72 cz250

smithers57
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9/7/2017 10:17am Edited Date/Time 9/16/2017 12:09pm
This is my first vintage bike build finished up not to long ago wanted to get ur guys thoughts on it.







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Madmax31
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9/7/2017 10:49am
Looks very nice. How to 72-74 CZ's compare to 72-74 YZ's and CR's?
PN27416
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9/7/2017 1:16pm
Well done!
smithers57
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9/7/2017 4:33pm
I have never rode the yz or cr for those years but the cz is a blast to ride
Mr. Sandman
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9/7/2017 10:22pm
Beautiful bike! Growing up in the 70's, my neighbor had an old CZ that was very similar and I always remember how huge the rear sprocket was on that bike. "Must be really fast" I thought as an impressionable 10 year old. Now a question...did you re-use the original spokes and nipples with the new rims? Just wondering as I'm in the process of restoring an old RM with new rims and possibly using the original spokes.

The Shop

captmoto
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9/7/2017 10:39pm
Beautiful bike! Growing up in the 70's, my neighbor had an old CZ that was very similar and I always remember how huge the rear sprocket...
Beautiful bike! Growing up in the 70's, my neighbor had an old CZ that was very similar and I always remember how huge the rear sprocket was on that bike. "Must be really fast" I thought as an impressionable 10 year old. Now a question...did you re-use the original spokes and nipples with the new rims? Just wondering as I'm in the process of restoring an old RM with new rims and possibly using the original spokes.
I got a decent deal on spokes/wheels/lacing from Dubya for my YZ465. Your old spokes have stretched and probably will not work with new modern rims. Do you know if the nipples are seized up on the spokes?
smithers57
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9/8/2017 6:23am
Thank you guys and no I got all new spokes and everthing. They were hammered had to cut them all out and it took awhile but I eventually found a old set of mag hubs that were pretty good shape. I actually have the original set of Akron rims which came stock on it back then that are in really good shape and straight but never put them on
Mr. Sandman
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9/8/2017 6:47am
Who provided the spokes smithers? I'm pretty sure you can't buy them off the shelf at your local CZ dealer anymore lol.
smithers57
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9/8/2017 10:16am
Alot of the stuff I got on this bike was from a guy out of the Riverside area by the name of Charlie Richardson I think his company's called CR racing. There's another guy that sells all CZ stuff called burdis that you can get a lot of that stuff from Spokes and whatnot. Also too I believe Buchanan they have a wide variety of vintage stuff too
MOTO557556
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Burtrum, MN US
9/9/2017 2:23pm
That pipe is clean. Be fun to ride that on a grass track with period correct jumps. Nice job !
magoo1982
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9/10/2017 7:11am
NICE , Like your fender, rim choices . rather have your bike than a yz or cr or for that matter a new one .
smithers57
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9/10/2017 11:34am
Thanks brother yeah I love the way it turned out
Mr. Sandman
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9/10/2017 9:45pm Edited Date/Time 9/10/2017 9:47pm
Beautiful bike! Growing up in the 70's, my neighbor had an old CZ that was very similar and I always remember how huge the rear sprocket...
Beautiful bike! Growing up in the 70's, my neighbor had an old CZ that was very similar and I always remember how huge the rear sprocket was on that bike. "Must be really fast" I thought as an impressionable 10 year old. Now a question...did you re-use the original spokes and nipples with the new rims? Just wondering as I'm in the process of restoring an old RM with new rims and possibly using the original spokes.
captmoto wrote:
I got a decent deal on spokes/wheels/lacing from Dubya for my YZ465. Your old spokes have stretched and probably will not work with new modern rims...
I got a decent deal on spokes/wheels/lacing from Dubya for my YZ465. Your old spokes have stretched and probably will not work with new modern rims. Do you know if the nipples are seized up on the spokes?
I don't want to hijack this thread and will post updates in my restoration thread but to answer your question, I was able to remove all of the front spokes and nipples pretty easily without damaging them. I cleaned them up on a bench grinder mounted wire wheel and then buffed them out and they look pretty good but they may not fit my new Tusk rim. I still need to strip the rear wheel so time will tell. I might just drop the rims and hubs off at Buchanan or Dubya and let them do what they do best, especially since my budget (don't tell my wife) on this bike was already blown a while back.
speedman
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9/11/2017 4:56pm
Excellent job. We'd have used gold rims back then if we could have gotten them. What kind of shocks are those?
captmoto
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9/11/2017 7:01pm
I don't want to hijack this thread and will post updates in my restoration thread but to answer your question, I was able to remove all...
I don't want to hijack this thread and will post updates in my restoration thread but to answer your question, I was able to remove all of the front spokes and nipples pretty easily without damaging them. I cleaned them up on a bench grinder mounted wire wheel and then buffed them out and they look pretty good but they may not fit my new Tusk rim. I still need to strip the rear wheel so time will tell. I might just drop the rims and hubs off at Buchanan or Dubya and let them do what they do best, especially since my budget (don't tell my wife) on this bike was already blown a while back.
You're fairly close to Dubya and you can get a quote on the phone from them. Their turnaround time was good.
smithers57
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9/11/2017 8:54pm
The shocks are konies and yeah the gold rims were last min I had a set of really clean and straight ackron rims but changed them out. If anyone in interested maybe be willing to part with them I will post pics if anyone wants I know they are hard to cone by.
speedman
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9/12/2017 2:48am
smithers57 wrote:
The shocks are konies and yeah the gold rims were last min I had a set of really clean and straight ackron rims but changed them...
The shocks are konies and yeah the gold rims were last min I had a set of really clean and straight ackron rims but changed them out. If anyone in interested maybe be willing to part with them I will post pics if anyone wants I know they are hard to cone by.
Thanks, I should have recognized the Koni spring retainer at the top, but with those springs and the Koni decal not showing, those shocks can pass for the stock ones, which is very cool. Gran Prix Cycles used to sell a CZ plastics kit that was fenders, coffin tank, and airbox, much like your style, way back before they morphed into Moto-X Fox.

People would put on light bodywork, shocks, a pipe and carb, and then a CZ would acquit itself well against anything in its class in those days. Very popular among privateers because there was a network of old dealerships for some support and the bikes didn't break easily. Tony Distefano very nearly won the 1974 500cc championship with two bikes & a van loaned him for the year, plus a parts supply & some gas money, sleeping in the van a lot of the time. Had he not broken his thumb in an outside race on an off weekend, he'd have beaten all the factories. Nowadays somebody with that level of talent and drive and focus is unlikely to come seemingly out of nowhere, I mean somebody who could use all the power of a 450 the way Tony D could ride a 380 CZ. 40 mins. + 2 lap motos helped.

Around 1974 someone asked Jim Weinert what kind of racebike someone who was sacking groceries for a living, bringing home $80 a week or so (!!!) should get, and he said get an old CZ, it's always reliable and you can just race it. Bob Hannah actually started racing motocross on a CZ an older friend loaned to him, but I don't think I've ever seen a photo of him at that stage. Remembering things like those is part of why I like your bike--just get the bike squared away in a workmanlike fashion, and go racing. I also love seeing the off-the-charts extrapolations created by some of these CZ guys with money nowadays, but I can relate to your bike better.

It's weird about Akronts, since back then people wanted to change them because they can trap mud. I think they're hard to find because they almost all got melted down. :-(
smithers57
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9/12/2017 5:51am
I hear you I grew up racing pro with all the new generation bikes but akways had respect for these old bikes. I always heard story's from my dad who actually use to race pro for cz back in the 70s out in cali and finally once my career was over we built this thing and I have a whole new respect for those guys they were real men back then that raced them. It's something about these bikes that are so trick but yet so simple. It was funny when we were building this bike my dad was going through some of his old stuff and started laughing and pulled out a piece of paper with all the old factory porting specs straight from the factory that they used to run on the race bikes and he sat down in the garage one night and ported the head to what they used to run back then. Just sitting down with my dad building this bike in the old stories he used to tell me that they used to do really made it special. My next project is I'm going to build an exact replica but with a 400.
magoo1982
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9/12/2017 12:19pm Edited Date/Time 9/12/2017 12:23pm
smithers57 wrote:
I hear you I grew up racing pro with all the new generation bikes but akways had respect for these old bikes. I always heard story's...
I hear you I grew up racing pro with all the new generation bikes but akways had respect for these old bikes. I always heard story's from my dad who actually use to race pro for cz back in the 70s out in cali and finally once my career was over we built this thing and I have a whole new respect for those guys they were real men back then that raced them. It's something about these bikes that are so trick but yet so simple. It was funny when we were building this bike my dad was going through some of his old stuff and started laughing and pulled out a piece of paper with all the old factory porting specs straight from the factory that they used to run on the race bikes and he sat down in the garage one night and ported the head to what they used to run back then. Just sitting down with my dad building this bike in the old stories he used to tell me that they used to do really made it special. My next project is I'm going to build an exact replica but with a 400.
Back in the day , when YZs first came out and CZs weren't supposed to be competitive anymore ,according to the MX mags . We had a local dealer sponsored pro s YZ break . He and another guy on a Mag Husky were always neck and neck every week for first place , While his YZ was broke he was riding somebodies 72 380 , box stock steel tank, fenders etc. and smokin the guy on the Mag Husky . Never realy trusted them moto mags after that ... Ditto what Speedman said about CZs ...I have owned other bikes that were touted as the greatest thing and I thought they sucked , but always liked them CZs .
smithers57
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9/12/2017 1:41pm Edited Date/Time 9/12/2017 1:43pm
Another funny story wjen building this bike is seeing how reliable the motor was on these bikes. My dad had a motor that was sitting in a crate since the 70s in the shed pretty much brand new and we figured when we decided to build it that the motor would be trashed just sitting there with the moisture and what not. When my dad went to kick the Motor it was frozen so we figured it was locked up and when we took the head off what we found was amazing. Over the years rats were taking dog food from my backyard and storing it in the motor so because it had dry dog food moisture never got in it and when we cleared it out everything worked perfectly it was amazing I'll post some pics to show you guys just shows you how things were really made back then.



speedman
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9/12/2017 3:51pm
LaughingLaughingLaughingLaughingLaughing I will remember that one for my future moisture absorption needs--

There is an interesting CZ engine analysis by Harry Klemm, the guy who at 20 yrs. old built Rex Staten's 1975 CZ that got both holeshots at the Carlsbad GP.
Mr. Sandman
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9/12/2017 10:08pm
speedman wrote:
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: I will remember that one for my future moisture absorption needs-- There is an interesting [url=http://www.klemmvintage.com/cztech3.html]CZ engine analysis[/url] by Harry Klemm...
LaughingLaughingLaughingLaughingLaughing I will remember that one for my future moisture absorption needs--

There is an interesting CZ engine analysis by Harry Klemm, the guy who at 20 yrs. old built Rex Staten's 1975 CZ that got both holeshots at the Carlsbad GP.
True story...when I was about 15, I bought a used pair of Scott boots from Rocket Rex Staten for $50. Unfortunately they didn't make me any faster and I still crashed a lot, but I had good protection and looked stylish in the process!






1
Evoracer
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9/13/2017 9:17am
Nice build. If you're going to run against the local fast guys, you'll need better shocks, lower triples, and a swingarm.

My old 250...

1
smithers57
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9/13/2017 10:54am
Beautiful bike my friend and I agree I kinda built this one as garage art lol but next b one I build which will be a 400 I'm goibg to go all out and make a race ready one. Where did you get alot of the aftermarket stuff from
Evoracer
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9/13/2017 11:38am
smithers57 wrote:
Beautiful bike my friend and I agree I kinda built this one as garage art lol but next b one I build which will be a...
Beautiful bike my friend and I agree I kinda built this one as garage art lol but next b one I build which will be a 400 I'm goibg to go all out and make a race ready one. Where did you get alot of the aftermarket stuff from
A lot of it, including the basket case, came from Charlie. Other parts from my friend Eric of PFR. Misc. stuff from here and there...
captmoto
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9/14/2017 11:11am
I had a 250 I sold then a 400 I got from Super Hunky himself. I thin he thought he was getting the best of the deal since the motor was locked up. Turns out the ignition was rusted up. I got it freed up with WD40 and the bike ran perfectly. I wish I still had it. I'm sure I let it go too cheap when i did. I still have a Clymer manual and some CZ tools like clutch holder and maybe some crank tools.
Awesome bike there Evoracer.
wolfy0067
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9/14/2017 5:25pm
Here's my 74, got 2nd 250 pro/expert at Unadilla this year, if not for stalling in a corner first not could have won. I agree you have to put all the best parts available to run up front, I didn't realize the bike had Franks forks on when purchased, bent found out they bent in two motos, was lucky to find a good set of original tubes

wolfy0067
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9/14/2017 5:47pm
Here's my 74, got 2nd 250 pro/expert at Unadilla this year, if not for stalling in a corner first not could have won. I agree you have to put all the best parts available to run up front, I didn't realize the bike had Franks forks on when purchased, bent found out they bent in two motos, was lucky to find a good set of original tubes

Zeke27G
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9/15/2017 7:40am
Evoracer wrote:
Nice build. If you're going to run against the local fast guys, you'll need better shocks, lower triples, and a swingarm. My old 250...[img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2017/09/13/214485/s1200_1.jpg[/img]
Nice build. If you're going to run against the local fast guys, you'll need better shocks, lower triples, and a swingarm.

My old 250...


Why don't you stop blathering about the past and build another damn CZ and come race with us?!!
Evoracer
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9/15/2017 8:05am
Evoracer wrote:
Nice build. If you're going to run against the local fast guys, you'll need better shocks, lower triples, and a swingarm. My old 250...[img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2017/09/13/214485/s1200_1.jpg[/img]
Nice build. If you're going to run against the local fast guys, you'll need better shocks, lower triples, and a swingarm.

My old 250...

Zeke27G wrote:

Why don't you stop blathering about the past and build another damn CZ and come race with us?!!
The past is all I've got. lol

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