cr 250 serial indentification

[prater696]

Hey Fellas.
So, today I bought a 95 cr 250 off of someone who bought
It from someone, so on and so on.
I got it home and started thoroughly looking it over.
The vin area on the steering stem reads MOTO-2600095
And right behind that is a 1 inch aluminum plate riveted on with the same markings. That struck me as unusual.
Moving down to the motor I noticed that the jug has
"CRE Racing USA" stamped on it.
I've been around for awhile and have never heard of that company.
My question is, could I have licked out and unintentionally bought a
90's era factory bike? That would kinda cool.. unlikely but cool.
Thanks in advance!

 

[prater696]

Lucked out... Not licked out. Lol

 

[dirt bike dave]

The CRE was an enduro conversion of the CR250.

They started out being done in Italy around '94, then some got imported by Kevin Hines (a top enduro rider and founder of e-line accessories). I think some were bored out to 260.

They were state of the art bikes and quite exotic for their day. Pretty rare and expensive at the time.

Not sure what the 'standard' package was, but I think it varied from year to year, and many buyers upgraded various items at extra cost, like adding a lighting system, Paioli conventional forks, etc... Factory Connection did the suspension work on some of the later ones.

Does the bike have a mount for a kickstand or any additional bracing under the rear fender? A lighting system?

I had a '99 CRE, and the cylinder was not stamped in anyway. Great bike, BTW.

Hard to say if you have a CRE, but the cylinder and the wierd VIN suggest it may be. Probably not worth much more than a standard CR, but it is cool.

 

[prater696]

Hi Dave,
Thanks for your response. I wish I knew how to upload pics. For
You but html is beyond me.
It doesn't have any kickstand mount on the frame or lighting system.
I'm sure if someone used this bike as an mxer they could've shaved that part off of the frame and put on a different sub frame, etc...
Although, it does in fact have factory connection suspension
And the jug not stamped, but laser etched with CRE USA.
Did your 99 have unusual looking, black wheel hubs as well?
Definately had my hopes on it being factory but its still pretty
Neat to me since I've never heard of the CRE.
Couldn't pass it up for 700 bucks.

 

[dirt bike dave]

My '99 had standard hubs. By '99, they were making the final assembly in the USA. Basically, taking CRE kits with the bolt on parts from Italy and adding them to Hondas that had been shipped to the USA from Japan.

The early ones like the '94 and '95 had the CRE conversion done in Italy, then the bike got imported from Italy to the USA.