JULY 2001

July's Bike of the Month belongs to Erik from Germany. Erik has built himself a very special NSR.

Erik's NSR is a 1996 NSR 250R SE model. He had the NSR imported into Europe through a small company that deals with grey market bikes. According to him, NSR street bikes are extremely rare in his part of town.

After purchasing the bike new in 1997, Erik drove it for a while and longed for the classic Marlboro racing colors. As Honda never made a production street bike in the Marlboro colors, Erik decided to create his own version.

So the bike and the bodywork were fully disassembled. Erik prepared the original bodywork and sprayed it in the famous Marlboro Racing colors of white and a special neon red mix. He applied custom made decals and plenty coats of clear for a spectacular finish. One of the first things most NSR owners notice about this NSR is the seat cowl on this machine. What exactly is it ?

According to Erik, this seat cowl is an exact copy based on the design of Ralf Waldman's NSR 1996 GP machine. A mold was made from the original and reworked to fit on the street version NSR. The only problem is that it required major cutting and modification to the seat subframe.

A weight savings of 15kg was achieved with the modified subframe and lighter one piece seat cowl which is very similar in design to the RS 250 factory racers from Honda. Erik then fit twin round brake lights, a handmade number plate bracket, custom turn signals and painted the seat to match the rest of the Marlboro Racing colors bodywork.

The engine of this super clean NSR has been enhanced with RS 250 pistons and modified cylinders with opened ports and full polishing. The entire engine was disassembled, all parts were inspected, modified for maximum performance and fully balanced. All work was performed by Erik himself. Numerous bolts were replaced with gold Durlamin bolts for better looks and of course a weight savings.

The bike is derestricted with a set of Jolly Moto pipes with carbon fiber silencers and a HRC 030 card and HRC carb setting kit ordered from Tyga Performance. The airbox was modified as well and carbon reed valves replace the factory ones.

The original color of the wheels were black, but Erik repainted the front wheel in white and the rear in red with white pin stripes around the edges for a unique appearance.

Since Erik is an active racer in Europe, it was necessary for him to have a trick suspension set up. Luckily for him, he had a friend at Ohlins. They completely overhauled his front forks, replaced the springs with Ohlins parts, lowered the top clamp by 6mm and anodized the inner tubes with a gold coating. The steering damper is also from Ohlins.

Brakes on this monster NSR are improved by a Lucas 19mm radial master cylinder, stainless mesh brake lines and sport brake pads. Pirelli Dragon Corsa tires sized ( 160/60ZR17 and 110/70ZR17 ) give heeps of grip. Erik enjoys riding his NSR on only the finest of days and occasional track events !!

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 !!