Restoration of an ATC250R
		Welcome! I bought 2 ATC250R in 1997 for $700. One was a 1985 model and was in decent shape (middle bike), the other was a 1986 model that needed a lot of TLC (bike on the right). Actually, that's putting it lightly. This bike was BENT. Whoever crashed it did a number on it. The frame, swing arm and rear axel were bent beyond repair. The motor was in a box with a huge hole in the case from the chain. First Suggestion: If you're going restore a bike, make sure it's in better shape than the one I rebuilt. The Chassis: I started my adventure by stripping the bike down to find out what was usable and what was destined for the scrapheap. Almost everything was shot, so the only parts that ended up being recycled were the gas tank (later replaced by a flat track tank kit), headset, parts of the motor, the seat, footpegs, forks, hubs, brakes, disks and the bolts that hold the bike together. Everything else was scrapped. I had the frame sandblasted, wirebrushed and sent to the painter. All the other usable parts were stripped and polished using fine sandpaper, a Dremel and polishing compound (I used Mothers Aluminum Polish). The funny thing is that I built this whole bike in a small apartment in Baltimore MD. I worked on this bike for 6 months in my bedroom and finally brought it to my parents house in NY for final assembly. Once I got everything cleaned up, I found out what I wanted to use and started making a list of the things I would need to get the bike back together. I put together a long wish list and started calling different Honda parts dealers who advertised in the magazines. I found the best prices I could and got to business. For the chassis, I ordered the following: New OEM plastics, new OEM swingarm, tapered bearing carrier, CR250 handlebars, CR250 twist throttle, new brake pads, a Durablue Eliminator 2+2 axel, Durablue adjustable rear strut, new bearings everywhere, new pivot bolt, new wiring harness, deadman kill switch, all new headlight (very expensive), a 350X front rim, 15/33 sprocket combination, TM chainguide, new O-Ring chain, new 18" Holeshot tires on 10" Douglas rims and a great find: I found a full Mugen racing suspension on Sudco's closeout webpage. I painted the frame, swingarm, radiator brackets, and hubs a bright yellow to make the bike look a little tricked out. I'll probably go back to the stock colors on the next paintjob, but I like it for now. As I said above, anything aluminum on the bike was polished. The Motor: The motor needed a lot of help. I had owned a Factory Honda 250R back in the late 1980s so I knew what I wanted to do to the motor and what ideas I had to improve on it with todays racing technology. Bottom end: I had to replace the left side case and all of the bearings in the motor. I replaced the stock rod with a 5mm long rod kit, 5mm spacer plate, but continue to use the 86 style piston. I machined down the counterbalancer, updated the clutch mechanism with the 89 clutch upgrade kit, Veshra clutch, and put washers under the clutch springs. The stock ignition was replaced with a PVL digital ignition for a hotter spark and elimination of the flywheel. I also installed a Hinson billet counterbalancer holder (the stock ones are weak and can break) Top end: The top end of the motor was built for ice racing. I sent the cylinder to FTZ Racing to be ported, polished and decked. I then used a porting tool at a friends machine shop to match the spacer plate to the bottom end and the port job on the cylinder. I bought a Boyessen Rad Valve (with carbon fiber reeds) and machined it out to 39mm to match the Kehin 39 PWK carb. I bought a 19cc dome head for higher compression and a Wiseco Pro-Lite piston. I also bought a pneumatic fuel pump and alky carb for it, but have shelved them indefinitely because running a bike on alcohol is more work that it's worth. I finished it off with a Paul Turner Hi-Rev pipe and K&N filter. I removed the airbox completely and use an Outerware to keep water off of the filter. This setup has worked well for the past 5 years, but the FTZ motor was shelved for the 2004 ice racing season and replaced with a new ESR330 motor. A friend bought one and I was thoroughly impressed with the power. The only upgrades since the 330 kit ws installed are new clutch plates and a modified KX500 Rad Valve. I will see how it compares to my buddies bike as he has an ESR 40.5mm carb. That is the only material difference, so we'll see what impact it has. Assembly: I stuffed all the parts I had into my car and drove to New York to start putting this thing together. I was so excited to see my 250R come back to life. It was so nice to have everything go back together easily. I'm used to working on bikes that have a zillion miles on them and are difficult to take apart and just as fun to put back together. With most of the parts on this bike being new, it was easy to assemble. I was now ready to try this thing out. I was like a little kid. I had never ridden a "new" 250R before. With all the new bearings and parts, the bike handled perfectly. The bike was so nice that I didn't want to get it dirty. I tried to stay out of the mud, but was unsuccessful. I had so much fun on my new bike, that I didn't pay attention to the gas. I had to be towed back when the bike ran out of gas way back in the woods. I built this bike to ride it, but looking back on all the money I spent on it, it should have become a museum piece. Either way, it's still a nice bike, but is beginning to show some wear and tear. The bike doesn't go in the dirt anymore. It has evolved into my ice racer except for the occasional trip to Silver Lake Sand Dunes. The bike has been great so far, but is due for another rebuild soon. I will do this process all over again. For now, the motor is going to get a face lift. After 4 years of wide open throttle on the track, the motor sounds like a ticking time bomb. It's in desperate need of new crank bearings. I may do a section on a bottom end rebuild, but we'll see if time permits.