19,000 RPM...1990 Honda CBR250RR

Well, I used my kiddos as another excuse to add to the garage projects - 1990 Honda CBR250RR.  A bike not available in most of the world including the US, but when my daughter asked for my instruction on how to ride a motorcycle...that is all it took.

Ordered from a Japan bike site, shipped to Bremerhaven, Germany around the continent of Africa (thanks to the Houthi terrorists) and finally cargo van'd to Stuttgart.  All taking 7 months from date of purchase!  I expected some scuffs to happen in that amount of time...and we weren't disappointed.

Nonetheless, 1990 brought an improved quarter liter motorcycle from Honda - 249 cc, 4 cylinder, 4 valves per cylinder, cam gear driven dual overhead cams, 4 carburetors, aluminum frame, aluminum "gullwing" swing arm, and the highest redline that possibly any production ICE powerplant - 19,000 rpm.

I've wanted to own one of these since their introduction.  I even half-heartedly searched for one to break down and haul back in parts during my deployments to Okinawa, Japan in late 1990's.  They were a rarity on the island and buying new was out of the price range (and illegal to import).

Should be a fun trip and can't wait to clean it up and give it a whirl!

Awesome!

Upon arrival in Bremerhaven Port - CONEX was opened to find a first rate installation to prevent any shipping movement/damage.  The Cape of Good Hope must have bee a bit rough as the bike fell over and laid against the neighboring Mercedes...damaging the original fairings, windscreen, mirror, and a few other areas.

Unfortunate as the originality was one of the reasons for choosing this offering.  The bike has relatively low mileage of 8,400 miles and it completely stock other than handle bar grips/ends and the Tyga rearset footpegs...adding a bit more to its sporting flavor.

Looks great in the back of the cargo fan:

Even better on the ground at the house!

We did get it running with a fresh battery and even with the OEM exhaust is sounds like a true 4 cylinder rocket - this one makes only 45 HP though!

We plan a full service, possibly more sound, and possibly a color change as this was the least desirable color scheme - 1990 offered four.

Hot damn! My first street bike was a new 1988 Honda Interceptor 250. It was a turd, but it looked good and set the hook. In the early 90s I saw a CBR250RR in the pits at Summit Point and was absolutely smitten. I'm thinking of creating another GRM account just so I can like your post again. :) 

You made me just watch a bunch of YT videos. What a cool bike, score! My ears couldn't believe the rpm going so high. 

My first real Motorcycle as a teen was a Hurricane 600. Don't know how I am still alive. 

So very cool, my brother has an imported vt250f, the little high strung bikes are great. 

Very cool project! I've lusted over these since reading about them in my dad's motorcycle magazines back when they were new, and I was just a teenager. As an adult, I've had a couple smallbore JDM imports, and they are really cool bikes! Totally worth the parts-hunting challenge. 😁

I'll be following along, and perhaps your thread will inspire me to get back to work on my '88 GSXR250 project (which has a piddling redline of only 17,000rpm.) 

Awesome!!

I'm calling dibs if you should ever want to part with it.

Excellent!  Sorry about the terrible packing in the container.  

Dang. I have a hard enough time wrapping my head around anything that revs higher than 9000 rpm.

That's way cool.

Oh man, these are amazing. If you don't mind me asking, how much did the purchase and importation run you and were you compensated at all for the shipping damage? 

I've lusted after one of these ever since that Fortnine video. This thread REALLY isn't helping.

I have lusted after these forever and have resigned myself to getting a ZX4RR in a year or so when I can pickup a nicely modified one here in the states and skip the CA DMV headache. 

Good find. 

We are having fun with it!

Motojunky:  Right there with you.  The 250 cc single cylinder US market bikes just didn't do much for me - 25 hp and all.  Japan got these and even 2 stroke models with a few more ponies (and those weird exhaust pipes).

OjaiM5:  I loved the Hurricane commercials where even the Ninja is afraid of the Hurricane.  Even convinced mom to take visit the local Honda dealership...where the salesman told her that the 83 HP fire breathing 600 was not right for the beginner...steering her to the Rebel 250.  That ended my early pursuit of motorcycles until college with a 1982 XL500R, then a 1982 GPZ750, 1986 Ninja 600R, and finally a 1994 ZX750. 

ae86andkp61: Love the Suzuki!  Yours looks to be in remarkable condition.  You have a few other very interesting projects in the background too...  17,000 rpm...still exceeds anything sold today, no?  Amazing.

Slippery:  Yup, I watched that video a couple of times.  He is a hoot.  

Brandonsmash:  Too much!  The Japanese sites seem quite reasonable...but the money transfer costs, then the shipping, handling, freight forwarding, and final transportation just ran the price more than expected.  We even had a pass on importation fees for Germany - can be upwards of 30%!  I'm confident US based folks can explore much better purchase avenues.  One can purchase direct from auctions and I've come across a fellow in Oklahoma that ships CONEX's full every other month for a very reasonable cost.

We did pop the fuel tank off and drained the 'tan' looking fuel, replacing with some fresh 100 octane juice.  Fired up with that glorious inline 4 sound...I'd planned to exchange the OEM muffler with an aftermarket slip on for more aural excitement, but the stocker sounds quite good!  I did have to do a quick spin down the lane to ensure it has 6 working gears - confirmed!  Also confirmed it has no lowend torque as I killed it twice in a matter of 50 feet.  Next will be an oil change, air filter, and spark plugs...when it warms up a bit (20 degrees today!)

I have to say the proportions of the bike are darn near perfect - just looks 'right.' 

So...... Looking at 1 cylinder of that engine at redline:

-It fires 158.33 times per second.

-The piston comes to a complete dead stop at TDC 316.67 times per second and 316.67 times at BDC. 633.33 dead stops per second.

That's a little mind boggling.

I wonder to what speed the piston accelerates to between dead stops and in what distance.