Indeed Andy, your crank is probably the biggest shocker of the lot and you'd have been perfectly justified in believing the claims of the importer.
But I do think Rich's bike stands a very good chance of being exactly what it claims to be and wheather it is or not the point still stands it's a very tidy Rothmans SP.
But it'd be very surprising if any 17 y/o bike had remained up on two wheels for it's entire life and anyone who's seen how they rack and stack the bikes in Japan either for export or just storage will not be surprised to see many don't make it here scratch free, even if thats how they leave their final owner in Japan.
After all every £4k+ "minter" you see in a dealer smells of paint!

The thing is, if today you go and buy what looks to be an early 90's NSR 250, freshly imported from Japan with something like 2000 miles on the clock there are several possibilities;

1; it's exactly what it looks to be and hasn't run for 10-15 years.
2; it's a tidy bike with a few '000 ks wound off the clock.
3; it's a box of bits.
or a combination of the above.

But there's one thing you can be sure it's not, it's not a 2000 mile old mint NSR that's been started up and run a good amount in recent months.
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