So a few will know ive wanted a 2 stroke for quite a while but i have never really been able to justify the price nice ones go for. I allways stalk ebay to see what sort of prices 250 strokers sell at and about 2 months ago i came across an MC16 project that had been stripped down and sorted into boxes with a low start bid.

After contacting the seller and finding out all of the bodywork was original, complete and fairly undamged and the bike had been stood for 15 years being transfered between 4 mates who owned it pretty much from new i decided on a price and to have a bid on it, luckily the end time was at an awkward time for most at about 3 in the afternoon but in the end i won it for a pretty good price.

Its been sat in my friends shed on a farm for the last 2 months untouched but now that i have the CBR and NC30 pretty much where i want them and a big old lock up to work on the bikes i have made a start on it. It wont be a nut and bolt resto, just a light tidy up and replacement of all consumables to have a half decent looking bike that im not afraid of riding on the odd trackday and sunny days.

Anyway on to the photo's this is how the bike looked before being stripped down by the guy i bought it off.


It was stripped down a bit more than this when i bought it si i have refitted the subframe, undertray, loom and clock mount.


The NSR is tiny compared to my NC30, will be interesting to ride im sure.


Lovely looking little engine, nice and easy to carry around too.


One of the powervalves was sticking so i removed that for a good clean and its lovely and free now.


The bike has 35000km on the clock which is fairly high and im not sure if it had been rebuilt in the past, i whipped the carbs off to have a look at the crank and bearings which thankfully look fine with no rust and the engine spins over very easily, but i thought it would be best to whip the barrels off to have a look at the pistons.


Top of the piston looks pretty good if you ask me.


Quite alot of blow by on the rings and a very slight mark on the piston.




All in all the bottom cylinder doesnt look too bad, i think it will get some new rings but i will probably keep it on those pistons, does anyone think its best to change the pistons or will they be fine as they are?

I also cleaned the clocks up and refitted them.


Thats all ive done so far, for now its just a case of building the bike back up ready for the engine to go back in when ive given the top end a quick going over. Anyone else owned/ridden ones of these? Ive only ever seen 2 other NSR's but never an MC16 and ive only ridden one 2 stroke in my life so i really cant wait to get it finished!

cracking bikes good purchase mate

I do like the 16's. I remember reading a head to head with a 2MA TZR in Bike magazine back in 87(?) and liking them ever since. I'm still tempted to get one from Japan, as minters are still dirt cheap over there (unlike most of the later NSR's).

Apparently they respond very well to a bit of tuning too...

Thanks guys, I hope it lives up to expectations and will be interesting to compare it to my NC30.

I've never actually read any road tests done on the NSR, I bought an issue of bike magazine from '88 testing the RGV, KR1 and TZR but for some reason they missed out the NSR.

I've read a little about tuning them too, apparently as stock thy make roughly 45 bhp or so but with MC18 carbs, barrels, heads and chambers they will make 60 quite easily so that's something to think about in future if I find myself wanting more power.

I also found out that an NC30 front end goes straight in and NC29 rear wheels fit fairly easy to give a 17' rear. Hopefully I can resist going too mad with it only doing sensible bits and bobs to make it easier to get consumables for, but you watch it will probably end up like my VFR with a never ending amount of money spent fiddling with things and buying trick bits :p

I've got the mag somewhere at my parents house, when I move house next month I'll try and scan it. There was also a MC16 vs FZR400 article in PB around the same time, I'll try to find that too.

Thats one hell of derestriction process i never knew the MC16 was so heavily restricted, the 21 is a lot easier with just a pair of wire snips and electrical tape needed

Saw that for sale on Ebay and thought it was a good buy, well done.
Great reliable motors from what I understand.

Tony, I dont think they were restricted as such as they have the speed light as standard. It's just that Honda were a bit conservative with the carbs and the porting.

Very nice. Looks like a good project to start from. What's the inside of the tank like? How are the carbs, and what's the crank rubbers looking like?

Cheers Jim that would be cool if you could do that for me, be interesting to read how it compares to a big old 600.

Tony I think that it's just the earlier design that holds the power back, there was no form of actual restriction in these I think it was probably one of the most advanced 250's of it's day when your comparing it to the likes of the early RG's, TZR's etc. The F3 kit made the bike good for 72 PS unless I'm mistaken.

You weren't tempted to have a bid too when you saw it Jim? I'm hoping it's not going to be too much nightmare to get running.

The carbs are mint tbh, they where stripped right down ultrasonic cleaned and reset to factory settings with new seals. The tank has some minor surface rust inside which I still haven't got round to sorting, can't see the crank seals but the bearings look ok, I will do a leak down test if I have any problems when starting it. The gearbox was stripped and 3 selector forks where replaced too, so hopefully with some new rings it will be good for a few miles.