Honda CR 500 R

The Honda CR 500 R was a motocross motorcycle that Honda produced from 1981 to 2002. Honda had won the 500 cc motocross world championship in the late 1970s with the factory RC 500, but had never built a 500 cc production machine, assuming there was little interest in its home market, until Yamaha and Suzuki sold real 500 cc production crossers that sold well. The first version was introduced in November 1980 as the CR 450 R with a displacement of 431 cc, an air-cooled single-cylinder two-stroke engine with a 38 mm Keihin carburettor and a reed valve, a multi-plate wet clutch and a four-speed gearbox, in a light double-cradle frame. It appeared together with the first version of Honda's Pro Link single rear shock, and it had an air-assisted telescopic fork with 305 mm of travel and 312 mm at the rear.