November
2003
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The November 2003
Bike of the Month belongs to Steve Cocking from California State in
the USA with this unbelievable 1988 MC18 Rothmans replica. |
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Steve's NSR250 started
out as a regular type MC18 model. He purchased it in 1993 from a motorcycle
shop in Texas. It was drab and boring with some miss-matched body work
on it. (Click here to see
a picture of it from before - 69K) Steve raced it a few times, but it
mostly sat in the garage. Although registered for the street in California,
he did not like how the bike looked cosmetically. He thought of selling
the bike many times, but his wife would not let him do it (Cool Wife!!).
That is when Steve discovered Jamie's NSR Homepage and the link to Tyga. |
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The transformation
into this amazing NSR began a year ago when Steve's wife convinced him
to sell his rarely driven Chevy Suburban and turn that money into redoing
the NSR. (What a Wife!) A full bodywork kit was ordered from Tyga, including
the Sparks upper, lower, gas tank and Tyga tail. |
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Also a stock seat
with it's seems plastic welded together was ordered too, all beautifully
painted in the glorious Rothmans Honda racing colors. While parts were
on order, Steve was busy working on other things. This NSR was completely
disassembled right down to the frame. The frame, swingarm, lower fork
tubes and triples were polished by Steve to an absolute beautiful mirror
finish. All worn, damaged or rusty nuts, bolts and other small parts
were replaced. |
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Tyga helped out
with a whole bunch of parts such as a larger MC21 radiator, MC21 17inch
Magtek wheels front and rear professionally powder coated gold, rebuilt
front forks from a SE model MC21 work nicely and are more adjustable
than the older MC18 forks. Steve polished the Tyga pipes himself to
match the rest of the bike. |
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While the engine
was out of the bike it was pulled apart and rebuilt along with matched
ports. The carbs were rebuilt and rejetted to perfectly match the new
Tyga Performance MC18 stainless steel pipes with carbon kevlar silencers
for full power. With more power comes the need for improved brakes,
so a nice set of discs were found, converted to full floaters with a
floating button kit that are squeezed by Brembo calipers with sport
pads and custom adapters using Earls steel braided brake lines all around.
Michelin Pilot H2 race tires fitted to the Magnesium wheels keep this
NSR firmly planted to the ground. |
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Cockpit view shows the custom made carbon fiber dash panel, Tyga screen and upper cowl stay. Lockhart-Phillips supplied the carbon fiber clip ons, preload quick adjusters, carbon mirrors, mesh see-through head light kit and carbon inlay for the brake reservoir cap. |
| Coerce rear sets from Japan were ordered and installed, new sprockets and a gold chain were picked up locally. Future plans will see suspension improvements and this showroom condition NSR will be let loose on the streets of California and used for occasional track day events. Steve really wants to thank Matt and Paul at Tyga Performance, Kinney Jones for his help with the photo studio shoot and of course his cool wife. |  |
Extra images
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From
this
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to
this
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and
finally this
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| 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 !! |