Regarding riding them, the difference I found was night and day. I owned a 92 NF5 and rode it fairly regularly. I was lucky enough to have a go on Steve A’lee’s F3 MC21 at Llandow and did a back to back session on it and my NF5. His bike is almost certainly the fastest NSR250 out there but still ‘felt’ slow compared to the NF5. The NF5 is raw, hard, sharp. The NSR softer, more forgiving, not so alive. That said if you timed me I was probably quicker on the NSR. It’s more relaxing so you probably feel able to push for longer.

The other benefit of owning an NF5 is they are a joy to work on. Everything is designed to come apart easily. Changing jets is a doddle.

Probably the biggest factor is cost. When I got mine a decent NF5 with spares could be had for £1800. About the same price as a well sorted NSR250. Now it’s a different story. NF5s are a collectors piece and so cost big bucks. Much much more than a tidy track NSR.