mar01

MARCH 2001

March's Bike of the Month is owned by Travis out of Okinawa. He has built one brutally quick mini machine which is this months featured bike for March Mini Madness.

This NSR began it's life as a simple 1989 NSR 50 with 7.2 Horsepower and a limited top speed of 60 km/h. But times have changed for this little fifty and it has moved on to bigger and better things which include a race prepped CR 125 engine stuffed inside !!

So the story goes like this...... A friend bought the bike for Travis in original condition for a great price at an auction in Japan. It had no bodywork and the engine was of no interest to Travis, so out it went. Travis just happened to have that race prepped CR125 engine lying around and decided right there and then that he would transplant the bigger engine into this tiny little NSR.

Stuffing the engine into the little NSR frame was no easy task. It required major work, patience and plenty of welding and fabricating. All new mounting points and a whole bunch of other complicated stuff that would give any normal person a major headache. All the custom fabrication was done by Shin Kakazu of Urasoe, Okinawa.

The new engine looks completely original inside the bike with the new bodywork on it. Most people would not think that this little fifty could blow the doors off their cars or much bigger bikes, but it can !!

Now no ordinary CR 125 engine would do for Travis, luckily he had a race prepped one lying around. This engine was built by Eric Gorr and Jim Neupert of Two Fast Racing and it has all the go fast goodies.

The engine was rebuilt with racing in mind. Everything was rebuilt with all new bearings. The cylinder and cylinder head were bored out to 134cc with a new over sized Wiseco piston and ring set, Hot Rod crank, rebuilt and modified power valve, fully ported and polished head with a special ceramic-based coating so that it runs cooler than a stock head. Carbon fiber power reeds from Boyesen improve the throttle response for this monster engine.

Look closely and you can see the original carburetor sticking out through the frame on the left side, the carb box has been removed, re-jetted and it has a free flowing power filter. The rear gas shock is a race unit from KYB.

The clutch was rebuilt using Kevlar and steel plates and a hinson clutch basket. The exhaust system is a modified CR 125 unit. The temperature is watched with a Daytona digital water temperature gauge and the bike has twin radiators on each side of it to make sure it runs cool during the hot Okinawa summers when Travis is busy racing this beast.

From the back of the bike you can see all the lights and electrical parts have been removed. Travis has kept all the original parts and there is a good chance that this mini NSR monster will be let loose on the streets of Okinawa for some short test runs on the beautiful winding roads on Okinawa. When Travis first got his bike, it had no bodywork. So he quickly ordered some bodywork from a Japanese company. The new bodywork is in the latest NSR 50 styling and updates the bike with a more modern look plus saving weight.

The paint is an original design by Travis and was professionally applied by his good friend Shin Kakazu, the same person who helped stuff the CR 125 engine into this bike. What a great friend !! Other extras include a Daytona illuminated digital tachometer, custom short foot pegs, clip on handle bars, race windscreen, performance brake pads, front fork spacers, Dunlop TT91 GP tires and the bike runs premix Wakos oil 40 : 1

Travis has worked hard on this bike along with the help of his good friends, he still plans on improving it even more. Future plans include a pro circuit aluminum chamber and silencer, plus many more improvements. Stay tuned for updates about this mini monster that gives new meaning to the word overkill.

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 !!