Well, after a bit of persuading by another NSR World forum member I thought some of you may be interested in my NX5 RS250.
I swore blind I would never start another project thread again as on another forum I had page upon page upon page of 'pretend' works spec GSXR750 SRAD that never saw the light the light of day in six out of the ten years I owned it! It was eventually broken up and sold to various Gixxer (UGGGGG!) officianadoes in the USofA.
Heres hoping this one may actually move under it's own power, so here goes...
I have always wanted an RS250 but could never afford one. I can't actually afford one now but what the heck!
I bought my RS in June 2011. It is 1999 spec bike with matching engine and frame numbers. It has a bit of history, mainly raced on the roads in Ireland and the Isle of Man. As far as I have been able to find out it looks like I am the third owner. Although I have been in touch with the previous two owners none were that interested in helping me find out any information, in fact the previous owner did not even have any set up info or new much about what the mileage or state of the engine was. Under normal circumstances I should have walked away, but I had been looking for an RS for a while with no result and I was desperate!
So, a deal was done and I bought the bike...






I thought it looked great, even though the bike is fitted with the later RSW bodywork. It could have done with a good clean though
The reality was it was a mess. I know that bikes raced on the road have a pretty hard time of it but this...
It does have some nice parts fitted to it. Samba exhausts, over the radiator airbox (with mashed radiator to suit) VHM heads, Battle quickshifter, BPS curve bender and missing calipers. More on this lot later...

I think it looks fine in RSW bodywork!

Hope it's up and running in time for the big Donington day in July!
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Andy.
NSR-WORLD.COM

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Show us the pictures Innes!
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If I have to take the carbs off once more...

StephenRC45 wrote:Show us the pictures Innes!

Patience, my friend... I'm trying to tell a 'gripping' story here!

I was hoping just to give the bike a quick strip down, clean up and rebuild but things did not quite work out like that.
So the bike was stripped down to the last nut and bolt.
The engine was placed in the corner of the garage. I did not really want to look inside...

You may have noticed the calipers are not fitted to the bike. The seller had stripped the calipers down to give them a clean up but did not have the time to rebuild them. I found the calipers in a box. This is what they looked like once I had cleaned them up.
I wish I'd taken a pic of these before I cleaned them up!


I do not know what has happened to these but they were very badly corroded.

I like taking things apart and making them look nice.

Rear suspension linkage with 'Banana link'. New spherical bearings fitted with titanium nuts and bolts.



Tachyon RC45 (I think) axle. I do not know the exact bike this was meant for but it does fit the RS hub.
I bought the red anodised nut, 'R' clip and large titanium nut on the opposite side form Spiral Spinner in Japan.




Finished swingarm. I actually prefer the cast look of the standard swingarm but this had so many chunks, cuts and marks on it that even after bead blasting it still looked a mess. So I removed all the casting marks and finished off with Scotchbrite.
Fitted new bearings, chain guides to the swingarm and fitted new piston and seals to the caliper. All nuts and bolts are titanium.

More to follow!

Cant wait,great job so far

Looks stunning Innes. Can't wait to see the finished product. We be good to find some more history as someone's spent some money on it at some point in time.
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If I have to take the carbs off once more...

This is one good story telling
..cant wait for next page....keep on telling Sennidott

Andy wrote:I think it looks fine in RSW bodywork!

Hope it's up and running in time for the big Donington day in July!

Also the Festival 1000 bikes at Mallory, Innes, hope they dont clash, the nx5's gonna look the dogs danglies, keep them piccies coming.
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Proud Father of , 05 ktm 400exc supermoto 2018 honda crf rx supermoto

Thankyou for the replies and yes, it would be good to find out a bit more of the history of the bike.
But, enough of that sentimental old clap trap here are some more pics! Huzzah!!!

*Please note: I have put a few links to some of the people who have helped me with this project. If any of the mods feel this may not be suitable or cause offence please feel free to edit the post.

More chassis stuff:
The frame was actually in pretty good shape, with no real damaged, except that the chain has dug into the lower engine mount at some point. The frame was bead blasted and the main spars done with Scotchbrite. The cast parts I left as standard.
The forks were another story. The fork bottoms and fork legs had plenty of stone chips and other marks. For some reason K-Tech were not too keen to do any work on the forks so I sent them Gareth at Reactive Suspension.
http://www.reactivesuspension.com/index.php
On stripping the forks Gareth found someone had been at one of the cartridges and had made a bit of a mess and apparently one bush was missing! The forks were treated to a service and set up for my weight etc, re-anodising of the fork legs, fork bottoms powder coated, stantions coated with titanium nitride and rebound adjusters, prelaod adjusters and fork top nuts replaced. In my opinion, Gareth has made a fantatic job of refurbishing the forks. The colour of the foks legs is not quite what I wanted but it looks okay to me.
Some pics of the forks and frame later.


Standard NX5 Showa shok, freshly serviced and set up for my weight by K-Tech. It's missing the knob for the compression adjuster. I probably end up making one as trying to find a genuine replacement part, short of buying a complete shock from another Honda (SP1 or SP2), is proving difficult.
The bike came with a WP shock fitted and like the rest of the bike was a bit rough. I have a thing about matching front and rear suspension. It was easier to get a Showa shock than a set of WP forks.

Some titanium parts...

Ti swingarm spindle. I also had a aluminium castle nut made to match.


Ti front spindle with 7075 alloy spacer and nut , swingarm spindle, castle nut, caliper bolts and front sprocket bolt.


End of the front wheel spindle showing alloy nut and groove for the 'R' clip. The spindle is a copy of the works NSR spindle, well as close as I could get looking at the pictures I have.

If anyone is interested in getting one off titanium or alloy parts made and if NSR World cannot help, you need to talk to this guy.
http://www.ti64.co.uk/

Spare wheels refurbished by http://tpcs-magnesium-refurbs.co.uk/
I much prefer the Honda wheels to the Marvics that came with the bike.


Next, I start rebuilding the chassis...

Aaaaaaand here is the start of the rebuild.



Chassis with new headstock bearings fitted. I also replaced the broken lock stops in the bottom yoke. The subframe is a non standard part. It has been modified to suit the RSW seat unit. Bora RS250 radiator fitted. As I found out later it does not fit to well...


A-kit copy throttle, Brembo 19 x 18 radial master cylinder with flip up lever and remote span adjuster.


Lightech clutch perch with flip up lever, Brembo span adjuster, M-Toby steering damper pretending to be a Showa (The shame! ). A-kit rev counter and BPS shift light. The second kill switch is an on-off switch for the quick shifter.
I made a new foam surround to suit the new shift light. I bought a bit of foam from my local upholsterer. The type of foam used, which is a very, very close match to the standard Honda foam is called Ethafoam.


Battle Factory rearsets, modified to take an RS125 gear lever to suit the Battle Factory quick shifter.
The carbon heel guard is a Magical Racing part for a 04-07 CBR1000.


Titanium swingarm pinch bolt from Ti-64. Standard rear disc. I made a carbon bracket/support to replace the 'bent' piece of wire mascarading as a rear brake line support. It's not quite right yet.



New Sunstar 296mm diameter discs with Brembo billet monobloc calipers. Its either the wrong calipers for the discs or the wrong discs for the calipers... Further changes have been made to the front brakes.
Also fitted, the copy works spindle set up.

Tune in next time for anoter thrilling installment...

Just one word...................FANTASTIC !
What have you done to the sprocket carrier.............Have you have the conical area chrome plated ?

Wow. Mate that is looking amazing. Definitely worth it so far. Can't wait to read about your engine adventures!!!

The clock foam looks factory Innes, good job. The whole bike looks stunning though.
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If I have to take the carbs off once more...

Hi Innes, loving your build thread. The bike is coming together very nicely.
Where did you get your Ti wheel spindle machined?
Those forks look superb, I have used Gareth at Reactive several times, the tubes and slider treatments are exactly what I going to get on the forks of my 'RSW Aoyama' NXA.
Keep the pics coming mate!
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Rich
MC21 Track Bike / RS250 NF5 'Spencer', NX5 'Cadalora' & NXA 'Aoyama' / RS500 / Two Brothers Racing RC30

This is 5 star porn bike. .. a very well done up...