'Making Motorcycle History' in the press

There's a really good article about CMR Racing Products Inc. by Veronica Leonard in the Summer issue of County and Quinte Living magazine, which is available in our region, the Bay of Quinte area, in Ontario, Canada.


If you're not able to pick up a copy, you can get the story online. You'll find 'Motorcycle History in the Making' on page 14. Photographer Daniel Vaughan did some great shots - makes us look pretty cool.


If you see something that interests you, visit us on the CMR Facebook, read further in this blog, or have a look at the website.

 You can access the FB and the blog from the main page of our website.

Visit CMR on Facebook

We just put up a number of albums of 2013/14 projects at CMR.

Go have a look,

Please contact CMR Racing Products (cmrracingproducts@gmail.com) if you wish further information about anything you see.

1970's Curtis Racing Frames Dirt-tracker found and rebuilt

Back in April 2012 CMR heard from David Spicer of Vancouver, B.C. Canada, who asked if we could identify a dirt track racing frame that he was about to purchase, which dated from the early 1970's. David was able to provide a serial number and photographs; the photos showed an original Curtis Racing Frames decal still on the swing-arm. Denis checked the serial number and photographs and discovered that this was a Kawasaki 'Big Horn' flat-tracker from 1974/5. It had been built for one of Denis' partners at Curtis Racing Frames of Richmond, B.C. The fellow's name was Billy Hilland.

Curtis Racing Frames Flat-track Racing Team:
Centre: Billy Hilland and his bike #60 (1974/5)

Why was this bike so special? This was the only Kawasaki two-stroke dirt-tracker that Curtis Racing Frames ever made. Mr. Hilland loved that engine and wanted to go flat-track racing with it. He had formerly been a moto-cross racer and had lots of spare parts for the Kawasaki 'Big Horn' engine. Billy was a very fast and competitive flat-track racer.

The bike in its original form

The bike was used on one-eighth and quarter-mile short tracks and half-mile dirt tracks and during the winter months was used for ice-racing in B.C. and Alberta, Canada and Washington state, USA. It had a very successful career. At one time it even had a set of Curtis mag wheels fitted as you will see from some of these photographs.

David was pleased to hear the bike's history and to learn that Denis could still supply him with new original Curtis Racing Frame decals for the swing-arm. While Billy Hilland's racing number was #60, David elected to use the number 55 which was the number on the bike when he purchased it.

We understand that Billy Hilland sold the bike at some point but we don't know the intervening history.

#60 at the 1975 Vancouver Motorcycle Show

 The bike is shown here fitted with Curtis Mag Wheels

This is how the bike was found by David Spicer -
 remarkably complete but the Curtis Mag Wheels were missing

Taking the Treasure home

The Curtis Mag Wheel decal can be
seen here on the rear fender

David Spicer refurbished the bike to look exactly like it was under Billy Hilland's ownership, and what a great job he made. We look forward to receiving further photos of David's racing exploits in historic flat-track racing in B.C., Alberta and Washington state in the coming seasons. We will keep you posted.

 

A beautifully refinished frame

David Spicer with his pride and joy
an original Curtis Racing Frames Kawasaki 'Big Horn' Flat-tracker

CMR Racing Products Inc. has received a number of inquiries about frames from the Curtis Racing Frames past and Denis really enjoys researching and providing the information to this new generation of owners/riders. Let us know if we can help you.

'The two Dirks' - Dirk DeWinter and Dirk Walschaerts- updates from Belgium

Back in June 2013 we reported on the successes
of two of  CMR's  European customers, Dirk DeWinter and Dirk Walschaerts. Dirk DeWinter has been faithful at keeping us updated with stats and photos. Follow the link if you want to revisit this story from last summer. Here are a few photographs which Dirk D. provided of his summer exploits. Both Dirks ride CMR-framed Drixton Yamaha XS650/750 Twins.

Here are the 2013 season results for the Belgian Championship for Classic Bikes in Class 5: Dirk Walschaerts finished 4th with 32 points, and Dirk DeWinter finished 9th with 22 points.


Congratulations to our Belgian friends! We look forward to following your 2014 season and hearing your results.

From Cadwell Park to The Plains of Ontario

Denis' past is catching up to him again.

photo courtesy of Geoff Preece

Recently CMR was contacted by Philippe Guyony who was writing an article about Vincents and Vincent engined specials on the website 'Egli-Vincent.net'. Philippe had visited the Curtis Racing Frames and CMR Racing Products websites and learned about the early history of Denis Curtis'  racing projects, both while he was still in the U.K. and later when he ran Curtis Racing Frames in Richmond B.C. Canada.

the very first Curtis Vincent Twin

The article was very well researched and written.  Denis was pleased to have been able to provide some additional information to help with the research, and excited to make another contact in the Vincent community. Here's a link to the article 'The Curtis Vincent from Cadwell Park to the Plains of Ontario'.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Stuart Howe at Silverstone on his Curtis Vincent

The late Jim Brokensha with the first Canadian Curtis Vincent

Classic Bike February 1995 centrefold

CMR was also honoured to be listed in Philippe Guyony's article 'The Best Names Behind the Vincent' in another post on the Egli-Vincent.net website.

Buyers' Market at CMR Racing Products Inc. - Canadian currency fluctuations

Challenges bring opportunities, they say. Global currency fluctuations have created a situation where the Canadian Dollar is currently valued well below parity with the U.S. Dollar, and the same situation exists with other world currencies. We are told this is a six-year low for our Dollar, but no explanation seems to be forthcoming!
We are a small but proud Canadian Company and export most of our product abroad. This current low value of the Canadian Dollar creates a very advantageous situation for our Australian and New Zealand, UK and Europe, and US customers (in short, anyone not living in Canada!).

While our currency value is so low, and until the value rebounds, this represents an approximate 11% saving on any orders placed with CMR Racing Products Inc.

So, just a thought. If you have been considering the purchase of one of CMR Racing Products' racing frame and swing-arm kits, aluminum fuel tank kits, or any of the other products we supply, now is the time. It's a real cost saving of approximately 11%! And who can refuse that? Still plenty of time to get ready for the Northern hemisphere racing season, and for folks down under - time for future winter racing projects!

We always keep stock of our more popular frame, swing-arm and aluminum fuel tank kits like the CMR Yamaha TZ750, the CMR Suzuki TR/GT750, the CMR Drixton Yamaha XS750 twin , the CMR Drixton Honda 350 and 450 twins and some others.

We at CMR always strive to provide the fastest turnaround time possible to our valued customers.

Watch out for some exciting new additions to our frame kit and tank line up happening soon, including Suzuki XR69 replicas in twin shock and mono-shock, Honda RS1000 twin shock replicas, and Rickman Kawasaki four and Rickman Triumph triple kits.

Buy now and $ave!

Honda CB160/CR93 project. Over to you, Oedell in Oregon!

 In late 2013, Mr. Oedell of Oregon contacted CMR interested in a replica Honda CR93 aluminum fuel tank and seat for his Honda CB160 motorcycle.

We supply quite a few CR93 replica aluminum fuel tanks and seats to fit various Honda period motorcycles. CMR carries an inventory of original frames, fuel tanks, engines, etc. to enable us to accurately produce correctly fitting replica parts to order. We have an original CB160 frame supplied to us by Mr. Bert Lilley of Canada, one of the leading CR93 replica specialists in the world.





In this case, Mr. Oedell had an early Honda CB160 frame and wanted us to make the tank and seat feat onto his frame. W

Mr. Oedell was particular in requiring the shape of the tank and seat to be exactly the same as the original works Honda racing CR93. These pictures show how close we were able to meet his desires.

The front of the tank has a recess for the main frame rail and the radius at the front of the tank has to blend with the recess. Here you see the finished opening and how well the tank fits.








Here is a front-on shot which shows the flat portion on the top of the tank just like the works tanks. We used on this one a two-inch Monza aluminum flip-top period fuel cap. We also use genuine Honda rubber front fuel tank mounts as they are still available.










The radius on the back of the racing seat is very hard to produce on an 'English wheel' or by hand, but we feel this seat is next to perfection. You will notice on the rear of the tank that we supply a pull-down strap while on the original CR93 tank it was just a rubber band. It is actually a Yamaha fuel tank pull-down strap and they work perfectly.

Here we show the kit of parts for mounting the tank. CMR customers regularly tell us how delighted they are with the detail parts we supply with our kits - everything for assembling the project!

Our stock CB160 frame could do with a coat of paint
 but we use it as a pattern as mentioned above

Mr. Oedell asked us to provide an inner rear fender/mudguard/splatter-shield similar to the CR93 unit for his CB160 project. As you can see it's a U-channel with side flaps and is bolted at the bottom and zip-tied at the top to the CB160 rear frame rails. When you compare it to the works CR93 it comes very close.

Here is the finished product packaged for its journey to Oregon
where another happy CMR customer is waiting.

We shipped the CMR tank and seat to Mr. Oedell in January. Prior to shipping, we sent him some photos. He responded (as our customers so often do) with "That looks awesome! Thank you for the pics, super excited. Ha-ha! Can't stop staring at it! Wow, you guys are good!"

Great working with  you Mr. Oedell!