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Great RC45 Story


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The shop I worked at years ago had the serial # 001 and we sold it to a customer /friend . I had to ride it the first 1000 kms to do the break in procedure kinda correctly . It was not as fun to ride in that state as a RC 30 seemed to be smaller and more power . It ended up in California at a private collectors after the original decided it really was not a great street bike to ride .

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True... Balls 1 RC45 was sold out a shop in Lambeth Ontario... It was listed in Cycle

News for $37K and Daniel who only collects Balls 1 motorcycles sealed the deal...
 

I got to know Daniel back in 98 when he offered me 24K for my Balls 2 thinking it
was the lowest VIN RC45 available to the pubic... surely Honda has Balls 1 RC45 on

display in the Honda museum... boy were we wrong... Daniel still pressures me to sell

my RC45 personal plate...  no can do Partner...

 

Owners ship their prized RC45s to the Busy Little Shop to get sorted out...

 

All 500 production RC45s have two engine management maps inside their
ECU no matter origin: one map is limited for emissions compliance and
the other map is for full power. It's a simple matter of cutting 3
wires and rerouting them to the other map. So modified the rear wheel
power will rise from 97.8 @ 10,000 rpm to 110 @ 12,250 rpm.

 

Officially Honda states RC45 rake is 24.5 with 92mm of trail... perfect numbers

for perfect handling but for some reason they rolled onto the dealers floor with an error in
trail of 95.5mm... we add 4mm to the ride height to experience the best from HRC....

 

Daniel and Jay Leno...

DanielJayLeno.jpg

Balls01USA (2).jpg

3RC45SP1Yamaha10.JPG

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On 3/21/2020 at 2:47 PM, St. Stephen said:

What a great article! I think this sentence describes how many of us feel about our machines, no matter how common or rare:

 

Like many, I develop irrational sentimental attachments to fast mechanical objects. Sounds and smells bring back memories, and every time I ride this bike.

 

Thank you St. Stephen

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The mid 90s days of the RC45 were ones that in my personal feeling will never be equaled.  Seeing (and hearing) those V4's on the track was magic and I loved (and still do) having some of that Honda DNA in my garage and at the command of my right wrist.  The V4 experience is like no other and if I have to explain it to someone, they simply cannot understand.  No other formula is its equal.

 

 

 

 

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4 hours ago, Cogswell said:

The mid 90s days of the RC45 were ones that in my personal feeling will never be equaled.  Seeing (and hearing) those V4's on the track was magic and I loved (and still do) having some of that Honda DNA in my garage and at the command of my right wrist.  The V4 experience is like no other and if I have to explain it to someone, they simply cannot understand.  No other formula is its equal.

 

 

 

 

Well said Cogswell. I hope the people at Honda Japan are hearing you and all our cries for the continuation of the mighty V4. Long live the VFR.

Cheers.

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7 hours ago, Grum said:

Well said Cogswell. I hope the people at Honda Japan are hearing you and all our cries for the continuation of the mighty V4. Long live the VFR.

Cheers.

 

Let's not forget Honda's V2's

 

 

I remember Edwards, Slight and Okada in the 00's too....

 

Knipsel.thumb.JPG.10b32bc669ec217f6b4b4f6a7319cb19.JPG

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Along the same lines, I took this last summer, Laguna Seca WSBK:

 

 

IMG_4936.JPG

 

edit: Corkscrew  ;-)

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I couldn't get my email verified on Disqus, so I couldn't comment under the article in MO, but the owner posted a picture of the bike's current ECU:

 

515d8e5785a73b5a320fd8ffbc7ab4ffee49b38c

 

I don't have the ROW Parts Catalogue for the RC45, but I do have the JDM one, and that is clearly a "European Direct" spec ECU (the J-spec one has part number 38770-MW4-003 and probably has a "J" on it).

 

It's a cool story, which fortunately ended well.  Jumping through all of those bureaucratic hoops would have tried the patience of a lesser mortal!

 

Ciao,

 

JZH

 

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