Shortly (within the next few months) I will be upgrading from my 1992 CBR250RR. It has been a fantastic first bike but it is time to move on. I had previously had my heart set on a 600 inline 4, but after riding a few I'm not so sure now. I like the fact that I can use all the power of my bike on the road without breaking the speed of sound. I also like having a small, light bike. So now I'm looking at two stroke 250's. The two obvious choices in my mind are the NSR250, and the RGV250. I've had a ride on my friends RGV250 and was blown away by the power of such a small bike. So basically I am trying to figure out if I should get an RGV250 or NSR250? And why one over the other? (If that is even the case).

Two strokes have always been something of a mystery to me, so buying one, tearing it to pieces and putting it back together seems like a good way to learn (with the supervision of someone who actually knows what their doing).

Oh yeah, and hi my name is Tom, and I'm from New Zealand

Hey Tom, welcome to the forums.
Tough choice you have there. both are good bikes, and have theirs niggles and strengths.
Do what I didn't do and research and research. Ask on here and find an RGV forums, find out as much as you can. Then maybe work out a pro and con list for each bike.

If you wanna see what not to do, come over and check out my MC16.5. It's got parts from later model NSR's on it.

Otherwise, good luck and find a bike that you want, not what your mates reckon you want.
Blair

The Honda NSR250 MC21 is the one to go for mate.

Would everyone on here agree that genuine Honda spares are more readily available and easier to get than Suzuki parts?

Econohonda in Te Aroha are a good source of new and used spares by the way.

Tyga Performance in Thailand do a massive amount of tuning parts and have good Honda spares prices.

Where abouts in NZ are you?
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After years of moaning about immigrants now i am one...

Hi guys good to see some New Zealanders on here. I'm living in Christchurch. I went to my local Suzuki dealer and just about had a heart attack when they quoted around $700 for a set of pistons and rings for the RGV! But looks like buying online is the way to go.

Can I have both? My plan was to get either an RGV or NSR, then spend a few grand on parts, with the hope to get around 60HP. Would it be fair to say that the NSR is more reliable than the RGV? Seems the RGVs like to drop power valves... nasty.

Welcome mate

RGV PVs need regular love and attention otherwise their centre pin gets misbehaves and drops onto the cylinder. The NSR equivalent is blowing the PGM as the RC valve refuses to move because it gets clogged up with unburnt oil and residue.

Both bikes are good, both will get you 60hp without a problem, the most important thing would be to get the suspension setup properly since they are almost 20yo, and then slowly start chasing the hp

You guys are making this too hard, maybe I will just go with the one I like the look of the most. I will definitely leave the bike stock in the engine department for the first little while so I can get used to it.

BTW what's the advantage of becoming a Titanium or Carbon member?

nsrdownunder wrote:Hi Mate
It depends what you want? The nsr`s handle great they have a fantastic frame the rgv`s don`t like to turn as well there frames are not as good.
The rgv`s have a bit more power out of corners and in top end.
I think the nsr`s look much better.
So it depends on what u want handling or power?

That is comparing a full power RGV to a restricted NSR. Tables are reversed when you derestrict the NSR (MC16 / 18 / 21).

At the end of the day, the differences are small compared to say the difference between a 250 stroker and a CBR/GSXR/R1 etc. So if your purposely buying a 250 for the different ride compared to larger 4T, then an RGV or NSR (or KR1S etc) would suffice. Personal taste in the looks dept is also important. If your a major schwantz fan, then it would likely be a Pepsi or Luckies RGV.

Carbon / Titanium membership gives you access to several more sections of the site, plus discounts from several parts suppliers etc.
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Rich
MC21 Track Bike / RS250 NF5 'Spencer', NX5 'Cadalora' & NXA 'Aoyama' / RS500 / Two Brothers Racing RC30

RichG wrote:

That is comparing a full power RGV to a restricted NSR. Tables are reversed when you derestrict the NSR (MC16 / 18 / 21)

Don`t think that`s right 60hp out of a nsr250 mc16 is not easy.Yes you will get 60hp out of a mc18-mc21-mc28 with deristriction fairly easy and same with a rgv.
Ask 2stroke racers her in australia (not many around now)they tend to all say the same, Corners nsr, Straights Rgv`s. There is a few racers on this site from england they could tell a bit more as the 2strokers here are getting rare.

Yep, you are right about the 16.

But I've owned a full power RGV and MC21 and the NSR has more mid range grunt (torque) and wider top end power band.

The RGV's your referring to are probably highly tuned race bikes, there is an RGV racing in Derby Phoenix Club in the UK which is producing well in excess of 70 BHP.

But I can't ever imagine Major Tom is going to get a road bike tuned to that level, be it NSR or RGV
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Rich
MC21 Track Bike / RS250 NF5 'Spencer', NX5 'Cadalora' & NXA 'Aoyama' / RS500 / Two Brothers Racing RC30

An NSR tuned to the equivalent level as an RGV will kick its ass! Simple. The engine is superior in every form, and the chassis is better than the VJ21 and VJ22. The VJ23 has a very good chassis by all accounts... but if you see one with no bodywork you will understand why... it looks shockingly similar to an NSR!

The MC16 is an anomally, and its perfomance should be compared to that of a KR250, RG250 or TZR250 2MA, all of which it whitewashes in every department!
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Andy.
NSR-WORLD.COM

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definatly nsr,i owned an rgv and my first nsr sp(which i still have) at the same time and found the nsr better in everyway,when derestricted with hrc loom/cdi and dogfight exhausts made 62 bhp,my rgv would have been no where near that
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ive seen more tarts than mr kipling

In standard/delimited form, while the NSR is still undeniably a better package in every aspect, there's not a huge amount to choose from between the NSR, RGV, RS, KR1S*, or TZR for the average user. As we've shown before with the dyno shootout, they all produce close to 60hp (some a couple over, some a couple under) at around 11,300rpm. Honda certainly hit the sweet spot engineering-wise with a 54mm (ish) bore 250 V-twin 2-stroke at the time!

It comes down to what you want. They are all going to feel fast, light, and agile compared to a CBR250RR (they are, after all proddy race bikes in disguise, something the CBR can never be accused of!) so it comes down really to who your 250/500 heros were, your faith in a particular manufacturer to deliver the best product/build quality at the time, which one you like the look of most, and which you feel will be easiest to get parts for/has the most support.

There were countless more RGV's built and sold than NSR's, purely down to the fact that unlike the NSR, it was an official model outside Japan and therefore thousands exist in foreign markets all over the world. The RGV also shares a number of parts with the Aprilia RS250 - some of the RS engine parts can be considered as an upgrade to RGV parts. (The NSR was the best selling 250 in Japan for several years running though!) This means that there's likely to be a lot more spares and spare bikes floating about, although you will still more than likely need to source a great number of parts from abroad.

If your ultimate aim is performance, the Honda wins hands down though. Both the motor and chassis have GP heritage, and consequently both are easy to tune. My next choice would always be a 3XV, but it's considerably harder to screw the performance out of for Joe Bloggs withouth the Sugo race kit, plus unless you have an SP** (or extremely rare SPR) you are fighting a losing battle from the start, and aftermarket support is extremely limited.

* Kawasaki were the only manufacturer not to follow Honda's lead and switch to a V-twin.
** Unlike the TZR, all NSR variations of each model are equally "tuneable". You can use an "R", an "SE", or an "SP" as your base and see exactly the same results once tuned. All the porting is the same, all the carbs are the same, all the ECUs are the same, etc., etc., etc.
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Andy.
NSR-WORLD.COM

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Andy...are you going soft??

A very good argument I think...for a change , the available spares is a very worthwhile consideration, although these days with the internet its not really a problem.

Objective when objectivity calls!

The NSR is still a far better machine, but you can't just say "it's miles better than an RGV" without quantifying why when the question has come from someone with little or no experience of 2-strokes. For sure, I would like to see him buy an NSR, but it may not be a practical choice in his situation/location.

If however he buys an RGV and later rides an NSR, he may too come to the same conclusion as many of us who have made the same mistake in the past!
_________________
Andy.
NSR-WORLD.COM

Please keep all responses to Forum posts on the Forum so that others may benefit.

Please DO NOT PM me for technical advice. My time is precious, and you will probably receive a faster response on the Forum anyway.

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