Bought this bike new in '83 and still have it. Coming from the earlier RM 370 and 400 this Honda was a dream machine. It was fun to ride and worked great in the midrange. Everything from fit and finish to how it handled was so much better than the other bikes I'd owned. Never had a single problem with it including the aluminum kickstarter. You definitely needed to give it a hefty kick but as long as you a didn't whack it against the stop, there was no problem with breakage. As I have aged and owned plenty of modern bikes (with e-start) I can honestly say I'm afraid to even kick this over, let alone ride it. Compared to my current KX 450F, the CR is so light and slender it just begs to be ridden, but I just like to look at it and groove on the memories.
InsideRiders funny i too have an RD 83 480 that i boought in 85. I Lso have a KXf 450, the first injected model. 09 i think it was. I also owned a 82 RC 480 and being only 15 and weighing 70 kg i loved the 4 speed. I played around with the ignition timing and also drilled holes in the airbox and it made it run crisper and pull harder. Nothing could catch it. I also relocated the top shock mount and that made the biggest single difference to the whole bike. It sat a little higher than stock and became a quick steerer. It also hecame a bit of a tank slapper at megawarp speeds but if ya held onto it, it just kept trackin in a straight line. The forks on mine were brilliant for my weight. Never bottomed no matter how far or high i launched it and they just soaked up everything. Mine was a very very late model, my best mate bought it new in 83 when they were getting rid of them alot cheaper. He paid $1200 brand new still in the crate. He then sold it to me imaculate not long after. Third gear power starts were the norm. My 83 felt completely different than the 82. Completely different but sort of the same. It felt alot harsherr to ride and felt a little sluggish compared to the previous. By the time i got it though i put on a few exta kg so maybe thats why. I also had a YZ490 K that was a rocketship on wheels at the same time so maybe thats why. It was alot faster than the CR but lacked in all other areas. The 5 speed was also a sore point twice i lost it and it wasnt a cheap fix either. Still own the big girls to this day and am doing a rebuild on the CR atm.',
@@stevenowen4150 I owned a 1983 in 1986..I was 18 and about 170lbs..I got from a old dude.guy he was about 45 it was pristine..loved the bike handled great shock was good forks were harsh on landings and pounded your hands..I never had a problem with left side kicker..never had a problem..never. had a tranny problem..still my favorite bike off all time..power was so usable you could really twist it ..the 1983 Honda line up is the template for all modern bikes..and the cars dominated mx for the next decade
The ‘83 480R was the last MX bike I owned. I raced primarily at Saddleback Park, DeAnza, Indian Dunes, Carlsbad and Thursday nights at Orange County Raceway. I had White Brothers do my suspension and it really helped make this bike hard to beat. I raced a couple Grand Prix, dead-start races, and really had difficulty with the left side kick-starter. Great video! Brought back a lot of fine memories.
I bought one in ‘93, for $500. The clutch was slipping bad and I blew the piston in the first couple weeks. I took it apart, had the cylinder bored and matched to a new piston and rings. I put in new clutch plates and springs. Put in the next bigger main jet and a uni air filter. That bike started and ran perfect! I lived across from some giant grass fields that I could let that thing open up! I used to ride it in the woods on trails a lot. I sold it in ‘96, at that time I had just had my forth kid, moved into the middle of KC and had no place to ride, and didn’t have much time either. Sold it for $900, I wish I would’ve kept it.
I purchased my 83' 480R in 2005 from the original owners kid for $1500. I had rode one 2 years prior and immediately set out on a quest to buy one. You absolutely nailed it on your review. The bike is extremely light, nimble, and slim. My transmission has never failed (despite shifting without clutch cause of fatique). Probably very lucky. I added an aftermarket hydraulic clutch 2 years ago which made this bike exponentially easier to ride off road and ultimately made it my daily driver over my modern 450. These bikes are awesome in the cold, nasty, and wet Pacific Northwest slop. In short, it just puts a smile on my face every time I ride....the bike was way ahead of it's time! Great video.
My brother bought one of the 83 480's and it was magnificent. I was riding an 80-1 YZ 465. The Honda was so smooth and strong from bottom to top. My YZ was stronger but the power was not as manageable or turned as nicely. I loved his bike and feared mine. The 480 was light-years ahead of the earlier 480's and the 450CR. The 450 CR front number plate was designed to ramp rocks into your face. We really liked the 5-speed trans and the wonderful powerband. I remember Super Hunky really giving this bike the thumbs up.
I had one of these back in the day. All kinds of mods to it. Pro Circuit pipe, Answer aluminum silencer, Boyesen Reeds, a longer link from Simons for the rear suspension, Terry forkit, Works Performance shock revalve, 8 gauge Buchanan spokes, Magura throttle. Some other little tweaks you could do were cutting the reed stops down, it gave the reeds a little bit more travel gave it a little more response down low. You could disconnect the rev limiter for a little more over run, it wouldn't hurt the engine and it was nice not to hit that limiter like a brick wall. Gave you a little more power. A simple hand polishing on the ports was all the porting you really needed. Really crisped things up. On the jetting, I can't remember the numbers, but I went one leaner on the main jet and one clip leaner on the pilot. It really liked to run rich on stock settings. For the clutch I always used steel plates because they would literally last forever. It would chew through the aluminum plates in no time at all. For handling you could add a link or two to the chain and push the wheelbase as far back as possible. This bike had a short wheelbase that made it pretty skittish so lengthening it made it a little more stable. Lowering the forks as much as possible in the triple clamps helped too if you wanted more stability. I always used steel sprockets too because aluminum ones would wear out fast especially with a D.I.D 520 O-ring. For the front you can use the forks from an '84 250 or 500 to give you a disc brake. That's an easy awesome upgrade and it slips right on. Another little detail is cutting the handle bars down to exactly 31 inches. The stock bars were a bit too wide. Gee am I missing anything? lol oh yeah, the stock chain adjustment markers aren't very accurate it's better to use a tape measure and measure each side when adjusting the chain. Your wheel bearings will thank you. The motor is a beast and can take a massive amount of abuse. (Trust me on this :) The air filter has to be clean clean clean at all times. I used a Twin Air filter they are excellent. It's a dual foam filter. Drilling a few big holes in the airbox helps too. I think I went through 3 or 4 Wiseco pistons I can't remember. I know it was bored over to the limit. The tranny never missed a beat although the crankshaft seals eventually wore out. They started leaking gear oil into the cylinder, would start fouling plugs. Was and easy fix though, had a shop do it. Some people were into those heavier flywheels from Moose Racing and putting two head gaskets on. I say pussy to that! All or none. Yoshimura actually had a ported cylinder for sale at the time for 600 bucks that was dyno'd at 60hp. You could also get an aluminum sub frame and titanium bolt kits. I ran mine at the wednsday night drags run what ya brung at Sacramento Speedway and did a 13.5 @88mph with an old bald knobby and stock gearing. I was on the back tire almost the whole way.
I just restored a 1983 Honda Cr480r. This is a bike that’s going to stay in my garage forever (and I’m known for trading/dealing). Next bike to restore will be a Maico
Your videos are great. Seeing these older Hondas are an awesome throwback. I was too young to ride these when they were new but in the later 90s I was a Honda tech while attending college. That was an awesome history lesson working on and riding all the Hondas and other Japanese makes from the 60s up to the 90s. The first 2 stroke I ever rode was a CR500. That thing scared the shit out of me haha
Great video. I purchased new and raced this bike for two years. Of the 20 years that I raced MX, this was my favorite bike. You hit all of the main points, and I laughed when you mentioned the clunk when the forks bottoming. Had forgotten about that. The thing that made this such a successful amature open class bike was how easy it was to ride compared to the others. I raced '82 on a YZ, and began the '83 also on a YZ490, but made the mistake of riding my friend's CR480R after he beat me in a moto. It turned much better and over the course of a moto, was much easier to ride with the power delivery down low. I think that the Pro Link suspension hooked up a little better coming off the line. On a long start, I could pull the CR with the YZ, but often would get cut underneath by one in the first turn. That thing cut like a Ginsu. Broke the kickstart arm also, but the YZ had a worse problem with the '83 490 in that it would shear kickstarter shafts. So you would have to drain the oil and pull the side cover to replace the shaft. PITA. That is interesting that you mentioned Roger Decoster's influence. Many years later I rode a friend's '83 Maico 490 on a grass track he built on his farm and was struck how similar it was to the '83 CR480R. Lots of low end grunt and it turned really well. I always assumed that the Honda engineers had copied the Maico. It also didn't have the head shake of the Honda, which many of us put up with back in the day. But the Maico was much less reliable and was only a 4 speed if memory serves. Another great thing about the '83 CR480R was that it looked like Andre Malherbe's '82 works bike that I had a good photo of from the pits in Carlsbad. It looked factory and felt like it when you rode it to a point. Thanks for the time travel.
Little Known Fact: My friends Dad was working at special projects at Honda and was responsible for creating an ATC500. I know this because I sat on the prototype, this was 1985 or 1986 and the bike was based roughly on an ATC 250R and felt almost exactly the same when sat on. This bike was conceived as an actual production model, but with all the BS politics at the time it was cancelled.
At 20:38 you show the rider doing a crossed-up wheelie. This is Willie Hall(?) from the first issue of Dirt Rider magazine. I think the first page of the story/test showed this same rider doing a blurred power slide. Oh it was magical photography to a twelve year old kid. That bike was, and still is, mythical in its power and prestige.
I rode a 82 CR480R the 4 speed for better then 20 years in the California deasert, no ploblem with the trans, the 83 trans had thinner gears to fit all five in the case, what a wonderful machine that 480
@@ajonesmem all my neighbors knew who I was lol as soon as I started that bike in the morning they be calling the cops. I would walk it out of my neighborhood and then race cars down the side of the street. Loved That Power Band when it kicked in!
@@ajonesmem little did I know then they were the best times of my life! I live in South Jersey and we had some awesome pits to ride in huge hills to climb and that little 80 would climb like a beast!on the weekends there would be hundreds of bikes riding and racing. What a great time!
Had a buddy who used to let me ride his CR 480 whenever I wanted to take it out. I really-really hated left handed kick starting a big bore. Other than that it was an awesome bike. Handled great, mega torque for the sandy area we rode in.
I bought a brand new a Yamaha YZ465 And an IT465 Back when you could race all weekend long in Ohio and Pennsylvania, I ran that IT at the Blackwater 100 for the first three years they ran it and Flogged the hell of that YZ at Honda Hills in Ohio, I still have them both back at my dads farm in Ohio. I can't bring myself to sell them, When we get the old gang back together we still bench race and relive our glory day
Hey Dinky did you do any COCR or HVMC enduro’s in the late 70’s early 80’s ? Baby Burr? I rode a 175 IT, as a skinny kid, Dick Burleson used me as traction in the Burr LOL I was honored. Anyway I’ve had to hav seen you at one time or another, Bill. Oh, AMA D-11
@@deborahchesser7375 Yes i did. I was the chunky kid and normally has a pair of really ugly motocross pants polka dots. HAHA i would love to say I was know for my awesome skills but more so it was for my horrible choices in riding gear. I rode in Most of Wva and Ohio and Some in Pa. So many great times, We didnt realize how good we had it. Back then if you had the gas money you could run friday though sunday on a different track everyday. And i did this working a the exxon and my dads farm with prices as they are today i dont see kids being able to do it. Thanks for the smile today. Im 18 again
Dinky Dot I wish I had the energy to drive all those miles , race and fix the bike, like back then. We had to be pretty tough I guess didn’t we? Now days I buy em fix em up, try to sell them but hate to let the nice ones go, you don’t make much after chasing rare parts but I do it to keep them going because I miss those times. Thanks for hittin me back, Bill
Hello Mr Blazer I love what you do and you are awesome I'm going to give you a little bit of a tech tip here my family has wrote nothing but big bore two strokes all our lives even me weighing 130 lb was riding a yz465g I know they're hard to start but here's what you do you take a valve stem that goes on an aluminum wheel for a car that's rubber sealed on both ends drill a small hole in the intake boot of the carburetor next to the carburetor and it also has a rubber sealed valve cap that goes on it when you get ready to start it score a small amount of starting fluid berryman's B12 or WD-40 in that hole one squirt get it on top dead center and it will fire up in one or two kicks Max that's the secret pass it along
My brother had an 83 CR480 and I had a 80 YZ465.......my bike was nasty to ride, came on like a light switch. My brother's 480 was SO easy to ride...smooth, powerful, nice to ride off-road. Good bike.
My buddy bought two of these as a package deal in 97. One was just for parts so we put it all together to make the good one run. It was more scary than anything from being unstable with the worn out suspension.
I'm 22 but I ride my dad's 83 Hondas in mwvmx races. Cool bikes, the 125 is a lot of fun and easy to throw around. 250 has decent power but gotta Rev it, feels like a slightly heavier and more powerful 125. The 480 has an 87 cartridge front end and a worx shock. The handling is off because it's not dialed in, gets NASTY headshake in rough straights. We had the correct rear spring for my weight but stock 87 springs up front, so it felt like the rear rode high. Gotta ride it with correct front springs. The only other bikes I've ridden much were my 97 cr125 and a 2003 yz125. The 97 has a very sharp and taught chassis, feels much stiffer. Ergos are better with higher and more forward bars, and smooth transition from seat to tank to rad shrouds. Motor has much faster response, probably because of the flat slide carb and case reeds and better ignition. Suspension is way too harsh, it's setup for Supercross. I rode some stadium style tracks and it did well there, but also rode RedBud a few years ago at nationals week when they till it deep and the braking bumps were torture. The yz motor was great, suspension bottomed easily but felt like riding on a cloud without being wollowy. Ergos were good, build quality good but not as nice of bolts as a Honda
Awesome job. I rode 83 cr480 a bunch and you are most correct. It was an incredible machine and highly desirable today as a vintage racer in my opinion.
Race Tech rear shock mods cured the headshake (lock to lock severe on washboard terrain) and the ratio was backwards a longer link was the cure (drive the foot pegs up through your boots when the back end bottomed out Simons anti-cativators for the forks. 4 gallon gas tank figure 15mpg, don't fill it full if you don't need to. Metzler front tire. Be sure the kill switch works. The bike was like driving a Cadillac Eldorado out across the desert. No sand too soft, no hill to steep. sit down up shift and screw it on. Steer with the gas. Lift the front end in all 5 gears. Handled like a hockey puck, you could do no wrong. light as a feather and good and narrow so the footpegs don't stick out and wrap your feet around them in the rocks.
I had a too-brief dalliance with an 84 KTM 125MX. Once it sprung a leak, my mom (I was 14) didn't feel like fixing it and we sold it. That bike haunts me. For some reason, at 47 years old, I still have dreams about it. I loved that it had a tiny, left-side kicker. Cool bike. I loved the KTMs when they were white and blue.
I had several Honda’s back in the day , my all time favorite was my 1986 CR 500 a beast of bike , wished for electric start when that damn suckah got hot and had to kick it over ....nearly broke my leg and gave me palpitations on some occasions ....today electric start is all the rage sure took em long enough .
Very neat trip back to my teen years and all the dream machines of the 80s. Please do one on the xr75 history. I had a 76 model as a teen in the early 80s. It's what I learned on. Then finally I got a 85 200x and then ATC 350x and learned to respect real power. Also got hold of a 91 or 93 cr80 big wheel. That was a peppy little bike to play on although I was a little big to really ride it well. Always wanted an xr600 after feeling what the 350x power felt like. I can imagine a 600 would be awesome.
I had an 82 and still have my 83 CR 480. The RC and RD models asthey were designated. For some reason i prefered the four speed over the five speed. Maybe it was because i weighed about 10 stone wet and could get away with it not having enough torque to climb into the sweet spot. I was only 14. I reckon they did some porting changes to the 83 , it definitely didnt have the bottom end that the 82 did. My 83 did have an aftermarket pipe on it so maybe that was it.. when i sold my 82 480 three months later i bought a 83 model YZ 490 that had been set up for SERIOUS desert racing. It had competed in the Finke desert race and it was a complete different bike to the CR. It stood tall, had a good 13 n a half inches of suspension travel both ends and was as gutless as down low, not much better mid range then all of a sudden it would rip ya arms out of its sockets. It was like the delivery style of a 1980s 80cc bike but in 500 quantities. Nah, 600 quantities. It was a rocketship. It flipped nearly all of my mates off the back. It just wanted to wheelie, even after 70 mph the front wheel would slowly come up. I also own a 2010 KXf 450 and the old YZ would eat it for breakfast. I still own it but it hasnt run in the last 25 years. The 83 model i bought after seemed a little down on grunt after the YZ but it was very user friendly in comparison. The YZ had the best suspension as far as im concerned. It was just plush the whole way thru the nearly 14 inches of travel and it didnt get stiff quickly or kick back like alot of the YZs did back then . They werent what came out on that bike though, i think the forks were Marzorchii, and the back shock was Ohlins. Wish id kept my 82 model as well, Best fun times in my life.
Never had a 480, but did like the CRs i had 78 79 and 80 cr 250 and a 88 cr500. All were fun bikes, ran and ran with very few problems. Would take a 79 cr250 right now.
stephen watts you must have been a big dude at 14 to ride that SOB. I had an 81’ YZ 465 that I let all the shit talkers ride, you know, oh I had this n that and I’m fast , etc. oh yeh? Here ya go bub,All I can say is I wish I would have had a movie camera
Thanks for sharing. I hate the way the big 4 make these bikes to be pretty much disposable since neither the manufacturer nor the aftermarket offer parts and support after a certain amount of time. IMHO it is ridiculous that you would have to be careful not to blow the transmission due to the gearsets being NLA. I may be flamed for this comment but it is just my opinion and is worth what you pay for it ie zero :-) These bikes cost enough to where one would think they'd be a little easier to get support for later but I guess there's no money in that for the big 4. I had an '89 kx80 and a '98 yz250 and couldn't find parts for those.
Wow Nice Video. I recently had the opportunity to come across three of these bikes at once. I have em now and surprisingly all run and in nice shape CA titles and all. Re did 2 to factory spec. May sell 2 of them. Any Takers.. ? Appreciate the informational Video. Thanks
You can unplug the rev limiter at cdi..blue wire..give it a bit more top.extend clutch arm to help with atrocious clutch pull..that way u can come down a tooth on the rear sprocket.and using the clutch more like a 125 or 250..forks were very harsh bounce off ground on big jump the rear was better but harsh at full stroke good over little stuff and rollers. Brakes sukked..handled like a dream.very very good in woods too .i never had any mechanical issues..musta got lucky cause i beat the hell outta mine of course that was 19 86 and i was 18..over all the 1983 honda cr line up was what. All modern bikes are modeled after!
can someone explain why some bikes have the chain on the right side? Like the first CR480? All the smaller CRs had it on the left side. Today almost all bikes have the chain on the left side.
I had an 82 480R, great bike, and yes the 83 was much better. Sadly Honda went to the first 500R in an air cooled engine in 84 and that bike was terrible! Great video
It's called an engineering mutation. Sometimes it makes the machine better and sometimes it backfires. The 84 was a crazy power machine unpredictable . But look at the 85 new engine the beginning of the best big bore ever produced. You have to give Honda props for always pushing the envelope which led to the best 500 ever made (1986-87)with too many world titles to prove its quality.
had two of these..ex mark banks with all ther mugan stuff on it..loved it but weak gearbox...had an 82 nice but nowhere as refioned as 83 model..those were the days though.
As for the 450 CR , it had that stupid number plate because Honda was too cheap to give it a normal one. They just put the same one on as the 125 and 250 cr's had. But they were liquid cooled with high mounted rads , hence the need for that goofy number plate
I had the 84 CR 500 and didn't really like it . The engine pinged on all but the best gas and the shock needed rebuilding 2 times in the season I raced it Sure , I won the local expert class that year , but in retrospect , I wish I bought the previous year CR 480 . The engine did not have the 500's issues and I never heard of any shock problems.
My dad rode 480s in the open class in the early 80s.. said it was one of the worse handling machines he's ever riden.. Lol I know in my opinion it was definley one of the ugliest!
I never understood that I’ve had to Hondas with the left in kickstart and it never give me any trouble to me it’s the same as kicking with your right leg
Had one. Caused me to loose 1981 nesc amateur 🏆. Bike was always broken every fuckin weekend sometime else went wrong. Should of been on a yellow one. Great year for those
Bought this bike new in '83 and still have it. Coming from the earlier RM 370 and 400 this Honda was a dream machine. It was fun to ride and worked great in the midrange. Everything from fit and finish to how it handled was so much better than the other bikes I'd owned. Never had a single problem with it including the aluminum kickstarter. You definitely needed to give it a hefty kick but as long as you a didn't whack it against the stop, there was no problem with breakage. As I have aged and owned plenty of modern bikes (with e-start) I can honestly say I'm afraid to even kick this over, let alone ride it. Compared to my current KX 450F, the CR is so light and slender it just begs to be ridden, but I just like to look at it and groove on the memories.
InsideRiders funny i too have an RD 83 480 that i boought in 85. I Lso have a KXf 450, the first injected model. 09 i think it was.
I also owned a 82 RC 480 and being only 15 and weighing 70 kg i loved the 4 speed. I played around with the ignition timing and also drilled holes in the airbox and it made it run crisper and pull harder. Nothing could catch it. I also relocated the top shock mount and that made the biggest single difference to the whole bike. It sat a little higher than stock and became a quick steerer. It also hecame a bit of a tank slapper at megawarp speeds but if ya held onto it, it just kept trackin in a straight line. The forks on mine were brilliant for my weight. Never bottomed no matter how far or high i launched it and they just soaked up everything. Mine was a very very late model, my best mate bought it new in 83 when they were getting rid of them alot cheaper. He paid $1200 brand new still in the crate. He then sold it to me imaculate not long after. Third gear power starts were the norm. My 83 felt completely different than the 82. Completely different but sort of the same. It felt alot harsherr to ride and felt a little sluggish compared to the previous. By the time i got it though i put on a few exta kg so maybe thats why. I also had a YZ490 K that was a rocketship on wheels at the same time so maybe thats why. It was alot faster than the CR but lacked in all other areas. The 5 speed was also a sore point twice i lost it and it wasnt a cheap fix either. Still own the big girls to this day and am doing a rebuild on the CR atm.',
@@stevenowen4150 I owned a 1983 in 1986..I was 18 and about 170lbs..I got from a old dude.guy he was about 45 it was pristine..loved the bike handled great shock was good forks were harsh on landings and pounded your hands..I never had a problem with left side kicker..never had a problem..never. had a tranny problem..still my favorite bike off all time..power was so usable you could really twist it ..the 1983 Honda line up is the template for all modern bikes..and the cars dominated mx for the next decade
The ‘83 480R was the last MX bike I owned. I raced primarily at Saddleback Park, DeAnza, Indian Dunes, Carlsbad and Thursday nights at Orange County Raceway. I had White Brothers do my suspension and it really helped make this bike hard to beat. I raced a couple Grand Prix, dead-start races, and really had difficulty with the left side kick-starter. Great video! Brought back a lot of fine memories.
I'm with you on the orange and blue thing. I believe the '83 and '84 CRs were some of the most beautiful mxer's ever made.
I bought one in ‘93, for $500. The clutch was slipping bad and I blew the piston in the first couple weeks. I took it apart, had the cylinder bored and matched to a new piston and rings. I put in new clutch plates and springs. Put in the next bigger main jet and a uni air filter. That bike started and ran perfect! I lived across from some giant grass fields that I could let that thing open up! I used to ride it in the woods on trails a lot. I sold it in ‘96, at that time I had just had my forth kid, moved into the middle of KC and had no place to ride, and didn’t have much time either. Sold it for $900, I wish I would’ve kept it.
I purchased my 83' 480R in 2005 from the original owners kid for $1500. I had rode one 2 years prior and immediately set out on a quest to buy one.
You absolutely nailed it on your review. The bike is extremely light, nimble, and slim. My transmission has never failed (despite shifting without clutch cause of fatique). Probably very lucky. I added an aftermarket hydraulic clutch 2 years ago which made this bike exponentially easier to ride off road and ultimately made it my daily driver over my modern 450.
These bikes are awesome in the cold, nasty, and wet Pacific Northwest slop. In short, it just puts a smile on my face every time I ride....the bike was way ahead of it's time!
Great video.
My brother bought one of the 83 480's and it was magnificent. I was riding an 80-1 YZ 465. The Honda was so smooth and strong from bottom to top. My YZ was stronger but the power was not as manageable or turned as nicely. I loved his bike and feared mine. The 480 was light-years ahead of the earlier 480's and the 450CR. The 450 CR front number plate was designed to ramp rocks into your face. We really liked the 5-speed trans and the wonderful powerband. I remember Super Hunky really giving this bike the thumbs up.
I had one of these back in the day. All kinds of mods to it. Pro Circuit pipe, Answer aluminum silencer, Boyesen Reeds, a longer link from Simons for the rear suspension, Terry forkit, Works Performance shock revalve, 8 gauge Buchanan spokes, Magura throttle.
Some other little tweaks you could do were cutting the reed stops down, it gave the reeds a little bit more travel gave it a little more response down low. You could disconnect the rev limiter for a little more over run, it wouldn't hurt the engine and it was nice not to hit that limiter like a brick wall. Gave you a little more power. A simple hand polishing on the ports was all the porting you really needed. Really crisped things up. On the jetting, I can't remember the numbers, but I went one leaner on the main jet and one clip leaner on the pilot. It really liked to run rich on stock settings. For the clutch I always used steel plates because they would literally last forever. It would chew through the aluminum plates in no time at all. For handling you could add a link or two to the chain and push the wheelbase as far back as possible. This bike had a short wheelbase that made it pretty skittish so lengthening it made it a little more stable. Lowering the forks as much as possible in the triple clamps helped too if you wanted more stability. I always used steel sprockets too because aluminum ones would wear out fast especially with a D.I.D 520 O-ring. For the front you can use the forks from an '84 250 or 500 to give you a disc brake. That's an easy awesome upgrade and it slips right on. Another little detail is cutting the handle bars down to exactly 31 inches. The stock bars were a bit too wide.
Gee am I missing anything? lol oh yeah, the stock chain adjustment markers aren't very accurate it's better to use a tape measure and measure each side when adjusting the chain. Your wheel bearings will thank you. The motor is a beast and can take a massive amount of abuse. (Trust me on this :) The air filter has to be clean clean clean at all times. I used a Twin Air filter they are excellent. It's a dual foam filter. Drilling a few big holes in the airbox helps too. I think I went through 3 or 4 Wiseco pistons I can't remember. I know it was bored over to the limit. The tranny never missed a beat although the crankshaft seals eventually wore out. They started leaking gear oil into the cylinder, would start fouling plugs. Was and easy fix though, had a shop do it.
Some people were into those heavier flywheels from Moose Racing and putting two head gaskets on. I say pussy to that! All or none. Yoshimura actually had a ported cylinder for sale at the time for 600 bucks that was dyno'd at 60hp. You could also get an aluminum sub frame and titanium bolt kits.
I ran mine at the wednsday night drags run what ya brung at Sacramento Speedway and did a 13.5 @88mph with an old bald knobby and stock gearing. I was on the back tire almost the whole way.
Awsum tips bro thanks
I just restored a 1983 Honda Cr480r. This is a bike that’s going to stay in my garage forever (and I’m known for trading/dealing). Next bike to restore will be a Maico
LOVE reviews of the early 80s dirt bikes...what a great era!
87 cr 500. True beast. I loved it. Damn i miss that time of my life.
seethru crew we all do Bro.. getting old suxx
@Jimmy Crackcorn raced a 87cr500 too in expert/pro classes ,had the head ported and polished as well .raced a 83 cr480- also .
They say it was the most perfect set up out of the crate bike ever.
Love these old school reviews & pics!
Great information. Definitely do more reviews.
Your videos are great. Seeing these older Hondas are an awesome throwback. I was too young to ride these when they were new but in the later 90s I was a Honda tech while attending college. That was an awesome history lesson working on and riding all the Hondas and other Japanese makes from the 60s up to the 90s. The first 2 stroke I ever rode was a CR500. That thing scared the shit out of me haha
Great video. I purchased new and raced this bike for two years. Of the 20 years that I raced MX, this was my favorite bike. You hit all of the main points, and I laughed when you mentioned the clunk when the forks bottoming. Had forgotten about that. The thing that made this such a successful amature open class bike was how easy it was to ride compared to the others. I raced '82 on a YZ, and began the '83 also on a YZ490, but made the mistake of riding my friend's CR480R after he beat me in a moto. It turned much better and over the course of a moto, was much easier to ride with the power delivery down low. I think that the Pro Link suspension hooked up a little better coming off the line. On a long start, I could pull the CR with the YZ, but often would get cut underneath by one in the first turn. That thing cut like a Ginsu. Broke the kickstart arm also, but the YZ had a worse problem with the '83 490 in that it would shear kickstarter shafts. So you would have to drain the oil and pull the side cover to replace the shaft. PITA. That is interesting that you mentioned Roger Decoster's influence. Many years later I rode a friend's '83 Maico 490 on a grass track he built on his farm and was struck how similar it was to the '83 CR480R. Lots of low end grunt and it turned really well. I always assumed that the Honda engineers had copied the Maico. It also didn't have the head shake of the Honda, which many of us put up with back in the day. But the Maico was much less reliable and was only a 4 speed if memory serves. Another great thing about the '83 CR480R was that it looked like Andre Malherbe's '82 works bike that I had a good photo of from the pits in Carlsbad. It looked factory and felt like it when you rode it to a point. Thanks for the time travel.
Thanks. Those 40Rs were GREAT bikes to be sure and looked so trick.
Had an 83 RM 80..when I first saw it my knees buckled...sooo much fun in the hills, and at Jawbone Canyon, CA.
California is awesome for riding, I used to go on vacation with my parents and hated coming home to canada.
Liberals ruining california
@@joedirte716 Ohhhoho you have no fucking idea, now you can't ride 2 strokes/noncompliant 4 strokes on public land
Little Known Fact: My friends Dad was working at special projects at Honda and was responsible for creating an ATC500. I know this because I sat on the prototype, this was 1985 or 1986 and the bike was based roughly on an ATC 250R and felt almost exactly the same when sat on. This bike was conceived as an actual production model, but with all the BS politics at the time it was cancelled.
A 500 ATC would have been rad! Had an 86 ATC 250r and loved it. Always more of a mc guy so ATCs werent keepers for me, I used it for Glamis trips.
At 20:38 you show the rider doing a crossed-up wheelie. This is Willie Hall(?) from the first issue of Dirt Rider magazine. I think the first page of the story/test showed this same rider doing a blurred power slide. Oh it was magical photography to a twelve year old kid. That bike was, and still is, mythical in its power and prestige.
I rode a 82 CR480R the 4 speed for better then 20 years in the California deasert, no ploblem with the trans, the 83 trans had thinner gears to fit all five in the case, what a wonderful machine that 480
Great video, please make one for all your articles so far. They are fascinating reading and will make great viewing
Thanks for the great review.
First bike I ever rode was my cousins CR 480 :-)
I did break the kick starter.
I had a 1983 Honda CR80R when I was 12 and that thing was wicked fast! First-year liquid-cooled.
Me too same year and same age, I loved it but my neighbors hated it lol!!
@@ajonesmem all my neighbors knew who I was lol as soon as I started that bike in the morning they be calling the cops. I would walk it out of my neighborhood and then race cars down the side of the street. Loved That Power Band when it kicked in!
@@tippydog5057 I still remember those great times on that bike!!
@@ajonesmem little did I know then they were the best times of my life! I live in South Jersey and we had some awesome pits to ride in huge hills to climb and that little 80 would climb like a beast!on the weekends there would be hundreds of bikes riding and racing. What a great time!
@@ajonesmem love that two-stroke exhaust smell!
Like your vids talking about the bikes I have all the air cooled bikes look a lot better than the bikes around today
Had a buddy who used to let me ride his CR 480 whenever I wanted to take it out. I really-really hated left handed kick starting a big bore. Other than that it was an awesome bike. Handled great, mega torque for the sandy area we rode in.
I bought a brand new a Yamaha YZ465 And an IT465 Back when you could race all weekend long in Ohio and Pennsylvania, I ran that IT at the Blackwater 100 for the first three years they ran it and Flogged the hell of that YZ at Honda Hills in Ohio, I still have them both back at my dads farm in Ohio. I can't bring myself to sell them, When we get the old gang back together we still bench race and relive our glory day
Hey Dinky did you do any COCR or HVMC enduro’s in the late 70’s early 80’s ? Baby Burr? I rode a 175 IT, as a skinny kid, Dick Burleson used me as traction in the Burr LOL I was honored. Anyway I’ve had to hav seen you at one time or another, Bill. Oh, AMA D-11
@@deborahchesser7375 Yes i did. I was the chunky kid and normally has a pair of really ugly motocross pants polka dots. HAHA i would love to say I was know for my awesome skills but more so it was for my horrible choices in riding gear. I rode in Most of Wva and Ohio and Some in Pa. So many great times, We didnt realize how good we had it. Back then if you had the gas money you could run friday though sunday on a different track everyday. And i did this working a the exxon and my dads farm with prices as they are today i dont see kids being able to do it. Thanks for the smile today. Im 18 again
Dinky Dot I wish I had the energy to drive all those miles , race and fix the bike, like back then. We had to be pretty tough I guess didn’t we? Now days I buy em fix em up, try to sell them but hate to let the nice ones go, you don’t make much after chasing rare parts but I do it to keep them going because I miss those times. Thanks for hittin me back, Bill
I raced the 1983 Honda CR125R. Of all my bikes the 1983 CR125R was the bike I had the most fun and success racing.
Hello Mr Blazer I love what you do and you are awesome I'm going to give you a little bit of a tech tip here my family has wrote nothing but big bore two strokes all our lives even me weighing 130 lb was riding a yz465g I know they're hard to start but here's what you do you take a valve stem that goes on an aluminum wheel for a car that's rubber sealed on both ends drill a small hole in the intake boot of the carburetor next to the carburetor and it also has a rubber sealed valve cap that goes on it when you get ready to start it score a small amount of starting fluid berryman's B12 or WD-40 in that hole one squirt get it on top dead center and it will fire up in one or two kicks Max that's the secret pass it along
I put an 83 cr 250 front disc brake on my 480 and it worked lime a dream!
My brother had an 83 CR480 and I had a 80 YZ465.......my bike was nasty to ride, came on like a light switch. My brother's 480 was SO easy to ride...smooth, powerful, nice to ride off-road. Good bike.
you are the motocross authority by my standards i put trust in you're words i can tell you go on the truth great job very interesting
just picked up a1986 kdx 200 would like to hear you're views on iti have a few complaints but knot that many it seems t perform really well
Troy Crowder I had an 86 IT 200, YZ 250 forks and shock, ported , pipe, lectron carb etc etc. makes me sick I let it go. Don’t sell your bike.
I have one, if anyone wants one it's on ebay. Good job talking about it.
THX! Do more! Love the Cycle Guide Shootout first turn shot!
My last racing bike was a 1978 Kawasaki KX250 A4, great bike!
Get a new 450 and pick up where you left off.
My buddy bought two of these as a package deal in 97. One was just for parts so we put it all together to make the good one run. It was more scary than anything from being unstable with the worn out suspension.
I'm 22 but I ride my dad's 83 Hondas in mwvmx races. Cool bikes, the 125 is a lot of fun and easy to throw around. 250 has decent power but gotta Rev it, feels like a slightly heavier and more powerful 125. The 480 has an 87 cartridge front end and a worx shock. The handling is off because it's not dialed in, gets NASTY headshake in rough straights. We had the correct rear spring for my weight but stock 87 springs up front, so it felt like the rear rode high. Gotta ride it with correct front springs. The only other bikes I've ridden much were my 97 cr125 and a 2003 yz125. The 97 has a very sharp and taught chassis, feels much stiffer. Ergos are better with higher and more forward bars, and smooth transition from seat to tank to rad shrouds. Motor has much faster response, probably because of the flat slide carb and case reeds and better ignition. Suspension is way too harsh, it's setup for Supercross. I rode some stadium style tracks and it did well there, but also rode RedBud a few years ago at nationals week when they till it deep and the braking bumps were torture. The yz motor was great, suspension bottomed easily but felt like riding on a cloud without being wollowy. Ergos were good, build quality good but not as nice of bolts as a Honda
Awesome job. I rode 83 cr480 a bunch and you are most correct. It was an incredible machine and highly desirable today as a vintage racer in my opinion.
I have an 83 CR480 and 90 CR500 as well as an 82 XR500...Looking for an 81 CR450
Race Tech rear shock mods cured the headshake (lock to lock severe on washboard terrain) and the ratio was backwards a longer link was the cure (drive the foot pegs up through your boots when the back end bottomed out Simons anti-cativators for the forks. 4 gallon gas tank figure 15mpg, don't fill it full if you don't need to. Metzler front tire. Be sure the kill switch works. The bike was like driving a Cadillac Eldorado out across the desert. No sand too soft, no hill to steep. sit down up shift and screw it on. Steer with the gas. Lift the front end in all 5 gears. Handled like a hockey puck, you could do no wrong. light as a feather and good and narrow so the footpegs don't stick out and wrap your feet around them in the rocks.
Another great video Tony!
Thank you!
And, yes please make more videos - maybe the RD400, or TT500, as a topic.
I had two TT-500's and the HONDA XR-500, all great bikes.
I had a too-brief dalliance with an 84 KTM 125MX. Once it sprung a leak, my mom (I was 14) didn't feel like fixing it and we sold it. That bike haunts me. For some reason, at 47 years old, I still have dreams about it. I loved that it had a tiny, left-side kicker. Cool bike. I loved the KTMs when they were white and blue.
I need a dirt bike of every make and model from 70’ to 90’ then I might be happy, nah ! Great vid BTW, you know your stuff, thanks.
Including the ct 70 and 90 w the folding bars those things wouldn't die I'm looking for ,1
I had several Honda’s back in the day , my all time favorite was my 1986 CR 500 a beast of bike , wished for electric start when that damn suckah got hot and had to kick it over ....nearly broke my leg and gave me palpitations on some occasions ....today electric start is all the rage sure took em long enough .
Very neat trip back to my teen years and all the dream machines of the 80s. Please do one on the xr75 history. I had a 76 model as a teen in the early 80s. It's what I learned on. Then finally I got a 85 200x and then ATC 350x and learned to respect real power. Also got hold of a 91 or 93 cr80 big wheel. That was a peppy little bike to play on although I was a little big to really ride it well. Always wanted an xr600 after feeling what the 350x power felt like. I can imagine a 600 would be awesome.
More of this! Loved it.
Love your work mate, be cool to have a mini mx shootout for 83! Kx 80 FTW. Subbed.
Great video, very informative. 👍🏻
Nice work Tony, cheers!
Just Watch thanks Mike 👍🏻
Great video buddy you take me back keep up the great work
Much better than I thought it would be. Tell Matthes he is still too big to even think about it.
Dave English think about what?
@@TheMotocrossVault Think about riding a moto again unless he loses 100lbs. A 520 chain can't handle the load.
That was very good and enjoyable Thanks
I know this vid is over a year old now, but if you happen to see this could you do an 83 cr250 review? Would absolutely love it!
I had an 82 and still have my 83 CR 480. The RC and RD models asthey were designated. For some reason i prefered the four speed over the five speed. Maybe it was because i weighed about 10 stone wet and could get away with it not having enough torque to climb into the sweet spot. I was only 14. I reckon they did some porting changes to the 83 , it definitely didnt have the bottom end that the 82 did. My 83 did have an aftermarket pipe on it so maybe that was it.. when i sold my 82 480 three months later i bought a 83 model YZ 490 that had been set up for SERIOUS desert racing. It had competed in the Finke desert race and it was a complete different bike to the CR. It stood tall, had a good 13 n a half inches of suspension travel both ends and was as gutless as down low, not much better mid range then all of a sudden it would rip ya arms out of its sockets. It was like the delivery style of a 1980s 80cc bike but in 500 quantities. Nah, 600 quantities. It was a rocketship. It flipped nearly all of my mates off the back. It just wanted to wheelie, even after 70 mph the front wheel would slowly come up. I also own a 2010 KXf 450 and the old YZ would eat it for breakfast. I still own it but it hasnt run in the last 25 years. The 83 model i bought after seemed a little down on grunt after the YZ but it was very user friendly in comparison. The YZ had the best suspension as far as im concerned. It was just plush the whole way thru the nearly 14 inches of travel and it didnt get stiff quickly or kick back like alot of the YZs did back then . They werent what came out on that bike though, i think the forks were Marzorchii, and the back shock was Ohlins. Wish id kept my 82 model as well, Best fun times in my life.
Never had a 480, but did like the CRs i had 78 79 and 80 cr 250 and a 88 cr500. All were fun bikes, ran and ran with very few problems. Would take a 79 cr250 right now.
At 13 that 480 scared the hell out of me was very hard to kick over at 130lbs left side kick wish i had one now.
86 was my favorite
Excellent vid! Excellent bike!
Had one of these when I was 14 loved the thing all my mates were scared shitless of it
stephen watts you must have been a big dude at 14 to ride that SOB. I had an 81’ YZ 465 that I let all the shit talkers ride, you know, oh I had this n that and I’m fast , etc. oh yeh? Here ya go bub,All I can say is I wish I would have had a movie camera
I’m here cause I just bought an 1983 Honda cr480r
Same 😊😊
It has power, like you wouldn't believe. You can hop it up easy, but its nutz.
The best thing? They practically bolt right into the ATC250r 3 wheeler frame of the same year. Genius.
That is the Best looking bike made!!!
love these oldies
i remember kick start calfs! always sore and blue!
Great video. Keep it up!
Thanks for sharing. I hate the way the big 4 make these bikes to be pretty much disposable since neither the manufacturer nor the aftermarket offer parts and support after a certain amount of time. IMHO it is ridiculous that you would have to be careful not to blow the transmission due to the gearsets being NLA. I may be flamed for this comment but it is just my opinion and is worth what you pay for it ie zero :-) These bikes cost enough to where one would think they'd be a little easier to get support for later but I guess there's no money in that for the big 4. I had an '89 kx80 and a '98 yz250 and couldn't find parts for those.
i had one! most fun i had as kid memories!
I remember from the magazine test back then that all the ignition boxes failed on those. Did Honda do a recall back then ?
Nice info, I enjoyed it !
Awsum man.i might buy one
Wow Nice Video. I recently had the opportunity to come across three of these bikes at once. I have em now and surprisingly all run and in nice shape CA titles and all. Re did 2 to factory spec. May sell 2 of them. Any Takers.. ? Appreciate the informational Video. Thanks
awesome job & review!!
Glenn Fairweather thanks for the kind words!
Please do the RM125Z.
I’ve ridden for 45 yrs and never seen a 125 Z hmm, live n learn I reckon
You can unplug the rev limiter at cdi..blue wire..give it a bit more top.extend clutch arm to help with atrocious clutch pull..that way u can come down a tooth on the rear sprocket.and using the clutch more like a 125 or 250..forks were very harsh bounce off ground on big jump the rear was better but harsh at full stroke good over little stuff and rollers. Brakes sukked..handled like a dream.very very good in woods too .i never had any mechanical issues..musta got lucky cause i beat the hell outta mine of course that was 19 86 and i was 18..over all the 1983 honda cr line up was what. All modern bikes are modeled after!
4:45 The front number plate is Japanese design for AMERICAN SUPERCROSS so the folks in the stands can see the number
can someone explain why some bikes have the chain on the right side? Like the first CR480? All the smaller CRs had it on the left side. Today almost all bikes have the chain on the left side.
I had an 82 480R, great bike, and yes the 83 was much better. Sadly Honda went to the first 500R in an air cooled engine in 84 and that bike was terrible! Great video
It's called an engineering mutation. Sometimes it makes the machine better and sometimes it backfires. The 84 was a crazy power machine unpredictable . But look at the 85 new engine the beginning of the best big bore ever produced. You have to give Honda props for always pushing the envelope which led to the best 500 ever made (1986-87)with too many world titles to prove its quality.
@@gdv4612 Agree with this 100%
Great video!
Glad you enjoyed it
More retro bike reviews!
I restored an 80 yz465. Please review that bike!!
Nice bike.
Friend had one of these. Stupid hard to start with the left hand kick starter. Once it got started it ripped.
had two of these..ex mark banks with all ther mugan stuff on it..loved it but weak gearbox...had an 82 nice but nowhere as refioned as 83 model..those were the days though.
Could you PLEASE do a profile on the 1979 RM250. THX
I will yes
AKA the "other" leftkicks
you need to check out kaplan america he doe alot of vintage 2 strokes plus all kinds of old bikes check him out youll like him
Heck yeah!
As for the 450 CR , it had that stupid number plate because Honda was too cheap to give it a normal one. They just put the same one on as the 125 and 250 cr's had. But they were liquid cooled with high mounted rads , hence the need for that goofy number plate
I had the 84 CR 500 and didn't really like it .
The engine pinged on all but the best gas and the shock needed rebuilding 2 times in the season I raced it
Sure , I won the local expert class that year , but in retrospect , I wish I bought the previous year CR 480 .
The engine did not have the 500's issues and I never heard of any shock problems.
I have a 1980 xl500s, anybody have some good leads on parts?
I would like to know the history of the xr75
🎥👍👍👍👏👏👏😁, honda, suzuki, yamaha, kavasaki the best?
Cant go wrong with any of them... Choose a color.
Yep, all were great bikes back in the day, Like Gasrullen said, pick your color. I ran many of them hard for many years, never had one break.
Ich liebe honda cr
The common term was " Safety saddle "
My dad rode 480s in the open class in the early 80s.. said it was one of the worse handling machines he's ever riden.. Lol I know in my opinion it was definley one of the ugliest!
The left side kick start was unacceptable!
I never understood that I’ve had to Hondas with the left in kickstart and it never give me any trouble to me it’s the same as kicking with your right leg
The CR450 was most definitely a POS Honda should have bought them all back.
Had one. Caused me to loose 1981 nesc amateur 🏆. Bike was always broken every fuckin weekend sometime else went wrong. Should of been on a yellow one. Great year for those
Yes480 6 speed yam
Cool look at history! Left-hand kickstart is so European... ie: silly and non-standard and barely works. Like European cars throughout history. :P