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The first honda dirtbike
Honda was founded in the late 1940s as Japan struggled to rebuild following the second World War. Company founder Soichiro Honda first began manufacturing piston rings before turning his attention to inexpensive motorcycles. -
Honda came to the USA
1959 also saw Honda stretch its wings into the United States. A small shop was opened in Los Angeles – not that anyone wanted to set foot in it. The Americans were more than happy with their Harley’s, Triumph’s and other British bikes and showed no interest in little ol’ Honda bikes. A massive advertising campaign with the slogan ‘You meet the nicest people on a Honda’ changed all that and the early 60’s greeted the American Honda with great success. -
honda's weapon
In 1972 Honda created a frenzy by releasing a weapon of a motocross bike that had everyone diving into their pockets to buy one. The CR250 Elsinore was like no other around. Honda was leading the way… -
the Honda two stroke dirtbikes
The CR 500 comes from the well established line of Honda's two stroke dirt bike series called the CR. The CR series started back in 1973 when Honda made the lake elsinore CR250. The CR 250 impressed everybody in the motorcycle community when it first came out. -
A GREAT ENDURO BIKE
A very solid bike appeared unexpectedly in 1979 and put a dent in the XL sales. The XR250 was an enduro-ready bike with less weight and clutter than the street-legal XL. The only strange thing about it was the 23-inch front wheel, a fad that lasted two short years. Still, the bike was good and had plenty of potential for responding to minor hop-ups. With a good pair of shocks and some weekend tuning, they started winning enduros and hare scrambles. -
FIRST BIG TWO-STROKE
For years, the public had been demanding a real big-bore racer from Honda. Jeez, every other builder had one why not Big Red? So, in 1981, they brought out with great fanfare the CR450R Elsinore. A few magazines wrote wonderful things about it: “Cat-quick and grizzly-tough'' and “The best Open class MXer ever built.” That kind of stuff. -
THE HANNAH YEARS
Bob Hannah moved from Yamaha to Honda in 1983, and Honda moved from a bland bike to a great one. The CR250R for ‘83 not only did it right, they did it when all the other 250s (with the sole exception of KTM's 250) stepped in a nuclear cow-pie. Even Suzuki showed suicidal tendencies with their ‘83 versions, turning last year's missile into a mistake. -
THE HANNAH YEARS pt.2
In 1987, Honda put it all together for a truly brilliant 250 racer. The ‘87 CR had the best set of cartridge forks ever, including current models. Disc brakes appeared at both ends, the rear suspension was decent (and approached perfection with an aftermarket shock) and the motor did it all, pulling strong and smooth everywhere. -
THE DOMINATING FOUR STROKES
The ‘90s saw the continuing evolution of the XR600 (and its street legal brother the XL 650), but the wildly successful XR400 became the bike of choice for untold thousands of riders.
We saw the last of the XR600 last year, and of course, Honda brought out the mighty XR650 two years ago. -
AND FINALLY…
Yes, finally we got the long-awaited four-stroke motocross bike this year: the CR450R. It's a magnificent beast, sporting plenty of smooth power, and aluminum frame and the legendary Honda attention to detailing. -
THE FUTURE?
Based on what Honda has done in the past, we continue to see the giant of the industry continue to take chances and break ground with their CR racers. No doubt there will be mistakes, as well as some brilliant models.Clearly, four-strokes are the future with Honda dirt bikes, but we should see a limited number of two-strokes for closed-course specialty events, like Supercross.Whatever happens, Honda intends to remain in the Number One slot.
