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Wow. The rest of winter and spring blew by, and all of the sudden I realized Last Moto had turned into a dusty graveyard. A ghost town full of scattered memories about some ham-handed honcho who had purchased an old Honda to fix up and race down in Salem, only to have his prize bike stolen by human garbage. His journey probably ended there… the author slinking back to his street bikes and tiny Italian scooter, moping around the hills of Oregon… never to flat track again.

ABSOLUTELY NOT!

I’m happy to report that this is only partly true! I did do some slinking, but unfortuantely that’s just how I walk. Shortly after the end of the Salem winter season, I picked up ANOTHER 1976 Honda MR250 Elsinore. This one is a rough customer,  but the price was right and I was itching to build another flat track bike to get out on the track.

Without a single peep about my stolen motorcycle, I’ve long given up on the idea of getting it back (although I check Craigslist every day… it’s almost pathetic, like checking in on an ex-girlfriend’s page on Facebook). If the bike hadn’t been stolen, I would have kept racing it all summer while looking for a real framer, but here we are rolling into July and I’m on the downhill side of a new Elsinore build.

I thought I’d do a quick run-through of where I’m at with the bike, with the goal of getting it up and running for The Wild One races in Castle Rock, Washington. The Wild One is the new name for Dirtquake USA, and much like the recent IHOP change to IHOB, I haven’t heard anyone refer to it as anything but the former name. Don’t worry guys, it will catch on.

I picked up the Elsinore #2 from a guy named Justin down in the McMinville area. Justin happens to be the cousin of Korry Fitzpatrick, who was the racer that was robbed of 2nd place in Salem by an engine failure. Korry is rebuilding his Yamaha as well, and it sounds absolutely bonkers. I can’t wait to see it.

Justin had two 1976 MR250’s, and he was keeping one to build as a flat tracker for next winter’s Salem races. He sold me his extra bike at an extremely good price, a rough looking bike but even just a cursory glance put me at ease since the “expensive parts” were all there: carb, pipe, a usable tank, and a mostly complete engine.

I immediately started to strip it down and take stock of what I’d need to buy, what I’d need to repair, and what I’d need help on. The engine was complete, except the kick gear/spindle had been removed at some point, which let some Oregon weather into the cases. When I realized this I was a little worried that the transmission would be shot, but once I split the cases I was happy to see that whatever water had gotten into the cases was stopped at the crank by the seals. Some bad bearings and some corrosion on the crank, but the rest of the engine’s gutty works were in fine shape.

A little mud never hurt anyone, right?

Most of the corrosion hit the crank, but the rest of the engine was spared.

I ordered up a new crank, and a set of bearings and seals and headed down to see Casey at Cycle Heap. I like to get professional help on bearings, as my puny little propane pusher just doesn’t get hot enough to do the job right. Also, the guy wielding the hammer has a tendency to rush things. I just didn’t have time to screw it up and do it all over again (aka the Haydon Special), so a few hours at Cycle Heap got my cases all setup and ready to go. Thanks, Casey!

A mix of white, gold, rust and original paint.

The swingarm after scrubbing and pressure washing.

Took most fo the frame down to bare metal.

Self-etching primer goes on really smooth and makes you feel like you are a master painter.

A complete carb, but a real mess on the inside.

Lots of dried varnish, but a bath in ChemDip cleared everything up.

The rear wheel is on the list this week.

While I was waiting on parts (like a new/old crank, kick gear, etc.) I gave the rough frame a quick dress-up. At some point someone had tried to paint the frame white, which I can respect. Go nuts with colors, why not? But then someone added some gold accents at some point, and then let it sit in the rain. The layers of paint and rust was an impressively nasty mix.

I sanded, grinded, and primed for a few days and came out with a usable black frame that will be so covered with dirt it probably doesn’t matter that I painted it at all. That’s fine with me. I’ve replaced the steering stem bearings with a set of All Balls tapered bearings, and generally gave every single piece a cleanup, rebuild and paint job. This type of work is the most satisfying for me, but it is time-consuming.

Again, my goal is to get this bike up to Castle Rock, Washington for the flat track races at the Wild One, so that leaves me with 4 weekends to button this bike up. I picked up a new 18” front wheel so I can put another set of Shinko SR241’s and have the same basic setup as my previous bike. All that will be missing is the big red tank with the GIMCO sticker.

If you can handle it, I’ll be returning to the blog and giving updates every few days. I enjoy writing and picture taking, but sometimes life gets in the way and you forget to update your damn blog.

See you in a few days!