Looking very 90’s in Honda’s traditional red, white, and blue (hey, wait a minute..) paint scheme, this Honda NSR250R SP will hopefully mollify the two-stroke fans who didn’t like the older NSR we posted up earlier this week.
The MC28 was introduced in 1993 and was up about 10lbs over the previous MC21. It was an obvious evolution of that bike, but the Pro-Arm single-sided swingarm seen on Honda’s bikes of this era makes a bold styling statement, while the dry clutch adds a bit of rattle to go with the snarling and popping from the dinky little exhaust cans.
The little 90° 249cc two stroke v-twin made about 45hp stock but, suitably de-restricted, it could make significantly more and with a dry weight of just a shade over 300lbs, these are a far-cry from the small-displacement “sportbikes” many riders learned on. Designed to ape the look and feel of Honda’s 250GP bikes, these are very serious motorcycles that provide thrills on par with much larger motorcycles, while stressing brains over brawn.
At the other end of the spectrum from the guys who reprint the entire specifications-sheet for the bike they’re trying to sell are folks like this, who keep it very, very brief.
From the original eBay listing: 1995 Honda NSR250R SP for Sale
Here is an investment opportunity not to be missed. Up for sale is a 1995 Honda NSR250 SP(R3S) one of only 900 produced worldwide. Don’t miss this opportunity to own one of the most desirable two strokes on the planet.
The bike is listed as being in Cape Town, South Africa at the moment, but the photos show signs on the walls that are clearly in Japanese. So I assume those were taken before the bike shipped? Is it actually in Cape Town? 
While meaningless spec sheets are definitely TMI, a bit of history for this particular machine is pretty key: you can clearly see the dash photo of Honda’s very slick PGM-IV “ignition card” that replaces a key on these bikes. The card contains a set of tuning parameters for the engine and should theoretically allow racers to tune their bikes for different tracks by simply swapping in new cards. But this also has the downside of making PGM-equipped bikes somewhat difficult to de-restrict, if it hasn’t been done already…
Regardless, wherever you plan to import this, do your homework if you plan to register it for road use.
-tad
Every garage in America would have one if they’d been imported.
is this even de-restricted?
a well ridden and properly tuned 250 will smoke most 600cc bikes in the canyons…
i had a kawasaki kr1 that was intense and handled with 110 tires on both ends…
this honda is a jewel that will shine with a daring rider…
Ouch 33 thousand k’s on the clock is bottom end rebuild time for this bike. Good luck finding a crank nla new from honda.
To obtain a crank is not that difficult. I have two new SP cranks(still in original packaging) and complete engine.
Whoever purchases the 28-SP from me will be assured of complete spares backup.
At present she is running super sweet and far from requiring any engine rebuild.
Consider me “mollified”, Tad!
A fairly modern 600 would absolutely destroy this bike (especially the restricted variety) if one were so inclined to take off the rose-colored glasses, if just for a moment to come back down to reality. As an owner of several 250cc 2 strokes including 3 MKII Aprilia RS250’s, nostalgia is one thing, but comparing this as an equal to any 600 built in the last decade is just rubbish.
You speak the truth Shane. It seems to be the memories of beating the old guard of 4-stroke 600’s that has carried forward into the memories of those that love the 2-stroke 250’s into the modern era with no regard for the improvements in technology. That being said, if taken for what they are its a pretty cool weekend bike.
Yes the new 600’s are very effective sporting tools on the race track. A derestricted TZR, NSR, RGV, KR1 will be passed on the next straight. The beauty is that a good rider can make up distance on the brakes. The light weight is what brings so much riding pleasure. That said, a TZ or RS 250 is sporting close to 90 reliable horsepower
in a 250lb package. That kind of power to weight ratio is not so far off a modern 600 and is very rewarding to ride. These grey market bikes are more about the total experience. The sound, the power delivery, the flickability and the precision required to get the best from them is the attraction.
relisted at the same price… they say insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result… id tend to agree