As I continue to help clean out the property in North Georgia that I’ve written about here on Barn Finds a few times, I’m learning more and more about enduro bikes from the 1960s and 70s. My friend has a large collection of machines like this 1976 Honda Elsinore MT 125, and while relatively few of them are particularly valuable, it’s amazing how many models were seriously competitive in motocross events back in the day. This MT 125 is a perfect example of a bike that may not be particularly powerful but would still be fun as all get-out to use on the trails. Find it here on eBay with bidding at $1,480 and no reserve.
Hemmings did an extensive write-up on this model, noting that the MT 125 followed on the heels of the enormously successful CR 250. That bike dominated motocross events it was entered into, and the magnesium-engined bike quickly earned a loyal following. It didn’t hurt, either, that it was the first Honda motorcycle assembled as its Marysville, Ohio production facility. The MT 125 was meant to capitalize on the CR 250’s success, coming in its footsteps as a more user-friendly machine that could be used on both the trail and for street-riding. Unfortunately, it didn’t enjoy the same following as its more powerful sibling.
The lack of power was the main complaint from road test editors at the time, and this is the same reason why I’ve withheld from snagging a project bike from my friend’s property. I’ll see some vintage enduro that looks like it’d be an awesome piece of garage art, but then I watch a few YouTube videos of its operator having to wring the snot out of it to get any speed, and any perception of “fun” I had goes out the window. Now, clearly, as a guy who owned a 63 horsepower diesel Toyota van with a column shift, I have no issue driving slow vehicles – but there’s so many choices in the world of enduro bikes, you may as well find one with some scoot.
All that being said, these motorcycles are scarce today in condition like this. Because of their usefulness on the road or the trail, they got used – a lot. And because they were cheap from the start, it’s not like the first and second owners took great care to preserve them for the long haul. This MT 125 has just 3,400 original miles and is said to run quite well. Cosmetic defects are minimal and most of the bike’s features present as being like-new. The carbs have been cleaned up and the tank flushed out, and it’s said to start on the first kick. Did you ever ride a bike like this when they were new? Which model would you choose for a first-time enduro bike rider?
I grew up on these bikes. Keep rpm’s up and they are a lot of fun.
Cool, an “El Senior”, by gar, it’s been a while. This type and vintage dual sport is what I really should have gotten, and not that DRZ. While I’d never ride a bike smaller than 250, these were simple machines, and today, for me, that’s the name of the game. Oh sure, the DRZ was nice, but too complicated. That liquid cooling is nothing but a complicated gimmick and pads the mechanics pockets, the front forks, some weird wizardry, with dampening valves( that probably did nothing) and my biggest pet peeve, no kick start. This type of bike has none of that, and by my definition, what a dirt bike should be. Yep, still stuck in the 90’s and for good reason. Great, GREAT find.
Howard, I have one of these in my stable, also a ’76, but the 250cc version. And you’re right – simple and good. Everything you need, and nothing you don’t.
I was racing a Penton when these came out. Smoked me! Rode Red ever since on the track. Hard to believe ANY survived! All that I have left from the Penton is the gas tank. I agree with Howard, great, great find!
Yep…was a Yamaha MX guy and these 2 stroke’s were no slouch – Honda did thier homework as they always did. They cleaned up on the 125 class until the YZ’s came out. Agree not many survived being layed over on the street or trail.
I was sponsored by a local Yamaha dealership in the early 70’s and bought one of the first YZ250A’s in NorCal. I surely smoked a lot of bikes with that beast, but the Elsinore’s were difficult to put down. I’d love to find a YZ like mine now. I do have a 74 MX250A, but it’s just not the same.
There was a CR 125 Elsinore as well, a pure motocross bike that was plenty fast if you wanted it.
Only enduro in the family was my dad’s Kawasaki KD175, silver tank with an orange stripe. I always thought of it as plain vanilla, as a kid, compared to the KX 250 motocross bike our neighbor raced. Fun times on the bikes back in the seventies.
The MT125 would make a fun, lightweight woods bike. These had comparable power to other Japanese 125 dual purpose bikes at the time, but it wasn’t a lot. I’d say adequate. The CR125 was a different animal. Very fast and light weight if you could keep it on the pipe. The poweband was all or nothing, and the transition from bog to wheelie was abrupt, to say the least.
How common are tachometers on small displacement dual-sports? Neat.
I had a 73 MT 250 Elsinore. It was a blast and when you hit the power band, it was a lot of fun. Wouldn’t mind another one but I’d rather have a newer 4 stroke to ride on street and trail…Not too many places to ride off rode here north of Philly where you aren’t tresspassing these days. The places we rode are all gone.
I bought a new XL250 in ’74, a bigger four-stroke cousin of this bike. It was a blast to take offroad. Plenty of power and handled ok. I rode it on the freeway to work and back, too. Ah, to be 18 again.
I had my Hodaka super rat orange, first time I hit the powerband in first it came right over, was a screamer. As long as you didn’t flatten the pipe. I ended up working a deal for an appropriately named Mt 250, and it lived up to its name . Empty
Nice bike. I’ve got a similarly vintage Yamaha DT 125 and love it. Want to add a DT 175 to the collection
Actually the phenomenal Honda CR250 Elsinore was released in late 1972 as a 1973 model and the CR125 Elsinore was released in 1974. Gary Jones rode a stock production CR250 to win the 1973 AMA 250 national motocross series. The MT125 and MT250 were also released that same year.
In 1975, fresh out of the Army and newly married, I bought a MT125 as soon as I started working at Stich’s Honda in Sioux Falls, SD, I soon regretted buying it, because first, I failed to ask my wife before buying it (she was very mad) and second, it was a complete dog of a bike. Heavy, gutless and with poor suspension. I soon fixed half of that problem and traded the MT125 back in for a new CR125 instead and started my racing career. It was really fast and I managed stay with it most of the time but lost some skin along the way and almost my collar bone. To this day the 1974 CR125M was produced in greater numbers than any motocross bike ever built. It introduced a generation of riders like me to racing and, more than any other single motorcycle, was responsible for the dirt bike boom that followed. It’s impossible to overstate the impact of that one motorcycle on the sport we know today.
Not long after that I bought a brand new ’74 CR250 still in the crate that was a leftover in 1975 for just $450 from my employer, Stich’s. My wife was really pissed about that one too because it was a surprise to her again. I’ve always thought it was better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission! I wish I would have kept it crated or never rode it, it was such a beautiful bike with its handcrafted aluminum tank and light weight of just 208 lbs dry, it was a sculpture! Soon after came a Bultaco 360 Astro flat track racer and I eventually had my own shop and became a Maico dealer for their motocross bikes, from 1980 until their demise in 1984. I also owned several Honda XL, and XR four strokes over those years for trail riding which was actually more like trail racing with my friends. I was all in on the Honda ATC three wheeler craze too and raced a 1983 ATC200X and a watercooled 1985 ATC250R.
Today, I wouldn’t change a thing, except to still own some of those bikes. I still have a Indian Chief and a Honda CRF230F dirt bike. I can still walk and talk and am pretty lucky I feel as good as I do after some of the crashes I took on them.
Great story! Thanks for posting, take care, Mike.
Change the gear ratio for more power and less speed and you can have a lot of off-road fun even with the small engine. I did it with my Yamaha DT250 in order to ride two-up with my wife in the woods of Northern Michigan.
“but it wasn’t a lot. I’d say adequate” = damning with faint praise, I’d say
I grew up in Central Illinois in the 80’s. My father, and 4-5 friends leased about 100 acres of timber/camp land, with running creeks. All of the fathers had kids my age. I started on a CR 70, then to a Suzuki TM 100, then RM 125. The other bikes included Elsinores in several sizes, and the YZ’s in blue. Towards the end we would have an annual Enduro race by ages. Great times!