Quote:
Originally Posted by DannoXYZ
I'm 5-sec off 250-record (street-based 4T) at Thunderhill, and don't think focusing too much more time on that in next 3-yrs is most effective for my training. When I renewed my season-pass in January, they suggested I do A-group since B is always full. But Ninjette will put me at bottom of A. I'm getting itch to beat up on litre-bikes in A-group this year. So RS250R with 100-lbs less weight (220-lbs) and triple power of my Ninjette will let me do that with shaving off 10-15sec/lap! 
It also costs less than track-prepped litre-bike, although I'm planning on spending 2-3x that on maintenance and rebuilds. With modern coatings and metallurgy, I hope to extend durability significantly over what was available in '90s. One of my clients who builds artificial hearts with mag-lev motors uses an off-the-shelf diamond-like coating that's +5x more durable than Nikasil. That's very promising for bearing-surfaces and cylinder walls.
Maintenance-schedule for RS250R looks like this from service-manual:
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These bikes are the ultimate combination of light weight and power. I've raced for a very long time, but when I rode an RS250 for a handful of laps it was sublime. But it was also as if the bike was saying to me the entire time: "Is that all you got buddy? You are boring me with your tiny balls." These bikes demand respect and they don't suffer ham-fisted technique well. Going faster than a liter bike on one of these is not simple or easy. They will highside you to the moon if you get greedy the with throttle at the wrong time and they won't warn you either. There are zero electronic riding aids on these bikes. And the high corner speed riding style needed for these bikes conflicts with the squaring off technique used on liter bikes, so that in itself will present you with some problems in getting around them at a track day.
Maintenance-wise, In order to extend the life of components you have to understand how hard you are riding it compared to how hard the pros rode it in a class like the old AMA Formula 2. But make no mistake about it, these are not cheap machines to run in any way, shape, or form. You can extend the life of components by understanding how to assess their condition but it's not as simple as putting DLC coating on all your parts either.
If you cheap out in the wrong way, these bikes will bite you hard when they break.
And a decent track-prepped Liter bike is going to be cheaper to buy and maintain. You might be able to buy an RS250 "Cheap" but at that price it's not going to be in good shape. You're going to have to buy a lot of very expensive parts and do a metric crap-ton of work to get it in good shape.
That's an RS250 in the photo but it's interesting that it has an NSR logo on it. The NSR is the production replica of the RS and it's a lot different bike. Still very cool, but easier to maintain and ride. Also a lot slower.
A 250 GP bike is an awesome bike and Yamaha's version, (the TZ250) is my dream bike. I'll buy one if/when my 401K is in super good shape or my little bit of Tesla stock goes to $4K a share!
But the bottom line is that it's unwise to think that an RS250 will be cheaper to run and you're not just going to hop on one and magically go faster. A newer liter bike with good electronic rider aids will make it easier, safer, and cheaper for you to go fast.