Hey guys, this is for any kind souls who can read Chinese, know NSRs in and out, and have some time to kill.
I’m pretty keen to get a NSR 150 as a fun bike (I have a scooter for the daily commute). I’ve owned a few 2 strokes before, actually my last bike back home was a TZR250 'stroker, which is probably the coolest bike I’ve owned (much preferred it to the CBR600 I had before it), so I’m pretty familiar with 2 stroke sports bikes - hence wanting a NSR.
Anyway… Down here in Kaohsiung none of the 2nd hand places I’ve been to have NSRs, so I’ve been looking online.
Here are some bikes that I’ve found in my price range (25k - 35k)
Maybe you guys could help me pick one, if any of you are feeling generous and have time to kill (I’ll pay the favour forward), coz I can’t read Chinese (and Babelfish translation just translates it into gibberish) and also am not too sure which upgrades to a NSR are useful and which are not. Upgraded suspension and brakes would be good, sounds like a bigger carb is also good for performance. Anyway, here are a few bikes, it’d be awesome if anyone could narrow down the selection for me
I doubt anyone can tell by looking at pictures which bike to recommend. I would suggest asking someone down there who knows something about bikes to help inspect one for you. Perhaps Redwagon can suggest someone down south for you to check out?
thats alot of info to look thru… but I’m always glad to help get more people running NSRs Pound for pound performance wise, they cant really be beat That is, if you’re willing to put up with the nightmares you’ll eventually have in trying to maintain it. What you really need to do is find someone who specializes in NSRs in your area, or better yet a team. I’ve heard theres relatively more NSRs down there in gaoxiong. Generally speaking, the more upgrades the better. Although some people do throw stuff on there thats not really prime(and sometimes done wrong), its still likely that its better than the stock crap the NSRs come with. Key things to look for are brakes, suspension, and rear rim. These are some of the most costly and effective upgrades. You also of course want an after market pipe, carbs are good but they can go bad or not match the bike. The most important thing is the engine, which a skilled mechanic should be able to tell instantly by listening to. You can also do a compression check to test it’s health. If you don’t want to get ripped off or buy a lemon you really need to find someone in your area to help you go and check the bikes out. If you narrow your choices down I can give you more details on the upgrades and history of the bikes you’re looking at.
I have located a NSR mechanic down here who has a bunch of race-ready NSRs at his place, along with some RS125s and a stunning NSR250 MC21 (drooooool). He assures me that he can get parts and work on a NSR should i get one.
However, he didn’t really have any useful suggestions as to where I could find one to buy. Just told me to look online.
Obviously the problem with that is, I can’t read Chinese so I don’t know what any of the comments on those pages say. And I can’t really communicate with the sellers…
Sorry Trapjaw but I can’t really help you from Taichung. Half the time the ads on Ruten are wildly inaccurate, they borrow photos of other bikes than the one they are selling, and so on.
Time your time and go see all the bikes. Remember the saying: Sin in haste, repent at leisure. Don’t be in too much to buy.
[quote=“redwagon”]Sorry Trapjaw but I can’t really help you from Taichung. Half the time the ads on Ruten are wildly inaccurate, they borrow photos of other bikes than the one they are selling, and so on.
Time your time and go see all the bikes. Remember the saying: Sin in haste, repent at leisure. Don’t be in too much to buy.[/quote]
Sage advice there. I’ve bought a lemon or two in my time from being too hasty and eager. I plan to take my time and be very, very thorough when inspecting the bikes in person.
A big thing I look for on any two-stroke is how many times the engine has been apart. There’s a finite number of times the engine can be overhauled. Check carefully the hex head bolts that hold the crankcase halves together, not the outer covers, the inner cases. If those are badly rounded it tells me the motor has been apart a bunch of times and it was done by a sloppy mechanic with bad tools. Walk away.
Remember that the cylinder can only be bored 3 times for decent pistons to be fitted. Beyond that there are no good pistons available, and no-one in Taiwan seems to be capable of fitting a quality replacement sleeve into a cylinder. More than 3 times overbore means that you will soon by buying a complete cylinder and piston kit from Thailand.
Be wary of bikes that are running on premix and have the oil pump disconnected. It’s a sign either that the pump failed at some point and seized the engine, or it’s been a track whore and has been beaten on like a red-headed stepchild.
Awesome, thanks Redwagon! I know how to check for the usual stuff on 2 strokes, but your tips seem very NSR-specific and thus very useful! got your pm btw, thanks.
Aarrgh I wish there was a decent, honest, reliable shop that sold NSRs down here in KHH (or anywhere in Taiwan for that matter). I doubt such a place exists though. Will have to continue trawling ruten.com…
Be wary of bikes that are running on premix and have the oil pump disconnected. It’s a sign either that the pump failed at some point and seized the engine, or it’s been a track whore and has been beaten on like a red-headed stepchild.[/quote]
Most NSR’s these days will probably have their oil pump disconnected. The problem is that you can’t find a replacement oil pump in Taiwan anymore. I wouldn’t worry too much about this. If the NSR isn’t stock, and has some bolt on parts, then it is likely the previous owner had the oil pump disconnected.
You are just going to have to look around, and hope you don’t get a lemon. Since NSR’s are pretty much dead in Taiwan, all the NSR’s you look at will have some issues with them. Another thing to look for is make sure the RC valve is working. Buying a new RC computer is really expensive, and hard to find these days. I don’t use my RC valve, but if you are going to be driving on the street you might want it for the lower end power. Look to see what carb the bike has. If it is stock, then that is a good sign that the bike probably wasn’t thrashed too hard. If the previous owner has gone bigger than a 28mm, then it has seen a fair share of mountain roads, or a few race tracks. Anything over a 28mm carb takes someone that knows what they are doing. A lot of NSR guys run 35mm+ like myself and it really takes someone special to adjust it right and maintain it. It always needs to be fiddled with.
There are some serious upgrades that people do to NSR’s that you should look for. The stock rear wheel is an awkward 18’ wheel. So many people change to either an FZR 2.5’ or even go to a 3.5’ wheel. This is a pretty big job, and if any NSR you see has the 3.5’ wheel then that would be a plus. It really makes the handling more stable, and will allow you to corner lower. This upgrade doing it yourself will cost you around $15-20K, and that is everything including a brand new tire.
Don’t worry too much about the rear suspension. A Taiwanese brand called RPM makes a great rear setup for NSR’s. They cost around $5-12K, depending on which one you want. Some guys will swap out their stock rear and fit a “big bike” shock, like a 2000 Yamaha R1. This takes some custom work and if it has this done, then it means it probably used to be a racer, or still is.
Another expensive mod is the front suspension. A lot of guys will swap out their stock and put either the Yamaha FZ/FZR suspension or the Kymco Xing. Both are good choices, and both take a lot of work and money. If you find an NSR with this done to it, that IMO would be a good thing. Nowadays it is hard to find mechanics that can do this. So if it is already done, it might be a good NSR. This can also be a $20k+ upgrade.
The stock front brakes and master cylinder are garbage on NSR’s. Usually anything aftermarket is better. Things like an aftermarket bigger disk and master cylinder are expensive, so if the previous owner has chanced those parts, then you might have a decent NSR. Make sure you can find a mechanic that you can trust and that has NSR experience. Most regular mechanics around the island can’t work on them anymore, and can’t find parts. Watch out for dealers that have beautiful NSR’s sitting in the back of their shop, all shined up with sparkling fairings. These bike are often completely stock, probably don’t run very well, but instead the mechanic has put a lot of effort into making it look perfect. So just be careful. Once you find an NSR, I would suggest ordering the Thai cylinder, piston, and head from Thailand. It will make the performance of your NSR 50 times better. Good luck!
Don’t let some guy try to rip you off just because the NSR has a few bolt-on’s. Make sure you know what you are looking for, just because it has an aftermarket exhaust, nice aftermarket foot pegs, and an aftermarket rear shock doesn’t mean anything, and shouldn’t be more expensive just because of these bolt-on’s. Anyway good luck.
Ok, thanks to the helpful comments above I’ve narrowed down the selection. I figure it’d be better to spend more and get one that’s had money put into it… Probably a sign that the owner has maintained it well. So I’m pretty keen on these two.
http://goods.ruten.com.tw/item/show?11091010623239[/quote]
The first one is a heavily modified mix of Thai NSR and other parts… but doesn’t include an engine. So that’s only of use to you if you have an engine with a registration attached.
The second one is fairly stock with FZ front fork, wheels, custom rear shock and the other brake parts as listed, plus 28mm flat-slide carb. This one has an engine.
http://goods.ruten.com.tw/item/show?11091010623239[/quote]
The first one is a heavily modified mix of Thai NSR and other parts… but doesn’t include an engine. So that’s only of use to you if you have an engine with a registration attached.
The second one is fairly stock with FZ front fork, wheels, custom rear shock and the other brake parts as listed, plus 28mm flat-slide carb. This one has an engine. [/quote]
Yeah the first one has a lot of parts from a ZXR, looks like a swing arm, shocks. It also has a YSS rear shock, SP farrings, and TZR radiator. Dont even touch that one. Delete that one from your mind
The other one looks decent, it has FZR 33mm front suspension, with a Posh triple tree, 3.5’ rear wheel, Aprillia RS 125 factory brake master cylinder, with a Galfer 320mm disk and Brembo set up (Awesome), it has a little bit better than stock carb (Keihin PWK 28), and an RK gold chain. It looks like an aftermarket exhaust, and the Thai farrings with the gas tank cover. It didn’t seem to say too much about the engine. That one has some nice things on it, but you never know. The suspension, brakes, and rear wheel are a huge plus. I wonder how low he wants for that one. I would say that if the engine is good, $35k-$45k at the most for this one.
ok well, no luck so far. This sucks! The bikes I thought were worth looking at online, well they haven’t bothered to respond to emails or messages.
I’m most likely heading up to Taipei for a few days this week. If any of you guys could recommend a store that might be selling NSRs in Taipei, I’d appreciate it. None of the stores down here have any at all. Sheesh… really is mission impossible!
Often on the online sites, the good deals sell quickly and you have to check the comments to know if it’s been sold or not. People don’t actually sell online but in person to avoid paying the fee for the website, so the bikes stay up there for however long they were originally posted for. There are a few stores that sell NSRs in Taipei, but I’d avoid going to them as they will definately rip you off. The best way to get an NSR is to buy it off a friend or off those websites.
Pound for pound performance wise, they cant really be beat 
