Owner’s story – Jamie Greentree
“I grew up around bikes. My uncle is Keith Greentree, an A grade racer who retired a few years ago. My dad, Ross Greentree, raced a lot and I spent many weekends as a kid sleeping in his Transit van alongside his TZ350S while we travelled around and he raced: we’d drive all night to get to races. “I got into bikes at an early age and have always had a thing for two-strokes. I had plenty of dirt bikes, RM125S early on ,and my first road bike was a 1983 Suzuki RG250. I had a blast riding around with my mates on their two-stroke 250s when we were all on our ‘L’s. In 1988 I got one of the very first RGV250S off the boat. It was stolen from me and I was gutted. I had the loan, no insurance and no bike: amazingly, dad sold his beloved 1983 SS Holden Commodore to buy me a new RGV. I then bought another one to go racing on. I crashed racing at Oran Park in 1990, breaking my back. I quit racing and road bikes for 20 years before deciding I’d buy a 250 two-stroke for my 40th birthday. “I mainly wanted another stroker. I
found the NSR on ebay and picked it up for AUD $3500 plus AUD $500 delivery. It was now almost a runner. All we needed now was a new PGMIII unit that is the brain of the bike, so it was back to ebay and the hunt was on. While looking on ebay a mint red RGV popped up in Wollongong, which is close, so I call up and make an offer, which is accepted and an extra $100 covers delivery! So $3600 and I now have an 89/90 RGV. “We had an awesome time testing and riding, but the bikes will never go on a track again as I have bought an RS125 GP bike for that. I’ll never sell these bikes, and the hunt is now on for a TZR and KR1S…”
than the RGV, including an ECU similar to that on the RC30 and geometry borrowed from the RS250 and NSR250 GP bikes, I knew the NSR would be good. The bike uses a PGMIII ECU, which is coupled to a throttle position sensor and gear position sensor. With those inputs plus rpm, the ECU monitors and controls the powervales and ignition timing to give optimum performance. Very trick stuff for 1990! Hopping on the NSR revealed a more compact ride that feels more like a true GP bike. Mechanically, the Honda is quieter and the throttle is crisper than the RGV. The rattle of the dry clutch really gets me grinning – seriously – because no modern bike can replicate this kind of buzz. The NSR chassis is also simply sublime. The front-end is so planted that I feel as though I’m holding the front axle. Feel and feedback from the front tyre is more confidence inspiring, as the chassis reacts just as fast as the RGV to steering inputs, but it does so in a more refined and stable way, and the brakes are stunning. In every level of handling and chassis performance the NSR is 15 per cent better than the RGV. The engine has better peak power than the Suzuki, but surprisingly doesn’t quite have the same pull off the slower corners, which means overall on a tight circuit, the RGV would probably make a faster, although messier, lap time than the hi-tech NSR. Back on the RGV and I’m really getting stuck in now. Both are sensational and running perfectly. We’ve done dozens and dozens of laps and neither bike has missed a beat. Pushing the RGV hard comes naturally to me. I’m scraping my entire leg – toes, ankle, calf, shin, knee through the turns as I lean the bike over to impossible angles, carrying greater corner speed as the bike gently two-wheel drifts about a foot to the outside between the apex and the exit of each turn. It’s a graceful ‘crab’ walk I remember from my proddie racing days – the
absolute limit of an RGV. It felt good to get there and feel so in control and comfortable even at 43-years-old (me, not the bikes!). Back on the NSR, it’s slightly different: a faster, sweeping line through the corners with equally insane lean angle. The Honda’s geometry, however, means the NSR makes more use of the sticky hoops, with more mechanical grip and no sliding, aside from the odd front-end tuck into the slow esses, easily caught by digging the knee in. That’s the beauty of these old lightweight two-strokes. Try that on a modern heavy four-stroke and you’re in trouble The NSR is more compliant in quick changes of direction and the suspension settles faster than the RGV set-up when flicking from full lean angle one side to full lean angle on the other. Both bikes are stable on the brakes, but the NSR is slightly more composed and has more brake feel, so can be braked harder and a little deeper than the Suzuki. Engine-wise, I prefer the RGV. Despite the technology and top-end, the NSR gearbox is a difficult shift and the lack of response at 80009000rpm gives the nod to the RGV. Chassis-wise, the NSR has it all over the Suzuki, but both bikes are better than most modern machines. They are from an era where we punters did benefit from grand prix racing. Long live race replicas and long live the screaming quarter-litre two-strokes! cmm