April 2003

The April 2003 Bike of the Month belongs to Mr. Hiratsuka of Sapporo, Hokkaido in Japan.

Mr. Hiratsuka owns and operates a small custom bike and paint shop in the Northern Japanese Island of Hokkaido. His shop specializes in custom paintwork and can do any design that you could possibly imagine.

This particular 1989 MC18 NSR250R started off as a standard `R` model in very poor condition and was in major need of some love and care. Mr. Hiratsuka had spent a long time collecting various SP and race parts from Flea markets, swap meets and various auctions.

After some time he had enough parts to build almost another bike, so the project began. First everything was pulled apart. The frame and rear swingarm were polished to a mirror finish. Mag-Tek wheels painted in black were added. A set of SP forks were located then rebuilt, cleaned up and installed as well.

The engine and carbs are from a SP that was raced in the Japanese National SP class, so the motor was already making big power. Various HRC parts and Jha race pipes bring this MC18 up to more than full power.

Now with the MC18 running perfect and making big power it was time to improve the bikes outside appearance as well. A complete upper and lower race cowl was purchased, A one piece fiberglass seat cowl from a Honda NS-1 (50cc sport bike??) was also purchased and modified to fit this NSR250. It fits very well and twin round brake lights were added to keep with the NSR 250 original styling.

The race upper cowl was modified with slots cut out for the headlight. A new fender, screen and mirrors helps to freshen up the bike. Various new parts and many rebuilt parts brought this once old and tired NSR back to better than stock condition.

Since Mr. Hiratsuka runs his own custom paint shop, why not show off some of his shops talents and skills on this NSR ? So he completely painted this bike in his shops colors. The paintwork is absolutely beautiful and really accents the NSR's racy lines.

Another fine example of an older NSR reborn and saved from almost certain extinction. More of Mr. Hiratsuka's custom paint shop called KUNI - FACTORY can be found by clicking on the link. Mr. Hiratsuka also has another custom Suzuki Wolf - RG which you can see if you click here (121K) Obviously Mr. Hiratsuka is a big two stroke fan and suffers from the same addiction as all of us do too.

Every month I will try to feature a different NSR or NSR's in this section. Above you can check out this month's featured bike of the month. Do you think your NSR belongs here ? Then send a few pictures and some information and maybe we can feature it here. Mail to me here. Thanks