February 2004

The February 2004 Bike of the Month belongs to Souhei from Tokyo, Japan.

Souhei bought this NSR brand new back in 1994. It is a true 1994 SP model that was originally painted in the Honda Rothmans Racing colors.

After many years of riding this NSR on the streets of Tokyo, all over Japan and of course Souhei's favorite winding and twisties spots, this once beautiful Rothmans SP was showing major signs of age and was not looking so good.

So that is when he decided he had to do something and wanted a whole new look for his NSR. He ordered a full fiberglass upper and lower fairing set from a local race shop, a spare gas tank was found, new wind screen purchased and a rear early RS type seat cowl from Silhouette Japan along with a deeper race type fender.

Souhei loves his Rothmans Racing colors, but decided on a whole new color scheme. That is when he noticed a Japanese race team known as Cruise Racing from Miyagi Prefecture in Japan. He fell in love with their race colors right away and knew those were the colors he had to paint his new MC28 bodywork in.

Souhei and one of his friends who just happened to work in an autobody and paint shop sat down together and planned the design, Souhei took care of all the decals and stripes while his friend handled the paint and bodywork. After the decals were applied the bike was coated in clear and buffed to a beautiful finish for one nice looking NSR.

Looks isn't everything, Souhei's NSR has been enhanced with Jha SP race pipes for huge gains in power and a reduction in weight, set up carbs and a HRC030 card to complete derestriction in conjunction with Honda RS250 race ignition coils for increased spark and performance. Braking has been improved with Goodrich steel braided brake lines and sportier pads. The stock SP suspension is retained but rebuilt. Stock Mag-Tek wheels fitted with Dunlop GPR70SP sport tires offer loads of grip while the Jha rear set kit keeps the rider in a sportier position and his feet off the ground in tight corners. This is Souhei's second NSR, his first being a MC16 that he rode till it retired. He had raced locally in the past with a RS125 and just recently has been bitten by the race bug again after picking up an older MC18 in need of work that will be his next project and future weekend racer.

Souhei is not finished with this MC28 SP. He still has big plans for it with a RS250 front end in the works, more power and performance plus new bodywork in the original Rothmans colors. He is planning on building a NSR500 replica and when completed will be featured here again someday hopefully.

Every month I try to feature a different NSR in this section. Above you can check out the featured Bike of the Month and past Bikes 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 me here. Cheers !!