Bike of the Month - March 2007
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I was born in 1976. My father and uncle raced from '77 to '84. They ran Suzuki's, Kawasaki's, Cagiva's, Jawa's, Montesa's, and Honda's. The last bike my uncle had was an '84 Honda CR125. They got to ride bikes from the Honda dealer in Paraguay.
Last year I saw a Montesa Cappra. I haven't seen one in 25 years, so I tried to buy it. The owner said he wanted a trail bike. Searching for a bike to trade for the Montesa, a mechanic told me about a brand new CR Elsinore, but he didn't know the year or displacement. I found this man. He used to bring bikes from USA to Paraguay ( he brought 150 in the late 70's early 80's ). The bike was in a warehouse covered in dust and pigeon pooh. An employee said to me ÒI've been working here for 12 years and the bike hasn't moved from this spot.Ó Unfortunately we didn't close the deal. I bought the Montesa anyway and restored it.
Last December I gave the owner of the CR a call and went to see the bike again. When I got to the warehouse, I saw that someone had broken in. Fortunately they didn't take the bike, but a couple of bolts and the levers were missing ( maybe they wanted to disassemble the CR ). The owner and I reached an agreement and he took it to this shop where they replaced the bolts ( 6 of them ) and levers, changed the original oil, the air filter ( Which was filthy ), washed it, cleaned the carb, filled it with some pre-mix, and fired it up. Then I went to pick the bike up.
The center knobbies on the rear show some wear, probably some laps around the block, but the tires still has that whitish wax on them. The grease, the lube in the cables, and the spark plug were still good. It also had the stickers with a code on the tires.
What I see different from some restorations is that the painting is not perfect like it is when restoring a bike. Most bolts are olive green and zinc plated ( kind of gold ), and the color of the frame and plastic is different than the engine's color, probably because of the heat factor.
I'm not sure what to do with it, but will probably show it off a little bit and then sell it. I really want to use it, but I think this deserves a museum or something like that. Money can restore anything but how many new original bikes can you get?
Thanks,
Esteban Casarino |
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