What HAVE I WORKED on IN THE PAST?

The CRM50R

This is how the CRM 50 started life, what an old nail. Someone had been riding it around a field and has ripped of the ignition and switchgear. Matt and I went up to Preston to pick it up and burst out laughing. It nearly didn't make it home and was so close to being chucked in a bush you wouldn't believe it!

It had no brake pads in the front or rear, both wheel bearings were competely gone and it ran on the spindles, the wiring had been hacked into and the petrol tank had a leak!

The whole bike got stripped down and even the spokes were cut through with an angle grinder! The frame, wheels, swinging arm, kick start, gear changer and loads of other bits were sent off to be powder coated. After taking instruction from the eventual owner 'Dan' lots of parts were destined to be gold!

If you do this make sure you keep a sample of inner and outer spokes (I wish I had ... schoolboy error) and a record of the rim text and frame number, as you may not be able to see it after.

I managed to find out that a lot of parts were common to the early 90's CR80's. This makes sense as usually the technology Honda use in their race bikes finds it's way into the road range a few years later.

TLR200 fork seals fitted a treat, along with a CR rear sprocket and MTX50 front sprocket. It was at this stage it dawned on me that I'd got a bike that was never imported into Europe in any form. I had the 'R' version which was a Japanese sixteener special and spares were gong to be hard to come by, and boy are they! Heaven only knows how it got into the UK, it was probably as a stocking filler in an importers container.

My local bearing supplier helped wth the needle rollers in the suspension and the wheel bearings. The seat was recovered by a local tradesman recommended by the handsome chap they call Motomark, and the tyres were specials from a scooter dealer. I couldn't fit knobbly's because there aren't any road legal tyres to fit this bike for sale in the UK, the 14'' back wheel fits motocross sizes only (not road legal for the coming inspection).

The indicators are from my KTM and the rear mudguard was a UFO part from a mid 90's CR80. It was coming together.

I had a lot of trouble with the electrics on this bike. I even phoned the legendary 'Ferret' for some advice (who was most helpful). The left hand switchgear and ignition was missing and without a wiring diagram I spent countless hours tracing wires, drawing diagrams and scratching my head. At one point we even had the horn going through the flasher unit!

Once the bike was assembled it had it's first run up the road and then the bombsell hit ....... it was restricted via the CDI to 50KPH (32MPH). Which of course we left in place ;)

None of us liked the front mudguard and we decided to change it for one off a small kids 50cc bike. This got rid of the in-balance in the front but doesn't offer the rider as much protection.

I wrote to Honda and got a Year of Manufacture certificate, insured it on the frame number and got an MOT on the frame number also.

On the 23rd december I went to the local DVLA office to get a reg plate as a tree present and was told they'd need to see the bike - typical!

On the 4th Jan Matt had to take the bike back to the DVLA office in really bad weather conditions (I was in a meeting all day). They spent a while checking it was what we said it was, and checked the frame number and engine number matched the ones on the V55.

They also checked the clocks to confirm they had some form of miles per hour reading on them. This was done by carefully placing transparent stickers over the top of the KPH speed and putting a clear film of plastic over it all.

Eventually the bike was complete and Matt and I couldn't wait to test ride it legally. We used our standard test circuit and it rode really nicely.

The brakes needed some time to bed in and the rings rattle a little but we intend to get Dan out and about on it before messing with it anymore.

Would I do the same thing again ... probably not ... but it's a completely unique ped so if you see it out and about you'll know all about it now.