I’ve done Project 90 , Project 88, & Project 89 but this one is pretty special. As I’ve talked about on my shows, in 1990 I went and got a loan for three brand new Honda’s- 125, 250 and 500 to go racing. In ’91, I got a new 125 and 250 but kept the 500 and in 1992, I just got a new 250 and kept the 125 and 500. My dad rode the 500 a lot early on but then it became a good practice bike for me because I wouldn’t put time on my smaller bikes. I loved riding a 500, come into a turn and click UP to just destroy a corner, throw up roost and it was a very technical bike to ride. I was 17 years old but loving a 500- weird right?
I won the 500 Canadian Junior championship on that 500 (the Loretta Lynn’s of Canada), I raced Millville 500 national on the bike and as I said, I practiced a ton on it. My dad put the 1990 250- style subframe and rear end on it also as soon as he saw the Factory Honda guys do that in the nationals even.
Then my mom and dad got divorced, things got weird and my dad sort of took the 500 to ride and do whatever with. I didn’t see much of him when he left the house and he moved to British Columbia a bit later and took the 500 with him. Of course, I was still paying on that initial bank loan for all three bikes and kind of thought it was my bike but then again he spent a lot of money on racing on me over the years and I guess he figured he was owed the bike. I see that side of things, like I said as with a lot of divorces and kids, things got weird.
So the 500 was gone. Or so I thought. A listener sent me a Reddit thread with a guy trying to sell a 1990 CR500 in it and because of the number plates, this listener thought it might be my old bike. And it was! This seller left my numbers on it from back in the day, it still had the AMA Pro stickers and tech inspection band from those nationals and it somehow even had the “Steve’s Cycle” sticker on the front fender! That was the way original name of my little accessory shop I had back in the day (started with help from my dad of course).
Pretty amazing right?
He was selling it and it seemed he thought it was some sort of special “pro” bike because of the stickers and the band. He really thought he had something special on his hands. He also put bark busters on (shudder). He wanted more money for the bike then it was worth to be honest but how do you put a price on memories! He had me and he seemed to know it.
Dammit.
$4800 CDN or about $3500 USD later, it was mine! My buddy Newf lived about 30 minutes away so I got him the cash and he went and picked it up for me. I don’t talk to my dad anymore (longer story) so I asked Newf to ask this guy where he got the bike from and yup, it was from my dad! Dunno when he got it and don’t care, all I know is that it’s back in my hands!
So now the work begins, I have a few different ideas about this project, I’m struggling with going through an making it pretty trick or just making it into something rideable but keeping it more stock (maybe even leave those OG N-Style #’s on the panels?).
Stay tuned as we chronicle the build here and I involve some different sponsors we have to turn this back into the bike I have all those memories from.
Here she is, my actual 500 from 1990-1992! Still can’t believe I found it! That’s 1991 shrouds on it along with, as I said, the ’90 CR 250 rear end. That’s my CEET cover on it with custom leather sides because my braces always shredded the cover. The white rear fender, I don’t believe, was something I had on. I had a PC pipe and silencer on it also that the guy gave to me but they were hammered.That red band is what the AMA would put on your bike back in the day at tech inspection instead of a sticker like they do now. That band is what the seller thought made the bike pretttty special. Those are the OG Pro Taper bars and pad people. The bars came out in 1991 I believe and you had to use their mounts of course. And that foam pad! Anyone else remember this set up?That thing right there folks is an AMP Link that yes, looked horrible but it really did work, especially on a bike like the 500. It basically took away chain tension from accelerating (you can Google it to read more) and it helped the rear end settle down. It kept the rear on the ground more so it took some getting used to because sometimes you use the hop of the rear end to steer or get through braking bumps but this wouldn’t let you do it. I remember it really kept the back end on the ground. I think I’ll ditch this thing though on the rebuild but, ahhhh, memories! Sooo, again my OG numbers and clear mac-tac job holding up thirty years later people! I sold the crap out of CEET covers back in the day also. Ok, so I thought initially that subframe was just off a ’90 250 but then a closer look it seems that stock Honda is white steel while this is a trick aluminum one. So I don’t know where my dad got it from (On the Line Racing maybe?) but it’s kind of bent so not sure what I’m going to do. I saw one online for $600 and that’s too much. Maybe I try to straighten this one or put a stock white steel one on. Stay tuned. She’s a beauty yeah?Those hose clamps on the fuel line are gonna go in case you were wondering. Also, this thing needs a good scrubbing. Maybe I’ll take the paint off the cases like the newer models have, vapor blasting awaits that cylinder also. Honda HRC ignition cover? Yes, please. And thanks to my guy Chad at Sudco, I already have a brand new carb for this bike. The fender was barely on the bike when I got it and it had the stock silencer and pipe on it. Somewhere along the line, this guy or my dad, they cut the enormous stock silencer down and as you can see, bent subframe is causing some rubbage. I’ll be putting on a PC pipe and Mitch is building me a carbon PC silencer for it…or so he says anyways. That doesn’t look very safe nor would it pass AMA tech. I did love those Scott slim grips though so I wouldn’t be surprised if these were still my OG grips.
This is a bit confusing to me, so the stock suspension was pretty terrible across the board on the ’90 CR’s and I know my 125 and 250 I got PC to do it for me. But the 500, we left stock for a long time until I put some Noleen base valves thing in it (copy of what Race Tech was doing back then) and combined with the bars, I noticed the front end being plusher right away. I still remember being stoked on the forks with both mods done to it. Sooooo, these look like OG PC stickers but I know I had Noleen ones on there. So my dad either put these on after the fact or maybe I’m forgetting some PC mods done to these AFTER the Noleen thing? I don’t know, I’m sure Race Tech can tell me something once they take them apart. Or I might just rig up newer forks, front wheel and clamps and scrap these. My buddy Doc Wob is going to help me with this build, you can check out his site here https://www.docwob.com/That’s my UFO HRC replica plate I got on it, always loved that look. That “Steve’s Cycle” sticker used to be so cheap they would fly off if you looked at them wrong…I’m amazed that 30 years later, one has stayed on a bike. This fender will be taken off and put into the Pulpmx Studio, it’s a time capsule of another time. Check out the bark busters that the guy put on!
