Update 1.30.2017: The seller has notified me that this sale is now final on this bike after receiving serious interest just a day after listing. Congratulations to buyer and seller! -dc Are you looking for an ’80s two-stroke to tear up the back roads in a cloud of blue smoke? Just move along: nothing to…
The MC21 was the third generation of Honda’s lithe NSR250R, their entry into the quarter-liter two-stroke class that had been hotly contested by the major Japanese manufacturers since the mid 1980s. Power was modest, at least in stock form, but handling was cutting-edge, and the bike was packed with the usual wealth of Honda tech:…
Built for 1987 and 1988, the NC24 version of Honda’s VFR400 was powered by a 399cc V4 with a lofty 14k redline, although it used a more conventional 180° crank instead of the later bike’s 360° “big bang” unit, which should give the bike more of an inline-four sound but with the added bonus…
Small-displacement, entry-level sportbikes are a tough sell here in the USA. With an emphasis on big bikes, no licensing limitations, and lots of cheap used machines available, there’s little incentive for new riders to pick up something like today’s Honda CBR250RR. Which explains why they were never sold here in the first place, although examples…
All of the quarter-liter two-stroke sport bikes of the late 80s and early 90s are pretty desirable, but Honda’s v-twin NSR250R is both one of the best-known and most popular. Power was a modest 45hp, but the NSR could be de-restricted for additional power safely, if not always easily, since that factory output was mandated…
Displacement creep means that although a 750cc motorcycle was considered big in the 1970s, it’s barely a middleweight now. And while there used to be a variety of sophisticated, small-displacement motorcycles, these days anything under 600cc’s is considered “entry-level” and probably has just one or two cylinders. Surprisingly for a quarter-liter machine, the Honda CBR250RR…
It’s a good time to be a two-stroke enthusiast here in the USA. Bikes like today’s Honda NSR250R that were long considered nearly unobtainable are being shipped over by enterprising individuals and companies, now that some of them are old enough to make that a viable option. The NSR250R featured a 90° liquid-cooled 249cc v-twin…
Today’s Yamaha TZR250 has a couple interesting things going for it. In addition to the unusual, reversed-cylinder configuration of this Japanese market 3MA, it’s also available in this interesting black/grey/red color scheme: almost all the 3MAs we’ve featured on this site have been white with red speed-block graphics. Earlier TZR250s from 1986-1988 used a conventional…