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Hoony, have you got an '86 swingarm on yours or just the sticker? Other than the seat 'cr' stencil and the swingarm 'Prolink' sticker, are there any other differences you can see easily between the 85 and 86? I know the tank, shrouds and mounts on the frame are different. I struggle to tell them apart other than the two things I have mentioned.
G'day Brad, swingarm on mine is 85' as far as i know ( was on it when i got it) as you pointed out the bikes are very close except for
lots of small differences. 86' frame has different mounts for CDI and coil as those items are different on 86'. the frame has a small protector lug for rear brake lever pivot on 86 that is not on 85. front disc is holes on 85' slotted on 86', rims are silver on 85 gold on 86'. rear linkage is slightly different on 86 to 85. ignitions are different. subtle changes in clutch basket countershaft bearing and rear wheel has 2 drive side bearings on 86 only 1 on 85'.
.......... my mate Dave who you have met, who owns the gold swingarm bike has and owns Cr 500, 1985 1986 and 1987 models,he told me that Honda made reasonably significant/annoying chassis related changes to the CR500 over the three years apart from the tank and radiator shrouds.He discovered this via trying to use later model parts on his 1985.
yes this is correct 85,86,87 models had lots of changes. if he has those model he will know, what a great collection, equally impressive to me as Brads 83 - 85 collection honda big bore collection. Love that era from 83 - 87 big evolution changes.
85, 86 share crankcases 87 onwards have a 5mm higher deck for cylinder to sit on. ignitions are different