If you're the kind of person who's ever seen a dusty, dilapidated bike in a box and thought to yourself, "I can fix him," then this is absolutely the video for you.
Naysayers will tell you it's a terrible idea to buy someone else's project bike. They'll tell you that you'll soon be sending good money after bad, and paint unpleasant nightmare images that look kind of like the two-wheeled version of The Money Pit.
And in some cases, your friends are just looking out for you. They might, after all, be right. Even if you hate to admit it.
But other times, you get a situation like the one in the most recent Bearded Mechanic video. Now, it obviously helps that he's no newbie to working his way through difficult mechanical problems. It also certainly helps that he's got some extremely useful and helpful sponsors on board. But none of that would matter if this bike was a complete basketcase, which it thankfully wasn't.
What is this bike that we're talking about? It's a 1986 Honda XR250R, and it literally came to Craig (TBM) in one of those big Rubbermaid storage totes. You know the ones; you might even have some in your home.
The original goal that Craig set himself was getting this bike in good running order by October of last year. Why that date specifically? Because he wanted to take it to the last vintage racing event of the season and let 'er rip.
Did it happen? Thanks to a number of factors (not the least of which was the surprise Bike Build Off challenge between TBM, Paul Sr., and Bikes and Beards), it didn't.
But while a new video from TBM is almost always a treat for multiple reasons, this one is a great reminder that if you get into working on project bikes (or, yes, projects in general), things aren't always going to work out exactly on a deadline.
Still, that doesn't mean you should get totally discouraged, throw all the parts back in the box they came in, and sell it to the next guy. You'll be a lot happier if you can accept the change in plans, then come back to the bike when you're in a good headspace to complete all the five million little tasks that need work. Honestly, watching Craig calmly and carefully apply the decals (utter perfection) to this great little XR250R is probably almost as satisfying as doing it yourself and getting it spot on.
Does it run? Beautifully. Here's hoping your 2025 projects follow suit.
