferocity. Many people talk about the KX having a better easier to ride engine, but it never had the thrilling awe inspiring character of the CR. Not did it ever have such a race focused chassis. The KX may have been better suited for high speed and off road/desert racing,but the CR was a purebred purpose built motocross racer. Honda followed the formula of the supercross focused CR250 to build a open class razor sharp chassis that no other manufacturer could match. As proven by it's illustrious record at both the AMA and world championship levels. Thank you for a great video!

Superb video!!! Thank Max!

Wow, this was excellent to watch, seeing some of my Mx heroes, Graham Noyce and Dave Thorpe true legends riding the greatest bike of them all CR 500, 20 years from now you won't see KTM winning it will be 50 year old Honda CR500's lol 😉

After purchasing myself an 85 500 3 years ago the bug kicked in, first time I cracked her up that was it I was bit ! I was only a toddler when the mighty 500s were still racing and never got to see a full gate of them take off but I can imagine what the sound sound smell must of been like, one day I might manage to get mine around hawkstone and up the hill 👌👌👌 Cracking video 👌👌

I love ❤️ Honda and alwayz will ever since I saw my first qr50 at the age of 4 😍 I used to have a Honda Cr 125 1991 Peak edition bought from a supercross this video was so nostalgic the love for 2 stokes will never die I wish they came back that’s the only motocross I know and love ❤️

Fantastic video Max , thx 👍

Awesome video my man! Personally restoring an 85 Cr500 myself. Couldn't agree more with the bike being the biggest baddest beast out there!

I had the opportunity to own a 95 and 96. The cr500 in my opinion are beautiful bikes and i miss not having them, hope to have a few more soon!

LOVE my 1988 CR500 going to be getting billet aluminum cases from AJ Wagoneer the OG 😎🍻

The '85 CR500 had a very smooth torque curve. Its not 'hard hitting' as he says. ( well...mine wasnt). It was so smooth that I could begin from a standing start, let the clutch out and allow the front wheel to come up the ride it through the gears on the back wheel until it was flat out in top. Never ridden any other bike I could do that on. Wish I'd kept it. They worth big bucks now!

Only ever ridden one cr500 and i cant wait to be able to own one soon 🤞🤞🤞 Top video again max 👍👍👍👍

I’m lucky enough to be the proud owner of a In near excellent condition 85CR500. The best Comparison I can think Regarding big red is That it’s a lot like a circus lion, most of the time it preforms as it should, but there’s always the possibility at any moment it will turn on you with little warning, and try to kill you. Much like the mighty lion it can never be fully tamed.

Im an equal oppourtunity connoisseur of open bikes, but It is telling that 2 of my 4 bikes are red... Development did not stop in '92. In 1994 the frame was substantually beefed up because of cracking and in a few rare cases, breakage with the '92 frames. '93 saw the return of the wide-ratio transmission. It finally got a good set of forks in '96, and a shock to match it in '97. After that, it was BNGs to the end. The engines were never detuned, just made more manageable with exhaust port "eyebrows" and transmission ratio changes to try to expand the power and refine it. Id bet even money that a '01 cylinder flows air just as well as an '86.

Great video i love everything about this legend

Not only is the CR500 the best bike it is the best bike that will ever be made.

wow amazing video and to get a mention from Volksquadman was great, and to see were all remember the days we dreamed of owning the latest cr500, before i just add until 85 it was anyone's game ktm, ATK, and others had very advanced machines in the days up to 85 but honda made it affordable, to have what European bike had already, and then i guess they dominated from there on, Kawasaki kx 500 was a top contender to but honda just had the hole package. after 85 ,looks feel and handling ,but best of all reliability, just add gas good oils and they never die, another great video max love it mate, and to see. Thorpie and Volksquadman brings those days back cheers

Great max u showed my favourite elsinore redrocket fantastic video mate great I'm red 2 smokes forever never rode a 500cc bike just 125cc and 250cc ones have great evening

The first CR500 I had was a brand new 87, I've owned around 10 since and I'm getting close to finishing my winter build for 2021 Farleigh Castle VMXdN, a trick as fooooook 89. #BigRedRules. #GotTheBig5BugBad Great video.

I used to own one in race one it's the greatest bike of all time and if I'm lucky I'll own one again

Kx any day of the week

Is the cr 500 the greatest dirt bike of all time ? Does a bear take a great big steaming dump in the woods HELL YEAH , and Nev Bradshaw is the best pilot of said machine !! Nuff said 👍

Great work bro', 2stroke family

yes.. The history was abscent of an American Icon who was a beast on the CR big bore, Danny Magoo Chandler! dominated or crashed on the CR480! great vid Thorpe said himself that motor in a modern chassis! AF baby!!!

I own a couple later model CR500s. I feel that properly set up, they are still very much competitive against newer bikes, at least at the local or even amateur level.

I liked my 1985 CR500. The only problem I ever had was being able to afford a new tire after a few rides. Open class two stroke power is truly tire shredding power. And they don’t get on well with a half worn tire. They are so expensive to buy these days. Who knew back in the day that they would have become a legend.

i remember the day when i went to washbrook farm motocross with a 1990ish CR500 (forks still had valves for air on top caps), it must have been 2008 and instantly there was a crowd of older guys around me in the paddock asking loads of questions (i couldnt answer most of them as i just picked the bike up some days before). great memorys! I was slow that day- i couldnt get the cr around the corners, it was so stubborn compared to my 125s i used to ride. it was accelerating like hell, brakes where not at the same level and so was the suspension, which made it even harder to get around the track. i sold the bike a couple of weeks later just to buy another yz125 (to me the best 2stroke MX bike ever built). luckily- i still have a cr500 in my collection!

I have not 1 but 2 84 cr500 and thay are so much fun to ride

The greates dirtbike ever made,is (for) me, the YZ250. CR500 has is credits for some reason,for sure.But nothing beats YZ

The gearing was off, as in it was basically the same as the 125. The biggest challenge for the teams was to detune the 500s for use in racing. But if you could get proper traction one could alter the earths rotation while on a 500.

Hi Max's the CR500 are good bikes,but in my eyes I would have to say it's the KX500 83,for me. The first time,I put a leg over a KX500 was when I was 16 That bike was a monster, before that I was riding YZ80. So When the bike shop found out it was for me. He didn't want to sell it to me, So we made deal. If I could start It, he would sell it. I was about 65/70kg and 5/6" Tall Couldn't even touch the ground . lol So I know a bit about Hanging off the back like clothes on clothes line. I had that bike for the 3 years So any 500 these days is a good 500 Love your channel

Yes it is. And I am lucky enough to own a 1987 CR500.

Love the CR500. Its something else

Yes..the first time you ride one it is the ultimate rush. Then once you've finally tamed one on the track, there is no greater feeling.

They're certainly a low maintenance option compared to the modern offerings, lighter than latest 450Fs and more versatile than the 250 2-smokes. If you happen to own one, spend some $ on the suspension, don't fool yourself that you need more power. I added a couple of links to the chain on mine so I could get the back wheel all the way back and it make a big difference in getting it to hold a straight line.

Never rode enough bikes to say if was the best, but for guys my age it was the most iconic! I really miss the one I had and it had really bad crank shaft run out but was worth it for the bad ass power. In the thickest woods you could flip a 180 simply by goosing it and flipping it... Sand... King Mud... King... Scary fast... King... Man I miss my 20 y/o body and my 1988 CR 500

When I was growing up everyone in the dirtbike community in my area was talking about the CR500, its just a shame that alot of the talk was of little scummy tw@#s pinching them, I always wanted one but could never afford it plus it would of only got pinched, to this day its the only bike that still gets me emotional and makes my hairs stand on end so to answer your question, YES defo, big red is the best bike to be made, love your channel and look forward to more awesome videos Max, respect🤘🤙🤘

cr500 motors are amazing. put it this way my new husqvarna 300 doesn't get a look in when I have a choice of which one to ride. sort the suspension, modern brakes , fit a rekluse, modern carb and a decompression valve. few tricks make it massively competitive. even with a crap rider like me on it!

YES !! I rate the CR500R the best open class machine i owned several different years of them in the right hands of a skilled rider very hard to beat and as far as the rest of Hondas there is no bad bike they are better built top chain on all Japs .

I hope this video gets Honda’s attention! I own a 1985 Honda CR500R! 🔥

I'd be interested to know what bike uses more oil in a year, a CR500 or current 450?

It's one of my favorite bikes ever.like butter b

I would have to say yes they are , I rode an 86 cr500 and I was hookèd

The answer is YES. 😎

500R best db of all time? I would say yes, racing and riding it you need some space. Tight tracks are tricky. I owned and raced a 84 500r and loved it. I say all large bore bikes are cool. I have ridden a kx-500 and it was sweet, and a it 490. But the 500R is the best. Roger D fixed the red bikes 82 up.The works bikes are the best, ride one if you can find it. The mighty rc-500..Good vid bro..

I think motorcycles are similar to weapons, specifically guns. Each one, meaning both brand and kind serve a purpose better then others. So for close quarters ( trials, single track,etc.. ) not the best. However I would agree it is the 50. Cal of motocrosser's and with different set ups is a weapon I love very much and respect. I wish ( as most of us do ) that I could have a variety of bikes for different days/scenarios. I have a special place in my heart for all 500 2 strokes, on most days and situations they will help you shine while throwing softball size rocks at everything in their wake!!! I would rank it top 3 of all time and if I could only have 1 forever on a (large) dessert island it would be my weapon of choice!!!

2 stages in a big bore riders life, before trying out a CR5 and after. It's a game changer. I need to keep a couple strong CR250's around to break me in to hold onto a CR5 for hardcore moto work. I kinda disagree about the 85/86 being the best. They detuned them for a reason.... The 87 is the holy grail of steelys and the first really good motor in stock form.

THIRD GEAR STARTS, Thats what ThorpeY said, And Thats what they did!, You got all the great Global riders who Remember this! All the way back to Noyce! club riders around the world TALK in the same language and Kenny Kaplan may be the Saviour of All our memories, Chumps like me and Champs alike, ...We all had moments of Glory on Big Red. Im gonna cry again!. You are a F..n Genius mate! Im giving .KKaplan some money for that roof.

Yes yes yes❤️

Emotive and subjective, you need to be on the case with a CR500 (Goes for most big bore two strokes ) , I preferred the early 90’s cr250 , although a French friend even Rallied a CR500 , he loved it 🥰

Well I love riding both my 480 and 500. So yes probably is 1 of the all time greatest. 👍🏻

100% it is the best dirt bike. I’ve been fighting for a lot of years to get Honda to bring them back

defo for me

Tough call on the best bike of all time,i have a 89 cr500 and I’ve not long had my in my knee done so I have hand had much time on it yet,I almost think the 490 maico has a smoother power curve and has more top end the the cr but the cr has a more ergonomic feel to ride too

Yes💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻

Without a Doubt!!!!! CR500. Cr500af...

Yes it is!

How advanced were the factory RC 500’s that Thorpe etc rode vs the standard bikes?

Short answer. Yes

Yes. 🍺

I don't take a Russian serious speaking about bikes but the cr500r is a widow maker!

I nominate Eric Geboers RIP as the best CR500 rider, David Bailey next and I nominate myself after that! 😂😂😂 No, seriously Dave Thorpe.

Yes.

Do the same series with the kx500 vs modern 450s. Put nev in a kx500

YES CR500 is the best, but I love me TE250 😂👍🏻✌️

In my opinion, yes. The cr500 is the best bike of all time.

Yes the bike is still being raced

Thats a very silly question but my answer is most definitely is the best bike ever made i loved mine no motocross bike has ever come close fact

They let me never down

How bout the real Monster 2 stroke!! The 700 cc Maico.

Had a 84 cr 500

CR 500 is the ultimate beast no doubt

The answer is almost. It's my favourite but the KX is slightly better.

Its hard to understand what an open class bike was in those years if you have never competed on one. If all you ever did was " trail or play" riding you have no idea how difficult a 500 is to ride. I switched from honda cr250 to a 480 and then to cr500 in those years.. Fyi a 250 will eat you up on almost ANY track.. they would wear you out very quickly, only a few ever came to grips with them. I have to laugh when I hear guys nowadays tell how fast their new 450 is.. they don't have a clue. I still race a Husky cr500 2 stroke with AHRMA the old guys grew up on these bikes, Unadilla this year on my Husky a true dream come true.. oh yes there is no more difficult bike to start than ANY 500

The best open class CR ever made by Honda is the 1983 CR480

No, It has always been known the KX 500 was KING of the Desert and has a power valve. I owned and raced a 82 480 in the 80s, It was a good bike but the KX is a much better bike.

Yamaha something for me. Biggest not always best. 125 has it's place, 450 also but 250 2 stroke probably the all rounder. ✊🏼

The CR500 is a fine motocross machine but still not the best. I raced them for years yet I was still faster on the CR250.The CR250 was by far the greatest race bike ever built. It has proven itself over and over again. The things that made the CR500 land in the 2nd spot was that it was bulky, had to have a lot of strength to ride it,clutch was way to tight and then of course starting it was tough. The CR500 is still the funnest bike I’ve ever ridden. It’s just seriously violent and brutal in power. Honda should be ashamed at not making these bikes anymore. They were truly the best by a long shot. Anyone working for Honda should be fired if they don’t support 2 strokes. I agree they would still have to make 4 strokes due to the AMA rules however that could change with time and pressure. I also think the bike could have incredible changes with todays technology and I for believe a clutch should be able to be pulled in by a 3 yr old. We have a way to do it. I also don’t feel the tank needs to be that large. No one even uses a half tank in a race so it’s best to slim it down and for those that want to run a 100 miles then they can run an optional oversize tank. The 2 stroke popularity is at an all time high with used bikes going for double what they are worth. The fan base is crippled by the 4 stroke as these kids were not fascinated at all hearing g and watching the 4 strokes. Now the seats are empty. This sport is still on the decline and it will take someone with skill, energy and desire to bring the two strokes back. They are the ones we need to be watching race. I also believe that you can take the top 10 riders and put them in 2 strokes and they will still be the same top 10 with maybe 6 months of training on the new CR’s. Honda could easily cripple KTM by releasing their star bikes yet they don’t do it. Makes me sick and also wonder what’s the truth behind it all.

Definitely is the most greatest dirt bike ever I love kicking mine over and hearing her ping thru the woods

Yeah, still competitive today.