Classic Honda Two Stroke Buying Guide and Motorbikes For Sale (UK)

Soichiro Honda, the founder of Honda Motorcycle Corporation is reputed not to have liked two-stroke engined motorbikes. This dislike apparently prevailed throughout the Honda corporation and it was only when pressed heavily into making two-stroke motorbikes by the rules in GP racing that Honda begrudgingly conceded and developed two-stroke machines for racing and for the road. This is a shame because Honda's few two-stroke creations in both racing and on the road have been fantastic machines. Consider the dominance of their NSR500 GP bike of the late 1980's through to 2002 with more GP title wins in that period than any other manufacturer in the hands of Wayne Gardner, Eddie Lawson, Mick Doohan, Alex Criville and finally Valentino Rossi.

So whilst the other Japanese manufacturers were striving ahead with two-stroke development programs in the 1970's Honda stood by their beloved four-stroke and refused to join the party until the early 1980's and even then they offered very few two-stroke models for the road. In fact there has only been two families of Honda Two-Stroke road bikes of 125cc or more, the NS and the later NSR. The NS family included 125cc, 250cc and 400cc models. While the 125cc NS was cosmetically upgraded to create the NSR125 and the 250cc NSR was seriously developed into a sequence of more and more advanced NSR250cc models, the NS400R never had a model update or development. Furthermore, to further demonstrate Honda's lack of enthusiasm for two-strokes while the NS125 and NSR125 were imported into Europe, the 250cc versions were never officially imported into the UK and the NS400 was only available for a brief 2-year spell and was a 400cc machine rather than a full 500cc GP replica simply because 400cc was an important category in the Japanese home market (licence's and insurance for bikes over 400c are expensive and hard to get) and Honda did not see the value of further developing a 500cc version for the rest of the world. So the 400 wasn't even made with the rest of the world in mind and it was also expensive in the UK. All of this means that the Honda NS250, NSR250 and NS400R are very rare machines on the UK roads. This can be a problem when it comes to servicing and getting spares for the bikes as you may find yourself having to wait for delivery from Japan on a regular basis (although CMS have good stock or access to parts for rare bikes). This rarity also helps support quite high prices for the models. On the plus side the 250 and 400 versions are beautiful machines (see more below), highly desirable and only likely to keep increasing in value.

Honda NS125: WATER-COOLED 125 cc SINGLE

The NS125F was sold primarily as a learner bike in 12bhp restricted form but could be derestricted to about 22bhp with a little effort. It's a bit marginal as to whether it can really be considered as a Classic but I've included it because there are so few other NS models and also because I think they are great looking bikes and bore a lot of resemblance to their bigger brother 250cc and 400cc models. The later NS125R models were not as good looking. Particularly the ubiquitous red versions and all subsequent models. The only one I would really consider worth having as an interesting bike would be the F version shown here. These were primarily sold in the UK with bikini fairings and belly pans as shown here, but some fully faired models can be found. Don't be put off by imports from Italy or Japan as they are likely to be in much better condition that the average UK bike. Finding a bike in good condition will be a challenge however, as it will have been through the hands of a few learners.

Honda NS250R: WATER-COOLED 250 cc V-TWIN

The NS250R was launched in 1984 as a replica of the factory GP 250cc racers of the day. Not only was it as great looking bike but it also had some very nice, high-quality detail touches like the Astralite style bolted wheels rather than cast units, faired-in front forks and mudguard and complex dual section swing-arm. The motorbike was also unique at the time for being the only road-going V-twin configuration 250cc two-stroke in production. The 90 degree V-twin format gives perfect primary balance compared to poor balance on the parallel twin format resulting in a much smoother engine with less vibration. The Honda NS250R and later NSR250 models were not ever imported by Honda into the UK so any examples in the country have been brought in privately by great market importers or individuals. This is no bad thing but just means they are quite rare. If you can find a good condition NS250R for sale at a reasonable price (less than £1500) I would definitely recommend it provided you don't intend to use it as daily or primary transport as parts are lively to have to be imported. These bikes were raced in production events at the Isle of Man and with great 80's racer style looks and Honda build quality these models are definitely desirable and different. My favourite detail is the way the right-hand exhaust exits high up under the back seat cowl while the left is routed in the more conventional place alongside the wheel. While this makes the bike look a little unbalanced it has a purposeful racer- like feel to it.

This first model NS250R was developed extensively and followed by a number of increasingly high-tech replacements right up until the final NSR250R-SP (MC28) of 1995 which came with a 'Smart Card' instead of a key to turn on the ignition. As the models developed the frame spars and swing-arms grew in size, as did brakes and tyre sizes. Swing-arm styles developed into 'Gull Arm' on the NC21 model, then the fantastic looking single-sided swing-arms on the MC28.

Honda NS400R: WATER-COOLED 400 cc V-Triple

The NS400R was honda's biggest 2-stroke sports bike and something quite special. In 1985 'Fast' Freddie Spencer made history by being the only rider of the modern era to win both the 250cc GP and 500cc GP championships in the same season. The NS400R was a replica of his NS500 V-three cylinder championship winning bike. Of course, it was a world apart from the racer in order to make it a viable road bike and most notably differed in that it had 400cc capacity (to meet Japanese market demand) compared to Freddie's 500cc and the cylinders were arranged differently with one at the back and two tilted forward and down at 90 degrees compared to the race bikes two at the back and one forward at 112 degrees. This was necessary to make room in the chassis of the road bike for such necessities at fuel storage, 2-stroke oil tank, battery and exhaust routing. Despite the 100cc deficit to the racer and the Yamaha RD500LC and Suzuki RG500 the Honda was still special largely because of its unique engine configuration. This is the only V-3, 2-stroke production motorbike ever made and that makes it special. The V-three engine and exhaust can designs give the bike a very unique and quite odd sound some would describe as tinny (like 3 stones rattling around in 3 tin cans) but which I think is raw and racy.

So the bike is seriously unique and a tribute to a legendary racer. It is also swimming with beautiful touches as with the 250; faired-in forks and side-stand, Astralite racing style wheels, twin-section swing-arm and 3 exhausts with one either side of the bike and one up high to the right underside of the seat - these bikes look brilliant ticking over at a standstill with two-stroke smoke pumping out from the three pipes.

Then we come to the performance and ride quality. The bike was listed as having an ambitious 72bhp which when measured on dyno's in Europe was more like a genuine 55 - 60 bhp which was still enough to take the bike to a top speed of 130 mph which is plenty if you want to keep your licence and life on today's crowded roads. This wasn't ground breaking power even at the time but is enough to make the bike exciting, particularly at the top-end. Consider also that with a dry weight of 164kg and wheelbase of 1394mm this bike not only goes well but handles quickly and effortlessly. In 1984 when the NS400R was launched you needed either the Kawasaki GPz900, Yamaha FZ750 or FJ1100 to beat it on the roads and if you weren't careful on these bikes the Honda would out-brake you with ease into corners or ride round the outside of you whilst going through them. To put it into perspective the FZ750 was the sharpest superbike at the time and had a wheelbase of 1490mm, 96 mm longer than the NS. The longer the wheelbase the more a bike has to lean over to corner at any given speed and it took 20 years for middleweight sportsbikes to catch up with this level of compactness.This is a seriously fast bike on A and B roads. The NS400R also benefited from Honda's ability to produce bikes with soft yet competent and composed suspension that handles british A and B roads perfectly. Build quality on these bikes is high and they tend to have been looked after better and not ridden as hard as Suzuki's RG500. Worries about the ability to rebore the Nickasil coated combustion cylinders should be cast aside because specialists like PJME can reliably re-sleeve these motors.

The pictures of the NS400R on this page show both the standard red, white and blue colour scheme and the official factory Rothmans replica which was also brought into the UK in very limited numbers. Both look great but the Rothmans version just gets my vote and is rarer so potentially more collectable. You can get a good example for £ 3500 and may have to pay a little more for something in very good condition. Are you convinced ? I am. Of the big 2-stroke sports bikes of the 1980's this would be the one I would go for. Different, special and enough power and speed to excite. If there are any for sale in the UK today they are likely to be on Ebay and if there are you will see them on the listings below. If no bikes are listed below it means there aren't any for sale on Ebay right now so come back another time.