Shades of Grey

Isn't it odd that the term grey' is used to describe the MOST EXOTIC AND INTERESTING BIKES currently on sale now in the UK. How can anyone describe an NSR 250 or a GSX-R 400 as grey ? How can an SDR 200 be grey when there are hundreds of GS 500s on our streets ? Honda Reveres are grey. Yamaha Diversions are grey. There's no way a TZR 250R-SP is grey.

It may not be an official import, but I refuse to think about it as grey. And the same goes for an awful lot of ‘grey' imports ? they're anything but grey. They are unusual, different, interesting, they make motorcycling more interesting and enrich the motorcycling culture of this country. But they very rarely seem to get specialized-up. Most grey you see running around are in their stock paint and in stock trim. Maybe an after-market exhaust and a sticker or two, but that's pretty much it. At least it used to be. As the number of unofficial imports on our streets increases ( at an astonishing rate ), more and more people are tricking up their grey imports to make them stand out from the crowd.

And to cater for that market, several grey importers are beginning to specialize in trick bits for hot greys. One such company is Bladerunners in Chesham, Bucks. They're currently doing a brisk trade in rather naughty grey imports, taking a stock bike and doing a few minor bits and pieces to it in order to produce a ‘grey' that7s just a little different from the herd. Bladerunners offer just about any kind of after-market goody and tuning service, but we sampled two bikes that had significant improvements made for a modest cost. We tried out a very tasty NC30 that belongs to one of their mechanics, and a very yellow ZXR400 that belongs to one of their customers. Both were a whole heap of fun.

Kawasaki ZXR400H2

Boy, this is one yellow bike. Not just a bit yellow, not just rather yellow ? it's utterly yellow. Totally and irrevocably, yellow. We're talking serious yellow, here. Wheels, front mudguard, fairing, tank, seat unit, rear shock spring, yellow pillion perch, even the sweat band around the front brake master-cylinder and the tax disc holder, are yellow. You might be forgiven for thinking

That the owner of this bike is Big bird, or maybe the Coward of The County ( with a major Utterly Butterly addiction ), but he appears to be a perfectly normal and well-adjusted chap who works in north London and likes nice toys.

Okay, so apart from being yellower than a very yellow thing, what's so special about this bike? Nothing radical, as it happens, but just a lot of attention to detail and single- mindedness that shows just a hint of madness. Still, if something's worth doing in yellow it's worth doing obsessively. But there's more to this than just a lick of yellow paint , gold anodised footrests, dozens of gold anodised bolts, and a spot of polish. Under that yellowness is a fairly tasty Kawasaki ZXR400H2.

For those unfamiliar with the ZXR400, and for those of you at the back who weren't paying attention last time round, the ZXR is a pukka piece of tackle. The swoopy seat unit, the twin headlamp fairing, the upside down forks… It all looks very pretty and purposeful. Spookily enough, the solid yellow paint job managed to disguise the fact that it's a Kawasaki ? only the twin vacuum-cleaner hoses masquerading as air intakes give the game away. Under that yellow fairing is a water cooled, double overhead cam in-line four-cylinder engine, displacing 398cc from a bore and stroke of 57mm x 39mm. Peak power is at 59hp at 12,500rpm, which is industry standard and all the Japanese allowed for 400s. In standard trim, fresh from Japan, the ZXR is restricted to 112mph, but the minute they get over here the restrictors are ditched and a top speed of around 135mph is achievable.

But there's more ? at least, there is with this particular model. Because Bladerunners have done a little fettling ( nothing that you couldn't do yourself ) and liberated a little more power from this ZXR. This specimen has a Dynojet kit, K&N filters and a Johnson carbon-fibre silencer Nothing radical, but enough to give a 5 hp increase throughout the rev range and a hefty 8-10hp between 4000 and 8000rpm.On the road the ZXR is a typical of the breed in that it needs a firm hand and plenty of revs to get the best from it. Like most small four-stroke ( an some Cabinet ministers ) the harder you thrash it the better it likes it. You can pounce around town under 6000rpm and the ZXR will respond, but it's happier on the open road being given a damn good spanking. Open her wide and give her a good seeing to and she'll reward you with the ride of your life ( you've really got to give up doing shift-work for the Sunday Sport ? Ed).

This yellow peril happily didn't suffer from the standard carb glitch just off tick-over, which meant it didn't bog-down if you did not give it enough revs from a standstill. The curious thing about this ZXR was the speed with which it accelerates. A ten percent increase in power is normally only just noticeable on the road, but this thing went like snot off the stick. Closer inspection revealed it had been geared down for more go low down, but at the expense of top-end speed. Which is fine by me because wind this baby up and it goes like a good ‘UN. Giving it the full moo in each gear causes the front end to go light and the horizon to come towards you at a surprising rate. Riders of full-on GSX-R 1100s will no doubt sniff at 65mph and 135mph, but this is a deceptively quick ZXR400.

With the tacho is swinging between 8000 and 13,000rpm upwards the ZXR gets into its stride and pulls like a train. It isn't the fearsome rush you get when a stroker comes on the pipe, but there's a definite powerband that you do well to stay in if you want to keep it motoring along. Allow the revs to drop below 6000 and you'll have to hoof it down a cog or two to get back into the swing of things. Peak power is 200rpm below the red-line, giving a useful over-rev facility if you need to hang onto a gear just that little bit longer. If you keep the ZXR's motor spinning you will be rewarded with a performance that few will find disappointing. It isn't the monster power and acceleration you get from a 145hp litre sportster, but more manageable and less life-threatening. It's exhilarating, it's control-lable and it's a whole heap of fun.

And the fun continues when you get to the twisty bits. Hammer on the brakes and the ZXR will hoist the back wheel off the deck if you are not paying attention. Weighing in at 352lbs dry this bike is fairly lightweight, so when the twin 298mm disks and four piston calipers get to work you can howl the front tire into every turn and up to every set of lights.

In the corners the ZXR's racy steering geometry ( 24 degrees or rake and 85 mm of trail ) means that you can pitch it in very hard and very fast. It's a real point and squirt machine, thriving on pushing the front end hard ( the Pirelli Corsas fitted suit it well and give stupendous grip in the turns ). The ZXR holds its line well and the suspension, although top of the range stuff, only does a reasonable job of keeping you the right way up and heading in the desired direction. The problem, for those unfamiliar with the ZXRs, is the rear shock, which is way too stiff and which give you a harsh ride on anything bumpier than your average billiard table. The front end is a peach, but with the back end pummelling you butt light a Turkish masseur its hard to explore the outer limits of the ZXR's handling.

In terms of rider comfort, the ZXR isn't as small or as cramped as you might expect. Even for big fat bastards like myself you don't have to fold yourself in half in order to get on the thing, and although I wouldn't relish long motorway hauls on it, it wouldn't be impossible. The riding position, a good sporting crouch ideal for back road scratching, is considerably less cramped than on some bigger race reps, but the seat is still painfully thin and the harsh rear shock just adds to the discomfort.

All in all the ZXR400 is a great little bike. And this one is a superb example to what you can do to make it an even better little bike. With a funky paint job and a little fettling the ZXR can be turned into a real head-turner that also offers very usable performance. The base cost of a G plate ZXR is around

£3,500 for a good one. Add to that £450 plus VAT for the Dynojet kit, K&Ns and pipes, and another £375 plus Vat for a funky paint scheme and for £4,500 you've got something a bit special that goes pretty well and looks pretty tasty.

Honda NC30

Ah yes ? the Honda VFR400R. The NC30, son of RC30. A little belter. Single- sided swinger, pure racer looks, uncompromising riding position, almost peerless handling, sweet little V4 motor and a rasping, growling exhaust note.

I love the RC30, and I love these micro RC30s too. Gimme gimme gimme.

And this was no ordinary NC30, either. This one belongs to one of the guys working at Bladerunners and consequently pretty tricked up. Like the ZXR, this grey is anything but grey ? it's an eye-watering, stomach-churning, retina-burning, cornea-shriveling orange. The photographs here don't even begin to do justice to the in-yer-face color of this bike. The orange paint costs something like £50 a litre, and when combined with a pearlescent white and the hint of blue on the OKI paint scheme, it really catches your eye. Yep, this is a serious-looking a bit of kit. But is it as good as it looks ?

Course it is. This is Son of RC30. It’s a little cracker to start with, and with a few sensible mods it can be transformed into something even more sublime. Powered by a liquid-cooled DOHC 16-calve V4 the NC30 displaces 399cc from a bore and stroke of 55 X 42mm. The compression ratio 11.3:1 and the power is fed to the back wheel by a six-speed box and a chain drive. The NC30 was designed in the late ‘80s, and despite a few cosmetic changes, has remained pretty much unchanged over the last six years ? now that's what I call timeless design. They got it right first time, and it's still a modern classic now.

But like the not-so-mellow-yellow ZXR400, this grey import has been tweaked a little, too. A Dynojet kit, some K&N filters, and a Johnson end-can ( carbon-fiber, natch ) are present and correct, and a quick look at the Dyno chart will show the improvement. Although still quite flat between 4000 and 6000 revs, the tweaking has banished the appalling flat-spot that used to be there, and all the way through the rest of the rev range you can see a noticeable improvement in power output. I would say, looking at that Dyno chart, it was £500 well spent. After all, 64hp at the rear wheel for something that weighs 360lbs is pretty handy.

Around this gorgeous V4 motor is wrapped an ally twin-spar perimeter frame just like that of the RC30 and which is sturdier than needs be for the relatively meagre engine output. The steering geometry, as you'd expect of a bike that's

a baby RC30, is a racy 25 degrees of rake and 96mm of trail. Allied to a 17-inch front wheel that give neutral and effortless steering.

The suspension, despite appearing somewhat dated ( wot, no upside-downies? ) is actually very good. The forks and rear shock are multi-adjustable, and the damping at the back can fade away under hard use so while the front end keeps its composure the back can get a bit bouncy. But at least there is some suspension travel ( unlike the hard-tail ZXR ), and most of the time it's very effective.

The brakes are top-notch stuff, with a pair of 296mm disks gripped by four-pot calipers, and at the back a two-piston rear caliper works on a 220mm disk. Power feel and stoppies-a-go-go. Some braided hoses would be good, though.

So does it go as well as it looks ? On the road, scratching along the back-roads of Buckinghamshire, the NC30 was a dream. The very tall first gear is soon dispensed with and your flying along making like Joey on The Mountain. Below six grand there's not a lot of anything but at the tacho swings past the 6000rpm mark the NC30 really starts to motor. It isn't going to scare you shitless, but its got enough there to have some serious fun, and while bigger sport bikes will be pitching and wallowing on fast back roads, the NC30 will be howling into the turns, cranking at incredible angles, and blasting off towards the next set of bends. This is a pure scratcher's tool, and the harder you scratch the better it goes.

The gorgeous balance between an engine that is both tractable and quite powerful, the light weight, the wonderful suspension and the ace brakes mean that you can get away with an awful lot on the NC30. It isn't going to get away

From a well-ridden ‘Blade, but it'll knock off many litre sportsters into a cocked hat because of its willing and forgiving nature.

You've probably gathered by now that I like this NC30. But then I liked the fats NC30 I rode, and the one before that. IN fact every NC30 I've tested has left me with a daft grin on my face. And this NC30 is one of the best I've ever ridden. The basic cost of a G-plate NC30 is around £3,400, and the tuning and paint add another grand on top of that. So for £4,500 you've got yourself a seriously tasty and stunningly individual bike that will allow you t explore the outer limits of your own abilities, but at a speed which won't scare the living daylights out of you. Let's face it ? 120mph on a twisty country road is plenty fast enough for me.

If I had the money I'd buy an RC30 tomorrow, but I don't so it'll have to be an NC30 instead. Yep, I am seriously lashing out my own money ( schurely shome mishtake ? Ed ) to get myself one of these. For me it's almost the ultimate fun bike. Then again, that RVF400 looks a bit tasty…

Tom ISITT

Grey Bike Magazine