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My first RC51 (SP2)

19K views 80 replies 22 participants last post by  Slidewayscoupe 
#1 ·
Hello all members,

I just thought I would introduce myself. My name is Eric and I am the proud new owner of this 2002 SP2 RC51. I just picked her up last night and I feel like a little school girl. This has been my dreambike since they came out in 2000, although after Honda did some revisions to this amazing machine, I am glad I waited to get the SP2. I almost actually purchased the $4000 SP1 listed on here in Whittier. Boy, am I glad I waited. I ended up finding a SP2 with less miles for cheaper. And it hasnt been downed or any damage to the bike. I did a test ride before purchasing last night, and I was amazed. I fell in love immediately. I love the torque of the v twin, I love the sound, the feel.....anywho, here are some pics of my unicorn.


Eleanor5 by asilaydyingxxx, on Flickr


Eleanor4 by asilaydyingxxx, on Flickr


Eleanor3 by asilaydyingxxx, on Flickr


Eleanor2 by asilaydyingxxx, on Flickr


Eleanor1 by asilaydyingxxx, on Flickr
 
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#8 ·
Dude, they're all over the place. For some reason, they have been popping up like crazy. To be honest, just check craigslist. Orange county, san diego, inland empire, ventura county, and santa barbara. I literally searched on a daily basis til I found my SP-2 =)
 
#10 ·
I am not sure about that, but I read the thread on the many differences/revisions Honda had made to the SP-2 and I just couldnt bring myself to settle for an SP1 to save a few bucks. I would rather save more, wait more time and find my dream SP2 and be completely satisfied no regrets. And now I have as of last night =) There were honestly just too many differences between the two generations for me.
 
#12 ·
Hey, welcome and way to go! I love those 1st day you got your RC51 pictures. I remember mine well.
If you like it this much already, wait till you've had it for 6 months or so. ;) This bike really grows on you if you like the torque and personality.
 
#13 ·
Well, I learned on a Honda cbr 929rr. Needless to say, my learning experience was extremely slow. Took me a week to get out of the parking lot. I rode that all summer til I hot comfortable, I then went on to buy my 97' Suzuki gsxr750. I rode that for about 5 years. In those five years, I also had the chance to ride friends bikes. I got to experience an 01 sp1, a Yamaha R1, and a Ducati 916. At the end of the day, I love torque. That's it. I also rode a yamaha r6. Hated it. No torque and u have to reach ungodly high rpms to get any power out of it. I don't like riding like that. I love low to mid power and torque that gets you moving. Which is why I am in love with my RC51.
 
#15 ·
You DO realize that you're on an RC51 forum, right? And you do also realize that the point of my thread was to introduce myself and my bike to the community, not to have a pissing match between twins and inline fours, right? If you don't like it, I highly suggest you join a forum for inline four superbikes. Thanks for playing!
 
#16 ·
No pissing match at all... I'm merely attempting to educate and point out what might be completely oblivious to many people. When people start talking about V-twins and torque and glorifying that aspect of a V-twin they typically don't know that a 2004 1000RR makes more torque for a longer spread of rpms than an RC51 does.

Same with the info about the SP1 versus the SP2. Most common owners are completely devoid of that key information about the better mid-range performance or the swingarm as they read the press releases and only concentrate on the big ticket items like the larger throttle bodies and new pressed swingarm not realizing that those improvements are actually just a compromise as most things are when it comes to the physics that make these pieces of machinery work.
 
#18 ·
Plus one. Unicorn, first off welcome to the forum. Second, listen to LDH. He knows what he is talking about, he's been around the RC51 longer then most on this and other forums. He may not have a lot of posts here but he's been apart of the RC community long before most on these forums ever knew what an RC is. Chances are if you hang on to your RC long enough you'll give him some of your business as well ;)....yes he comes off "strong", but my advice is to listen to what he has to say, you'll learn a lot about your bike you didn't know.:)
 
#20 ·
I've had them both on the same dyno on the same day (04 1000RR versus 00 RC51). I can assure you beyond any shadow of doubt the inline-4 has a higher torque curve than the V-twin of same displacement. The SP2 would be at even more of a disadvantage in that same comparison due to the weaker mid-range.

In some cases (not even including plotting differences in the way the dyno is interpreted from one brand of dyno or style or resolution of chart etc to another) the initial jump of the curve might appear to be, or actually be even, a tad bit sooner on the V-twin as a lot can be done with cam phasing on the inlines to move the mid-range versus peak hp around, but my statement is still accurate when you compare the duration of the curve for both bikes.

Again this isn't about one bike being better than another it is simply facts. I think a lot of riders tend to exaggerate the effects of torque from a V-twin or possibly confuse that trait with the linear power pulses a twin is known for. I also know all too well that many riders including some fellow test riders fall prey to the placebo effect and just because a bike is foreign to them when they first throw a leg over it they claim it is better when it truth it is merely different...

One things is for certain, as previously mentioned everything on a motorcycle is a compromise.
 
#22 ·
I've had them both on the same dyno on the same day (04 1000RR versus 00 RC51). I can assure you beyond any shadow of doubt the inline-4 has a higher torque curve than the V-twin of same displacement. The SP2 would be at even more of a disadvantage in that same comparison due to the weaker mid-range.

In some cases (not even including plotting differences in the way the dyno is interpreted from one brand of dyno or style or resolution of chart etc to another) the initial jump of the curve might appear to be, or actually be even, a tad bit sooner on the V-twin as a lot can be done with cam phasing on the inlines to move the mid-range versus peak hp around, but my statement is still accurate when you compare the duration of the curve for both bikes.
The bikes I used to compare are different then the ones you cite, especially since the SP2 has engineering differences. I've looked at several charts, and they all show similar characteristics for twins. In addition, I never disputed the torque advantage an I4 has. I really don't see how different brands of dynos effect the majority of what is out there to examine, they speak for themselves.



I think a lot of riders tend to exaggerate the effects of torque from a V-twin or possibly confuse that trait with the linear power pulses a twin is known for. I also know all too well that many riders including some fellow test riders fall prey to the placebo effect and just because a bike is foreign to them when they first throw a leg over it they claim it is better when it truth it is merely different...
Just like everything else, riders are different, abilities, tastes, experiences that play into ones opinion. I don't think lumping them into a group that would theoretically prove your arguement is a fair, nor realistic way to enforce your point....
 
#23 · (Edited)
The SP2 is a great refined bike, my mate always gets pissed off when we are on the track together, (I have a SP1) and I have a slight advantage out of the corners, enjoy! (Yes the 1000 I4's have more power,up to a 50hp advantage I have owned many, but for the road, the RC51 has been the most enjoyable, and thats all that matters to me!)If you want the fastest bike on the road in terms of outright horsepower, go buy a ZX-14, If you want an enjoyable riding experience with a "feeling", get a V-TWIN>
 
#29 ·
Hey cheers to you too! I'm glad you finally turned around. Lol. But ya, its not a stunt cage for stunting that I am looking for. I'm actually looking for what's called "race rails" as my buddy Sean put it. Apparently, they attach from the frame slider location and back. It's just a single bar on each side of the bike that protects the bodywork in case I down it.
 
#28 ·
.... oh boy. Chill out, its a forum. We are all here to share knowledge.....LDH is a wealth of it. Just listen.
Look past how he is putting the information across and instead absorb it.
 
#30 ·
thats great
 
#37 ·
I'm gonna need more popcorn.....

......LDH is right on all counts.

Fellas, I work in the automotive industry. I work with the engineers, the marketing people, the sales people, and the journalists.

When LDH talks about the "placebo effect", he is not just making this stuff up.

He is RIGHT.

Don't believe anything you hear and half of what you see.

"Race rails" are garbage. You are just adding weight and like LDH said, they won't do squat if you are actually moving. Think about it.

As to the SP1 vs. SP2, you folks have to understand that these bikes were built to homologate them for racing. They were sold to us, just so that HRC could build race bikes and beat Ducati in World Super Bike.

Therefore, the stock bike was not built to be a great street bike, it was built so that HRC could build a great RACE bike. What makes a great race bike, makes for a horrible street bike, and vice-versa.

Throttle bodies, swingarms, etc., were built they way they were built on the RC51 so that they qualified the bike to have certain size bits legal on the race bikes. That did not necessarily make them the best choice for a street bike.

Enjoy the glorious sound of the V-Twin, enjoy having a somewhat rare machine with a great racing heritage, but don't think she's gonna be a better street machine than any other simply because she's a twin.

Welcome to the club, I LOVE my RC51 and will never sell her.

Of course, I'm old and slow and fat. Just like my RC51.

Cheers.
 
#39 ·
I bought my RC51 cos I liked the paint scheme. It's sweet! :)
 
#41 ·
Lol. Yes you were. I was riding at Oulton Park many years ago on my old NC35 and a group of advanced riders went by being led by an RC51. When it went by, I knew then that was the bike I had to have. I just wish I could have bought one in England before I moved to the States. The roads were far more fun over there than in the Midwest. Don't get me wrong, we have them here too, but it takes an hours ride to get anywhere worth riding.
 
#42 ·
I gave up street riding pretty much altogether... You can't even come remotely close to any current bikes potential on public roads without getting nicked and I don't know when you moved to the States, but the Gatso's are everywhere now. On the plus side you almost always know where they are as even the GPS points them out, but it's still a royal pain to try and get up to speed...

When I do ride on the street my wife and I have a pair of vintage bikes to putt around on. She wanted a 250LC, but we never got those here in the States so she settled for an RD400 and I bought a VTR250 that started as a restoration project and grew into something completely different.



 
#43 · (Edited)
Nice bikes LDH, that RD is to die for! I took one of those for a spin (one of my buds had one) was very swift compared to my Suzuki Stinger of the day. Some of us here are of the vintage to remember those bikes from the days our mis-spent youth (my first bike was a Suzi TC90 in '71). After it came the venerable Yamaha 100 twin, and then the Stinger, but I have no pics of them. When I outgrew the Suzi I was bereft of all common sense and bought a Fireflake Purple Norton 750 Commando. I posted a pic of what that one looked like in a thread elsewhere in here. Dunno how I lived through owning that monster at the ripe old age of 17. Of course now in my mid 50's I have the maturity and responsible nature to be trusted with my SP2
 

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#45 ·
I'm listening very intently to LDH here and although I'm new here and I don't know him personally, I believe he speaks from experience. It's probably a good idea to listen to him... That said, what I believe about the RC51 is that it was designed from the ground up to be a "Race Bike" and that being able to own one and ride it on the street is a privilege bestowed upon us by Honda. (I liken it to owning a NASCAR race car and being able to drive it on the street. Just add headlights and tail lights and go tear up suburbia!). Whereas, other Sportbikes from the same era were designed to be ridden on the street and the "Racing Version" that you see on the track is NOTHING like what you ride on the street... Except that it "looks" the same.
I often get beat out of the hole by in-line 4's and definitely don't have the straight-line acceleration, but just try to keep up with me in the "Twisties" on your Jixxer or CBR... or God forbid a Busa or ZX14... Ain't gonna happen for ya! My $0.02... FWIW.
 
#46 ·
It certainly is a special bike, thats for sure. But rest assured, the street version of this bike shares almost nothing with the HRC works bikes. Not even the frame. It is a pig and will be beat out through the twisties by most 600's but i still love it. I too still feel it has race heritage, despite it being completely different then the works bike. Although its not so rare YET in the US, in other countries the SP is a prized and hard to come by bike
 
#48 ·
There ya go, words from the man himself. Thanks Mike.

BTW, got the CL pads in and on the bike. Again thanks Mike.
 
#56 ·
I can't say anything as that was me a little over a decade ago...

Fortunately I grew up and was humbled to the point of tears once I got out on a race track and realized that all the street skillz I had learned from a dozen years of street riding and more than 300,000 miles meant nothing. I learned more in one day on the track than in all my years of street riding and that virtually nothing I learned as a street rider crossed over to track riding, but everything you learn on the track helps you become a better street rider. Additionally every time I throw a leg over a bike I am still learning something new...
 
#62 ·
Depends if you are running the stock pogo stick, add a after market shock and/or a link of
sorts.
Most people here swear by Ohlins, look at all the teams, that is all I see em running....says enough for me, I like to be a little diff from the norm...I went with a stage 4 Elka.
But Will most likely upgrade to an Ohlins unit when time is right.
Stock setup is crap ALL will tell you this.
 
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