HONDA CR500 RALLY GILLES LALAY

For 1982 Cyril Neveu was an official Honda rider. He has already won the PARIS-DAKAR twice on Yamaha and in 1981 he finished last on an unreliable and under-prepared Honda XL. 5 bikes will this time be prepared by the Honda Japan Research and Development department. Reliability will be the key word. Honda use the XR500R and makes some little modifications. 4 speeds instead of 5 for stronger sprockets. A custom-made clutch cover which increases the oil capacity by 0.5 liters and allows the connection of an oil cooler. Double ignition, always for reliability. The cylinder head of the XR500 is recharged by welding and then machined to receive bearings for the camshaft (which will allow running with a low oil level if necessary). The XR500 intake valve box is removed. Keihin supplied a special PE38 4-stroke prototype carburetor. The cylinder as well as the clutch cover was made by sand foundry in order to receive a 94mm piston boosting the cubic to 550cm3. The original XR500 crankcase has only been touched up to allow the piston to pass into bottom. Chassis, a bigger front fork (the bike we are working on was updated with a disc brake which is the evolution for the 1983 Dakar, rider Philippe Joineau). The rear brake cable has been replaced by the rigid rod of the XL500R. (still the idea of ​​reliability of a metal rod compared to a cable). For the tanks there was a 40 and a 50 liters version depending on the trips bringing the theoretical autonomy up to 1000km! On the lighting side, a long-range headlight has been added, controlled by a switch of CB125K5. An aluminum plate attached to the handlebars for navigation. At that time they left with a stack of sheets for road books and tore the sheets as they went. CLASSIC RED restores this XR550 in memory of this memorable year. This super reliable XR550 called XL550 will allow Cyril to win all the following events of the 1982 season!

Starting a thumper it need to knows. But sometimes even to us specialists it happens to have difficulty in making it crack at the first time. There is a method to follow: - make sure you have gasoline and that the ignition is on for the XLRs. Also check on XLRs that the circuit breaker is set to ON. - lower the kick lever until you hear the small 'click' of the automatic decompressor. Let the kick lever go up. At this time you have to press the kick lever as hard and as quickly as possible in order to get the engine running as faster as possible. When cold, on the dual carburetor versions you will not open the throttle at all. When hot, slight opening around 10° of rotation at the handle. On the other hand, when cold on the single carburetor versions, the throttle must be opened slightly +/- 20 °.- when cold, put the choke fully. If it is more than 15° c, putting it in half may be enough. - once successful, if the engine is cold, the bike will be warmed up slowly while maintaining the throttle on the handle, so as not to stall. The choke will be lowered halfway as soon as the engine responds to the throttle. Finally, if she doesn't start on the 3rd or 4th kick, it means that you have flooded the spark plug. There are two solutions. The first one from Wales, go have a good beer with the friends and come back after 15 to 20 minutes. The second if you are in a hurry is to ventilate the engine. For that you will open the throttle fully, cut the choke, activate the hand decompressor and press the kick lever 4 to 5 times. By sending a lot of air and little gas you will dry the plug. After that you can do as if it were your first attempt. - a bike parked for more than a week or two will have gas in the carburetor which has reduced its ability to burn. It is good to drain the carburetor tank before attempting to start thanks to the small tank drain screw. Gasoline fresh from the tank greatly increases the ability to start.
To prevent any kick back you will never open the throttle more than 30°

Disassemble a Honda XR250R. Inspect, clean, repair, every part. Spend a lot of time on important things like the engine. Find artisans who agree to work on "old". Find the parts no longer available from the manufacturer and that's it. Engine crakcase rebuilded, cylindre bored to +0.25. All gear box bearings are new. Rolling chassis with new forks gaskets and boots, new seat cover, new toolbow, new tires, new chain ans sprocket, new swingarm chain slider. New handguards and front plate perfect replica.

Honda introduce the new 400 XLR in 1982.
An efficient, modern bike that holds up against the XT