You can pick them up easily and relatively cheaply enough nowadays though (around 25 quid - quite a few modern 'peds use the same battery

I found that the ability to mount it where and in whatever orientation you like was very useful when I 'converetd' the 3MA. And because I did away with the 3MA's big under-engine battery and tool box combo unit the job saved almost 2kgs net. Thus making it very worthwhile for me. The NSR's battery box set-up is far less bulky though as I recall so your net weight saving is likely to be much less. I can definitely understand the convenience line of thinking though.
I'd offer to send you one to try, but the only good one I have is currently fitted to the daily commuter 3MA I'm afraid.