Mutants of Moto:6

Donor Bike #1: 1983 Honda CR250R

Donor Bike #2: 1981 Honda ATC250R

So, let’s say you happen to have one of the best motocross bikes of the early 80’s sitting in your garage, but you are not a fan of this new-fangled water cooling nonsense. I mean sure, it does provide more power, better heat dispensation and blah, blah blah…everyone knows that complicated crap will never catch on. Let’s also say, you are a fan of the superior engineering and performance potential found in Honda’s award winning (and government banned) ATC line and you happen to have one of these 60 Minutes poster children sitting around just waiting to run over someone’s leg. In this case, you have the perfect opportunity to put together two great tastes that taste great together.

All joking aside, someone put a fair bit of effort into shoehorning this ATC motor into this CR chassis. The motor on the trike is much wider that its MX brother required a fair amount of butchery to fit in the engine cradle. It is also much heavier and wider than the CR’s power plant, being saddled with equipped like a counter-balancer, lighting coil and heavy duty transmission gears. When you add in its extremely mild state of tune and the effect its weight probably had on the CR’s handling, one can imagine riding it was an eye opening (and potentially femur breaking) experience.

The forward kicker ads that special something the garden variety CR was lacking.

 While I applaud the inclusion of the sano “Factory” ram scoops in place of the CR’s original radiator shrouds, I just can’t condone the usage of a white frame, which in not appropriate to the period.

Donor Bike: 1984 Suzuki RM80

Now here we have a true Ronnie Mac fan. Apparently he has been spending all his time pounding Pabst Blue Ribbon and watching Ronnie’s YouTube clips. Disappointed with the general yellowness of his fire-breathing Suzuki, he has sought to emulate his hero with a careful application of Honda red paint and the removal of any unwanted plastic accoutrement.

For me, the most impressive feature of this RM is the fact that somehow the stock exhaust is still intact, right down to the factory heat shield. This is an impressive feat on a machine that otherwise appears to have been ridden very hard and put away soaking wet.

Donor Bike: 1992 Suzuki RM125

Okay, here is a tough one, because I am not sure if this look is actually an improvement over the stock nineties craziness. At the time, I totally hated the ridiculous stock look of the ’92 RM’s, but now they seem kind of cool in a completely bizarre way. Kind of like that mangy old one-eyed dog you grow to love. Either that, or my failing eyesight is finally catching up with me. That aside, the proud owner of this particular Zook has chosen to dispense with all those stripes and splats and go with a nice, classy silver motif. This look really moderns the bike up and gives it a real 21^st century appeal. There does seem to be a little something going on in the rear, where the pink-striped fender is completely missing and the silencer appears to be heading for China (the first turn-down tip?), but the rest of the bike appears largely intact. My only other reservation is the front number plate, which looks to have been pilfered off an Italian Husqvarna.