Ok - I finally found myself a NSR and I’m very happy with it!
I think that it needs the fork oil replaced. How much should I use? A friend of mine has three quarters of a bottle of Repsol fork oil lying around (I guess that’s about 750ml?), I’m wondering if that’d be enough?
[quote=“trapjaw”]Ok - I finally found myself a NSR and I’m very happy with it!
I think that it needs the fork oil replaced. How much should I use? A friend of mine has three quarters of a bottle of Repsol fork oil lying around (I guess that’s about 750ml?), I’m wondering if that’d be enough?[/quote]
More than enough. You only need about 250cc per leg. What weight is the oil? I found typical SAE5 or 10 fork oil a bit light, and usually cut that 50/50 with ATF for better damping. If you have SAE15 just use that straight.
Congrats on your purchase btw, and obligatory TTIWWOP.
Thanks redwagon. Man, people on this forum are helpful, it’s great 
Will get some pics up when I have some!
Hey trapjaw
I have several NSR 125/150 owner and service manuals. If you’re going to be doing some of your own work on your bike and would like them, send me a PM and I can email them to you. None of them are for the exact same model made in Taiwan, but they may come in handy as a starting point, if nothing else.
Thanks Bokonon, I’ll PM you my email address.
One more question for the NSR chaps:
What tyres would you guys recommend? Something sticky but not necessarily track-sticky - I’d need something that’d at least last a bit. So a compromise of sorts - fair wearing but also sticky and not too heavy on the wallet. Right now the bike has cheap-ass unknown brand Taiwanese tyres on it and the bike feels a bit unsafe when cranked over in turns. (I’m sure this will also improve when I change the fork oil, but I can feel the tyres slipping around a bit when leaned over so I know the handling could definitely be improved with better tyres)
[quote=“trapjaw”]Thanks Bokonon, I’ll PM you my email address.
One more question for the NSR chaps:
What tyres would you guys recommend? Something sticky but not necessarily track-sticky - I’d need something that’d at least last a bit. So a compromise of sorts - fair wearing but also sticky and not too heavy on the wallet. Right now the bike has cheap-ass unknown brand Taiwanese tyres on it and the bike feels a bit unsafe when cranked over in turns. (I’m sure this will also improve when I change the fork oil, but I can feel the tyres slipping around a bit when leaned over so I know the handling could definitely be improved with better tyres)[/quote]
I think the Bridgestone BT-090 Battlax would be the best for you right now. They can be a little bit slick in the rain, but actually hold up, and for the street they will be the best bet for your stock NSR. It sucks because you probably still have the stock 18’ rear wheel. This wheel is such a weird size and is very limited to tire choices. These Bridgestones are very common here in Taiwan, you should have no problem finding them.
thanks rk, yes i do have the standard wheels so I’ll get some BT-090 Battlax tyres.
Now, I’m wondering about my NSR’s rear end though, if it’s just the tyres or maybe the suspension is shot, or something else. Yesterday I took the bike down to Kenting, had a good run on the way down. But while I was down there in Kenting doing some riding around the southern tip of Taiwan, where there are some very sweet curves in the roads, I was definitely not handling the curves too well, due to the back end constantly feeling like it was drifting out and slipping out from under me as soon as I started pushing the lean angles (and I’m really not a great or fast rider much but I like leaning through the curves).
Then on the way back I had a very alarming experience when the rear wheel’s axle bolt came loose and the whole back end almost locked and the bike started snaking all over the road. Needless to say I was pretty shaken, and I had to ride very slowly to Pingtung where I found a mechanic who tightened it up, but I took it really easy all the way back as my confidence had been shattered.
So, what could’ve caused the bolt to come loose like that, and how can make SURE it doesn’t happen again?
Very simply, your rear spindle was loose to begin with because the last person to adjust the chain didn’t tighten it properly.
You may also have a worn and / or old rear tire. Note that tires harden with age and exposure to both UV and ozone, and they lose traction as they harden. Worse, the predictability with which they lose traction also changes, so you get less warning before they break loose, and they give up the tendency to regain traction after a short slide.
The NSR chassis is set up to put most of the weight on the front wheel. This is good for handling but it put little load on the rear tire, meaning it has less potential traction. You really need to put as a good a rear tire on the bike as you can find.
Have you checked the rear shock for signs of leakage? The NSR rear shock is rubbish brand new, and yours is probably as old as the bike…
Thanks redwagon.
My rear tyre does not look worn but I think it’s a cheap-ass piece of junk really and am gonna stick some Bridgestones on there.
I reckon the rear shock is pretty worn out. It creaks a lot and just feels “sloppy”. Are there decent aftermarket rear shocks available for the NSR? The rear wheel slipping and wandering is really not very confidence-inspiring at all!
I’m also wondering if it could be anything to do with the wheel bearings? The rear end just does not feel right at the moment. Well, I’m gonna take it in to a good mechanic tomorrow and see what he has to say…
thanks guys.
Rear shock should not creak even when totally worn out. Put the bike on the center stand and try the following.
Wedge the bike somehow or have a friend grab it. Grab the rear end of the swinging arm and try to rock it from side to side. Movement there is the swingarm bushings. Replace those plus the sleeves inside them.
Grab the top and bottom of the rear wheel and try to rock them at 90* sideways to the bike. Any movement there is bad wheel bearings. Replace.
You may also want to have your mechanic remove the bottom mounting bolt for the rear shock. They are pretty small in diameter and get bent easily if the suspension is bottomed out, and that could cause some squeaking. Replace with correct high-tensile bolt in 10.8 or 12.8 grade. Do not fit an average made-from-cottage-cheese 8.8 grade bolt. A good bolt will have the grade marked on the head, a cheesy one will not.
I cannot recommend you any shocks as I haven’t looked into availability for many years. Hopefully one of the f.com track squad will step in here.
For a rear shock, check out RPM. They are local to Taiwan and make a great aftermarket rear shock for the NSR. They have a couple of different styles you can buy. I paid around $5,500nt for mine over a year ago. It made my rear end so much more stable. It is fully adjustable (damper and height.) I have heard that some RPM products vary in reliability. You can get a great shock that will last you years, or one that will start leaking after 6 months. I have not encountered this problem, but I am sure it exists. Good luck!!
Thanks guys. I’ve actually found a great NSR mechanic down here in Kaohsiung. He knows exactly what he’s talking about, and has a bunch of heavily modded NSRs in his store, as well as a NSR50 and a beast of a NSR250. He had a look at my rear wheel and saw that the swingarm cap (cover that goes at the end of the swingarm, dunno what else to call it) had been dented and bent, which had thrown the wheel alignment out. This, he said, probably happened when I hit a bump while the axle bolt was loose. So, he’s gonna replace that.
I asked about the rear shock, he showed me one that he was fitting to someone else’s NSR. It’s fully adjustable with a lot of different settings, he said it was 7000.
He also suggested that I do a 17 inch rear conversion for better tyre choice and better stability, and told me that he can get a 17 inch wheel and fit it for 3000nt which sounds like a good price, so I think I’ll have that done.
Thanks again for all your helpful comments guys!
Oh, non-NSR side note, he also has the most insanely-modded Kymco Quannon. It looks like a full on MOTOGP bike, it’s mad. He said one of the Taiwanese bike magazines was coming to do a story on that particular bike this week sometime, so if you see a madly-modded Quannon in a bike mag anytime soon, it’s his work.
That seems way too cheap for this mod, make sure you know what you are buying. Also there are two different choices for wheels. You can go with the 2.5’ or the 3.0’ rear wheel. Go with the 3.0’, that will be your best choice for tires and stablility. Remember when you get this done, you will have to have the wheel modded to fit a disk and sprocket. All said and done with a new tire and paint for the wheel (I did most of the labor myself) is still cost me $13,000nt. So just make sure you know how much everything is going to cost ya.
[quote=“trapjaw”]
He also suggested that I do a 17 inch rear conversion for better tyre choice and better stability, and told me that he can get a 17 inch wheel and fit it for 3000nt which sounds like a good price, so I think I’ll have that done. [/quote]
Find out which wheel that is. Shops are fitting various rims to the NSR and as rk mentions, that can take a lot of machining work and fabrication of spacers to pull off. If he has a 17" that swaps straight in it would be interesting to know which one it is, and how wide.
The big advantage with going to a 17" rim is the better choice of tires you can run. However, there aren’t a lot of good tires that come in sizes narrow enough to fit (say) an old FZR150 wheel. It’s very bad practice to squeeze wide tires onto narrow rims. You usually end up with very little improvement in traction and a big loss in stability. Even with a 3.0" rim do not go larger than a 130/70-17 tire.
Hmmm maybe I misheard him when I thought he said “3000”, so I’ll check about that. He mentioned it when I was asking him about tyre choices. He said it’s tough and more expensive to find good tyres to fit the 18 inch wheel, and thus it’d save money in the long run to get tyres for the 17 inch. I presume it’s the 3.0 inch rim coz he said it would be wider.
I don’t think I’d go wider than a 130. I’ll find out more about it. I think I’m definitely gonna at least get the aftermarket shock fitted though.
[quote=“trapjaw”]Hmmm maybe I misheard him when I thought he said “3000”, so I’ll check about that. He mentioned it when I was asking him about tyre choices. He said it’s tough and more expensive to find good tyres to fit the 18 inch wheel, and thus it’d save money in the long run to get tyres for the 17 inch. I presume it’s the 3.0 inch rim because he said it would be wider.
I don’t think I’d go wider than a 130. I’ll find out more about it. I think I’m definitely gonna at least get the aftermarket shock fitted though.[/quote]
Well the stock NSR wheel is only a 2.0’ wide, so no matter what you would be getting a wider wheel. Don’t get the stock FZR wheel. Ijust checked my NSR and I was wrong, actually I am using the 3.5’ wide and a 17’. My tires are 120/70/17. I am told this is the best setup for the NSR. It has done wonders for my bike on the track.
Not to put words into rk’s mouth, but the narrow 120/70-17 radial is most likely a front tire flipped around and mounted on the rear. This is common practice on bikes with small rims, but it might make it kind of tricky in the rain (as rk said). I only mention this as I’m not sure if you’re going to be using this for commuting. This may be less of a concern in Kaohsiung than in the north, especially right now.
mc.bridgestone.co.jp/en/products … bt090.html
It does say you can use a 140/70R17 rear with a 3.5" wheel, but if the other guys say don’t go any wider than 130, they’re right 
[quote=“Bokonon”]
mc.bridgestone.co.jp/en/products … bt090.html
It does say you can use a 140/70R17 rear with a 3.5" wheel, but if the other guys say don’t go any wider than 130, they’re right [/quote]
Just because you can mount the tire on the rim doesn’t mean it will clear the chain or the swingarm. 
And, agree that the 120/70-17 tires are quite likely front fitment items as you say. Care has to be taken when doing this as the profiles may not be really suitable for rear duty, though tread design and rotation may be less of an issue than the manufacturers would have you believe.
That’s why I figured you NSR guys knew more about it than I did. On my CBR150, there’s no way you could put radials on it w/o spending a whole pile of money…
[quote=“redwagon”]
And, agree that the 120/70-17 tires are quite likely front fitment items as you say.[/quote]
This is true!