What a start to the month…. Following last months Bristol and West Bike Show I got a mention and a few pictures in the quarterly VJMC (Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club) magazine called “Tansha” which was a nice surprise.







Almost six months ago I contacted the UK Honda Owners Club as I read they were attending and showing at the annual Kickback and Custom show held at the Three Counties Showground in Malvern which isn’t too far away from me and withing spitting distance of where Zeus lives, so being local-ish I could ride there without the hassle of a van or trailer etc.


During my conversation with Jude from the Honda Owners club we discussed the bike and the rebuild journey along with the fact that I had documented it on NSR World, which being a Honda exclusive platform was bang on the money for them and having shared the QR code they kindly featured my bike in their quarterly magazine with a full page given over to my once rusty neglected wreck that had languished in my dad garage for 25 years before being resurrected







The show which has now come and gone proved to be very popular and featured a ton of bikes and cars with both time and an obscene amount of money seemingly lavished upon them, now I’ve never been a fan of RD350LC’s but jesus was there some sweet modded ones on show with Ohlins USD’s and cool paint jobs, felt my head being turned before I came back to my senses.


The old dog also made the local paper when the reporter covering the show, stopped at the HOC stand and spoke with the team.



After a quick clean and wipe over to get rid of the dust from riding the bike to the show and across the gravel car park she looked good and held her own!




One end of one shed




The winner of the most Original Vintage Classic Bike was this Honda CB500 a very worthy winner and absolutely mint, especially considering where the journey began with one rust bucket.



One of the many RD’s this one had a zip painted down the middle and wore different paint on either side





This Old Katana was equally eye catching




when viewed thought my rose tinted glasses this little AR125 was both mint and exactly how I remember mine from 1987 – okay whilst mine was just like this and at the time only two years old it had been down the road a few times




Rothmans – ten a penny






As for the rest of the show here’s one bike with TWO engines




Honda CBR anyone ?- this ones got Lister Diesel engine from a cement mixer







Zooped up lawn mower anyone ? Fastest one around


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Nick

Rebuild project NSR250 MC18 R4J

Too Tall Terry! Brilliant. Amazing you found the issue of the cold starting. I finally got some carb insulators from Greece but they took forever pretty sure they were for an MC-16 (which had 28mm carbs) because it took some heat, some grease and some sweat and tears to get the 32mm carbs into them...not sure how smart that is but I couldn't face looking for another set.

Hudtm60 wrote:Too Tall Terry! Brilliant. Amazing you found the issue of the cold starting. I finally got some carb insulators from Greece but they took forever pretty sure they were for an MC-16 (which had 28mm carbs) because it took some heat, some grease and some sweat and tears to get the 32mm carbs into them...not sure how smart that is but I couldn't face looking for another set.

Being from the USA - I was surprised you knew about Terry Rymer let alone knowing his nickname

The bike starts a treat now, no idea why the choke jets have blocked for a second time, but after a carb clean by the guys at Spa Motorcycles it’s like new again

Loving your build thread by the way!
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Nick

Rebuild project NSR250 MC18 R4J

Just can’t help myself – the bank holiday arrived and the bike hit the road and over the three days another 500Km put on the clock we’re rapidly heading for 40,000 km on the speedo


Never quite made our intended destination Devils Bridge in but instead ended up at the Elan Valley Reservoir in Rhayader Mid Wales, The roads there were suitably gnarly and twisty however being a haven for bikes the highways agency have installed way too many speed camera’s and in-between them the local bizzies had set up shop, not to mention the 20mph zones in every Welsh town you pass through


You meet the nicest people on a Honda !
Having come out of the visitor centre I spotted a women inspecting by bike in the car park – never caught her name but she turned out to be incredibly knowledgeable about NSR’s which kinda floored me before she went on say she had a Genuine SP MC21” at home and was surprised to see an older MC18 so far out in the boonies.

Took a few pics whilst we were there



And without the tree


As its warming up the insect kill increased, but still nowhere near what it was like back in the 1990’s



Tried (and largely failed) to take some an “Arty Pics”








Already looking forward to this weekend and the Classic Hub ride in, and hopefully finally meeting up with RobH

http://nsr250.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=15670
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Nick

Rebuild project NSR250 MC18 R4J

Yes, I lived in Scotland from 1971 to early 90's when I was fully indoctrinated in motorbike culture...and it will never leave me...everything from racing to trying to keep a bike running all year round for pennies with no real help other than what the mags and mates could tell me...many mistakes were made.... imagine my surprise when I first took apart some front forks only to find the oil level was low.....that was a jarring few rides before I realized that maybe they need not be filled to the top! etc etc etc it was always a real joy to assess a problem and successfully fix it...that's what your choke adventure reminds me of...congrats. and it cost nothing! could have easily been £500.

As much as I like Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 I think you definitely settled in the right place
Even if you can’t get Irn Bru in glass bottles or deep fried Mars bars where you are.
Guess you could rustle up stateside version of Neeps and Tatties anytime you like …..but try to make a haggies and you’ll have OSHA along with homeland security knocking on your door.😆

Some things are better left alone !

Another great ride out today in the Cotswolds and cracked 39k on the Odo and slowly edging closer to catching RobH up on 40k

Finally got to meet Rob today and put a face to a name and also see his trusty steed, as Rob arrived early he got prize right outside the main building and the first bike you see on the way in

As soon as there was a gap I shoehorned mine on next to his for a quick photo and the guy next door kindly moved his bike


Birds of a feather!







Some lovely cars in storage at the place and some equally bizarre ones
This thing is 16.5 litres and would need a starting motor bigger than mine or Robs bike






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Nick

Rebuild project NSR250 MC18 R4J

It's a great place to visit. So many fantastic cars. Queues for drinks are a pain at weekends.
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Why do things simply when you can complicate them

There's a 24 litre car at the Brooklands Museum
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Why do things simply when you can complicate them

Rothmans_SPud wrote:
What a start to the month….

Almost six months ago I contacted the UK Honda Owners Club as I read they were attending and showing at the annual Kickback and Custom show held at the Three Counties Showground in Malvern which isn’t too far away from me and withing spitting distance of where Zeus lives, so being local-ish I could ride there without the hassle of a van or trailer etc.

During my conversation with Jude from the Honda Owners club we discussed the bike and the rebuild journey along with the fact that I had documented it on NSR World, which being a Honda exclusive platform was bang on the money for them and having shared the QR code they kindly featured my bike in their quarterly magazine with a full page given over to my once rusty neglected wreck that had languished in my dad garage for 25 years before being resurrected

Superb! Thank you for mentioning the forum to them. Hugely appreciated! 😊
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Andy.
NSR-WORLD.COM

Please keep all responses to Forum posts on the Forum so that others may benefit.

Please DO NOT PM me for technical advice. My time is precious, and you will probably receive a faster response on the Forum anyway.

Check us out on Facebook! Please "like" our page!

Always keen and willing to promote this site - it’s a solid resource pool of archived info and sound advise.

Without this place I doubt I would have gotten any where near as far I have with getting the old dog back on the road !

Hopefully we will have a couple of new builds starting to post soon. The guys are long-term forum members, but have been collecting the necessary obscure parts for the last few years before commencing the work.

I also sold a van full, literally, of HRC parts yesterday to another forum member who is building a seriouly cool selection of race kit NSRs. He's amassed the full suite, from NS250R MC11 to MC21, and will be building/restoring them all over the next couple of years. We think, with the addition of all parts I supplied yesterday, he pretty much has enough to finish them all, plus maybe a spare bike or two!

Just need to get the guys back into the habit of posting now!
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Andy.
NSR-WORLD.COM

Please keep all responses to Forum posts on the Forum so that others may benefit.

Please DO NOT PM me for technical advice. My time is precious, and you will probably receive a faster response on the Forum anyway.

Check us out on Facebook! Please "like" our page!

I'm even back messing with mine at long last
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ive seen more tarts than mr kipling

Looking forward to see the new builds Andy - and exotic parts liberated from you

Likewise I’d be interested to see what you’ve got tucked away Si !


An IKEA moment – I’m sure we’ve all had one….. you’re at a loose end with spare time to kill, and whilst you don’t “actually” needing anything you find yourself being dragged around IKEA…. Before you know it you’re checking out with a load of items you had no idea you needed!

Well substitute IKEA for Jauce / Yahoo Japan and I’m sure you can kinda guess where I’m going with this

Found an original 1980’s MC18 “New old stock key” which compliments the original one I’ve already got (nothing wrong with the old one but now I have a period spare one)



Sweet find was new screen decals specifically for the MC18 – never seen them before, MC21 and MC28 being ten a penny but MC18’s alway alluded me until now.



Also dropped a few Yen on a helmet holder wire as I’ve never had one on mine – however without the special fitting circled its useless (pic shamelessly stolen from Chris’s built thread)



This model of the R4J is incredibly detailed even has a tiny oil tank inside the fairing, having bought it I don’t know what I’m going to do with it, just seemed like a good idea at the time



What I should have been doing instead of surfing the web is changing the engine oil sooner - the lump has done just shy of 6,500km since the rebuild and stunned me at how dirty the oil was 😬
Think I’ll do the next change a bit earlier … or is this colour normal? It’s more of a very dark bronze in colour



^^ the old stuff has now been added to ½ a can of timber preserver and at the weekend will be painted on the shed
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Nick

Rebuild project NSR250 MC18 R4J

I’ve been a bit of stranger around these parts, but I do have a good excuse… with the UK summer being so long and hot it would have been rude to stay at home rather than getting out to enjoy the bike on dry open roads, and I’ve kind of come close to over doing it, the recent MOT now has the Odometer close to 10k kilometres higher than when it first went back on the road after its 26 year holiday.

Mileage wise I reckon I’ve now caught up and overtaken you RobH 42,653km on the clock at the MOT station.



^^Never do a rebuild with pattern parts, those fork seals lasted a whole 24 months


As you can see some days the weather was better than others, sadly when I was sat on the summit of Gospel Pass (the highest paved road in Wales) it was a bit of a bust for the sun but thankfully stayed dry





I know a NSR is never going to be anyone’s first choice for long days out touring, and this “part time show pony” has been out and about so much it needed to be re shod before the MOT ! …..soft compound Dunlop Alfamax-14’s was never going to be a wise choice and I’ve chewed through both a front and a rear tyre in twelve months, but I love the old dog and shes still turns heads sparking conversations with complete strangers, even if they just want to hear the sound of a two stroke whilst standing in a wonderful cloud of blue haze -gleefully sniffing up lungs full of oily hydrocarbons and waxing lyrical about 1980’s antics on 350LC’s or TZR125’s and how wonderful Castrol R smelt back in the day.



Even got stalked by an Auzzie tourist in Morten in the Marsh who spotted my helmet whilst I was in a coffee shop and followed me back to my bike, he was even more enamoured that a “Pom” was riding around on a Gardner replica rather than a more fashionable Doohan one and told me that back in the day he had actually watched Gardner at Phillip Islands inaugural 500cc race… which Gardner won. On the flip side I’ve also been accused by a Harley rider of riding a bike with a lawn mower engine and a joker on a Triumph Rocket reckoned his starting motor was bigger and had more torque than my quarter litre (both were retards with very questionable taste in motorcycles)

Sunny days in the Cotswolds







The Show Pony made the front cover of the Honda owners club magazine “Golden Wing” which was an unexpected surprise




As part of the rebuild process I replaced the very dead battery with a weight weenie Lithium Ion one and never gave it any more thought until someone planted a seed in my mind concerning my over reliance on a 38 year old regulator and the potential that it could over charge the Lithium battery leading to me sitting on top of a massive Flare or Roman candle, so for peace of mind I’ve retro fitted a voltmeter and thanks to a bit of 3D printing now have a bracket that tucks it away at the bottom of the clocks.

Mounted on a spare set of clocks I bought just for the foam surround






In order to future proof myself (code for being a hoarder) I came across a full set of OEM panels including a petrol tank, radiator cowl and front mud guard, The seller was upfront about there being no keys to open the tank and as a result had no idea if it was rusty inside, in a Doctor Peppers moment “What’s the worst that can happen” I took a gamble on the bundle and pulled the trigger. (the price was more than fair)

Thinking I was most likely going to resort to an electric drill or a screw driver to force open lock I purchased a replacement locking cap for the tank



However having found a local locksmith he skilfully picked the lock for the princely sum of £20 and in no time at all he sent me a pic of the inside - it was like new inside zero rust (Result) I’d go as far to say being locked may have actually done me a massive favour (keeping it closed = zero rust and I got it for a good price)







Winner winner -chicken dinner !




Having access to a full set of spare panels that have already been painted my minds been working over overtime, I’m going to attempt a full 1988 Niall McKenzie HB Honda replica – it has to be his 1988 rig as thats the only year the talented Jock had gold wheels on his bike, All other years they were white plus the exhaust pipes are the same configuration as my bike which is also a 88 model








Poetry in motion




And Steve Alee at GT Performance Engineering doppelgänger or should I say Mr Niall MacKenzie





Option #2
Now this might make a few of you twitch like mad
A 50/50 “Half and Half” - one side Rothmans and the other side HB Honda with a zip painted down the middle like the RD I saw at a recent show…. I am genuinely tempted and the voices in my head are speaking to me ever louder!

The Bi-Polar Yamaha






An Inspired choice …or the thought pattern of a Looney Tune on acid ?
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Nick

Rebuild project NSR250 MC18 R4J