So I've been eyeballing a 1992 MC22 which has been posted for just under €5000. Before I buy, though, I'd like to ask you guys whether or not that price is justified for a good-condition MC22 with paperwork. I also wanted to ask what the common pitfalls and mechanical issues of these bikes are and how good parts availability for a bike that old are. I'm technically minded and do quite some maintenance on my own bikes, but I'd like to know what I'm getting into before I buy a bike this old. Any feedback and/or advise is welcome! Thanks!
Hey mate Welcome to the forum , mc22’s were heavily imported in Australia and they are pretty cheap here, there is a massive and loyal following because the engines are tough and reliable and they were the learner bike of choice. Common issues are few and far between with the exception of carb insulators and carb seals which go hard and should be replaced . As they get older, we see a lot of cooling issues such as split radiator hoses and water pumps failing, but that isn’t a huge issue as used spares can be night , luckily we have businesses like litetek.co are making quality reproductions. The 92 is an “n” series bike which has the 45hp Engine , the later bikes Post 94 were dropped to 40hp due to changes in Japanese law. A well sorted mc22 is wicked fun , personally I don’t think they are worth 5000 Euros but I believe there are reasonably rare in Europe. Take it for a Ride and see if it ticks all the boxes and make your choice then. We have a lot of guys racing them in Australia, if you get a chance have a look at the team tiger YouTube channel , this guy knows how to ride them fast. Chris
A few of the more important replacement parts ... https://litetek.co/Carb_Kit_Honda_CBR250RR_MC22.html https://litetek.co/Coolant_Kit_Honda_CBR250RR_MC22.html https://www.xcitebikes.com.au/cbr250rr/
This is where Australia being close to Japan comes in handy for you guys. I've been searching this bike for about four years here in Belgium now and you don't find em... at all. The one for sale now is imported from Japan by a local garage. I'm hoping to get the price down to 4k, though. I wish I could get the pricing similar to what GreyImport mentioned :/ I'll be having the same issue with parts, clearly. Looking on eBay, apart from regular maintenance materials (oil filters and the like), I wouldn't be able to get many actual repair parts easily. It seems I'll indeed have to ship them over from Australia, which is bound to be expensive... especially considering import duties. Thanks for the help! I'll have to think long and hard about this. PS: you guys have it easy with motorcycle pricing: you'll hardly find any road-worthy bike sub-2k euro (~3.1k AUD) here :/
Exactly, that is the point: you don't find them in Europe. I live in Holland and I don't sell mine for under 6.000 euros. I own a NC30 too, those are going at about 7.000 euros in Holland. RVF400 = more expensive. Since I bought my CBR250RR, about eight years ago, there was only one sold since in Holland. When I was at the Superbike race in Assen, this year, we (my wife and I) find an Swiss bike collector at our bikes (CBR250 and FZR250). He was sitting there for one hour, waiting for us and asked if we would sell our bikes....uuuum, no! That's how rare these bikes are in Europe. Parts, hmm, you have to be lucky. I own mine for about eight years now and this is the first year I had issues with the bike: the alternator burnt. So I had to rewind my alt at an local shop for 200 euro's. Now a sticky caliper, but that is not a problem either. You find a lot of parts on Ebay.
For 5000 EUR I would consider checking prices for importing one from here in Australia or from Japan.
This one? According to add, only leaking fork seals. https://www.2dehands.be/motoren/motoren/honda/honda-cbr250rr-mc22-440375270.html
Yeah, that one. I called them up. They're still trying to sort out the paperwork so you can actually register it with our DOT. Until that's resolved, I'm not making a move.