Whilst not a new project by any means, in the interests of contributing as a new member I'll post up some pics of my first bike, which was an MC19 CBR250. It was a little rough, having been dropped multiple times by the previous owner, but was good to learn on. After upgrading to an MC22, it gave me the chance to give the MC19 a little bit of attention. Work included: Repair of all OEM fairings and tank (no aftermarket bodywork replacements available in those days). Repaint with black base coat, House of Kolor violet ice pearl, application of various decals, then clear coated again to give good depth and seal to make subsequent polishing easier (sanded in between to eliminate 'orange peel' paint effect as well). Various parts powdercoated in grey 'stormfront' pearl, including swingarm, rear sets, caliper hangers, clip ons and engine covers. Wheels powdercoated 'watermelon' red. Various new bearings and seals as required. Fitment of a larger bore NSR250 front brake master cylinder for firmer level feel. Black anodised front fork legs. Fitment of an early-mid 1990's adjustable CBR600 rear shock. The CBR600 rear shock conversion was fairly straight forward, and had been done by a few other people on the old CBR250.com forum. You just have to find somewhere convenient to secure the external reservoir. The comparative length to the MC19 unit wasn't too dissimilar from memory, and the lower eye mount only needed a couple of additional washers either side. Incidentally, I also had an MC21 NSR250 swingarm that fitted and that I considered using for aesthetic purposes to get rid of the ugly box section MC19 swigarm - shock mounting is the same from what I recall, however it would have required modification of the inner guard attached to the bottom of the battery box for clearance. There were pics of one on Bikepics.com and I'll see if I can locate them for reference for anyone interested in doing the same. The end product turned out reasonably well, and was an excellent opportunity to learn by virtue of pulling a bike apart and putting it together again for the first time. Finding good parts, especially fairings, was a bit of a mission at this time as although grey imports were plentiful, there weren't nearly as many parts bikes or wrecks around as today and importers / wreckers made people pay through the nose. I eventually sold it to another member of the old forum, and it has since been on-sold again at least once as far as I'm aware. I haven't seen it online or on the road since it passed from my ownership, but hopefully it is still in one piece.
This is what I had in mind, but never eventuated. Possibly looks like an NSR250 front end with dual discs as well, or VFR400 front end perhaps. Vastly improves the look of the MC19 in my opinion. Not sure what effect it would have on wheelbase and other chassis characteristics though. Someone in Japan appears to have fitted a single sides swingarm to an MC19 as well, perhaps NSR or VFR again. Any MC19 riders looking for something different? I seem to recall a single sided swingarm for sale in this site's classifieds .
You will need to use the NSR250 swingarm or another than mounts the shock vertically through the swingarm like the MC19. MC22 swingarm and linkages, as well as shock layout, are different and preclude use without modification.
