The winningest dirt bike in US history (in terms of championships), the Honda CR250R debuted to the public in 1973. The final year of production was 2007, and that’s presumably why the original owner of this bike snapped up a 2007 model and kept it in the crate.
By the end of production, the bike wasn’t as dominant as it had been in the past – most reviewers state that 2000-2002 were the best years because in 2003 Honda switched from reed-valve to case-reed and every bike built after the transition suffered from difficult jetting and an odd powerband. For an excellent summary on the last year of the CR250R, check out Motocross Action Magazine. They had the following to say about how to best ride the ’07 model to deal with the odd fueling:
“First, never let the engine linger below dead center in the rpm range. Second, keep two fingers on the clutch at all times. You have to use your clutch hand like the trigger finger of a gunfighter. Third, don’t get trapped into thinking that over-revving the engine will help keep it in the middle. It won’t. If you overrev, the CR250 will go flat on top and bring the power profile down instead of moving it up. Finally, never cruise. The CR250 has one good power setting, and that is wide open in the midrange. No coasting. No half-throttle solutions. No rolling it on.”
This example (VIN: JH2ME03347M100489) hasn’t suffered from any jetting issues as it’s never been ridden – it’s never even been out of the crate! Because of that, there’s not much to say about it. The seller bought it new from a Honda dealership in Southern California at the end of 2007 and has kept in the crate since, presumably he thought it was an investment opportunity. MSRP when this bike was new was $6,449. Just for fun, if he had put that in the Nasdaq Composite Index, it looks like it’d be worth $43,181.35 today per the Nasdaq site.
Find this crated CR250R for sale in Lake Elsinore, California with a BIN of $40,000 or best offer here on eBay.