Largely regarded as the coolest guy who has ever lived, Steve McQueen’s aura was made by footage like that which you will see below. For starters, we’re taking the coolest guy ever and plunking him atop one of the coolest dirt bikes ever, the Honda CR250M Elsinore. This was Honda’s first dedicated dirt bike that wasn’t made from morphing a street bike into a racer. A clean sheet design with a chrome-moly frame and a single cylinder 250cc engine that made 29hp, this hellion could make 75mph and was immediately competitive at motocross events in the hands of riders like Gary Jones back in the day. The bike weighed in at 213lbs and had a five speed transmission. McQueen was involved for promotional purposes, obviously. This five minute glory reel of him thrashing on a bike was certainly intended to sell Hondas. It must have worked because we want to run out and buy one NOW. Old dirt bikes are really neat and ones endorsed by the king of cool are even better.
McQueen was not a poseur. He drove the cars in his movies and when he wasn’t on set, he was racing something or like this film shows, off in the desert cutting up with his buddies. The guy seems damned comfortable on the Honda and he pulls wheelies, does some small jumps, and spends lots of time at what sure seem like WOT hauling over sand and dirt. The music is campy early 1970s stuff, but it fits the film perfectly. Honda really let the machine do the talking in this video. We hear McQueen only briefly at the end of the film, imploring the viewers to ride safely on the streets and wear safety equipment.
We want to know if the van he unloaded the bike from at the beginning of the video was his or a prop. That thing looks boss. The slow motion wheelie at 3:00 is poetry in motion.
PRESS PLAY BELOW TO SEE STEVE MCQUEEN THRASH ON A VINTAGE HONDA CR250M ELSINORE WHEN IT WAS BRANDY NEW!
