When you’re a toolmaker by trade, you’re not going to let the small matter of a V-twin crankshaft rebuild set you back (or anything else for that matter). Here’s how one man rescued an ailing example of a magical bike.
Taking a bike from poor-running and unloved to eager and immaculate in under seven months is no mean achievement. Tooling up and teaching yourself the art of two-stroke crankshaft rebuilding midway through the process is even more impressive. Yet 45-year-old toolmaker Paul Monger achieved all that and more in reviving his 1993 Honda NSR250 SE MC21 (Super Edition), buying the bike and completing the work for around £3500. So although prices of desirable two-strokes are undoubtedly on the up, you can still score one and get it properly sorted for decent money.
Starting in September 2016 when Paul bought the bike unseen from an NSR Free internet forum member in Yorkshire, to April 2017 when the V-twin stroker returned to the road, Paul suffered the usual highs and lows familiar to any restorer. However he emerged from the process not only with an immaculate MC21 SE but also with the skills, tooling and confidence to set himself up a sideline rebuilding crankshafts. More of which later.
“I’d lusted after an NSR250 since I saw a display one with clear fairing panels on the Padgett’s stand at Ally Pally, probably in the early 1990s,” says Paul. “I paid three grand for this one unseen which is always a bit of a risk. Actually it’s always a big risk. The previous owner had given up because he couldn’t get it to run right. I had massive doubts and thought I’d made a mistake but I wasn’t about to give up easily.”
In common with many of us, Paul operates on a strict one in/one out policy and had sold a Yamaha TZR250 3MA to fund his NSR acquisition. The MC21 arrived dressed in Rothmans colours Chinese bodywork but, pretty as it was, it certainly wasn’t running right.
This story is from the January 2018 edition of Practical Sportsbikes.
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This story is from the January 2018 edition of Practical Sportsbikes.
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