RC 51

[allonm]

Hopefully my bud Matt will get out with us for a few rides this season, and he'll have all kinds of info on the RC for you. That's what he had prior to the CBR, including street and track time on it. RC was on my shopping list prior to getting my Falco...guess I'm just a sucker for a V-Twin? I'd definitely have one in "the (mythical) collection", but at this point it would have to wait for the Motard, ADV and Touring slots to get filled first. Anyway, keep yours low-mile, and I'll check back, mmmm, Spring of '15 .
+Wade

Nice logic Wade,
A couple of friends of mine from  NY/NJ who own them  and they loved them. One had it all tricked out for track use only all carbon and after market exhaust suspension etc.  and he used to  rip pocono speedway on it. The other, an ex pro racer from the 60is who rides on the street in a complete stock form.

Personally I have never been on one, but to  me, the way they look and sound is kinda intimidating.

[Stinger]

I've had the pleasure of following a RC-51 two times. Once down the straight away at BIR, the other heading North on 35 just South of Alma.

Both times the bar ends weights came off and bounced over my head.

Don't feel bad if I don't follow you Mike!! 

[GUZZI JOHN]

   There's a possible alternative at Leo's. An '02 Aprilia Falco-31k for $3k.  I'd go for that b4 the 51 because of my love for my '02 Futura. The Rotax motors are bulletproof-I haven't had to change a single shim in mine @43k! In that time I've had 1 bad coil and this winter replaced weepy waterpump seal.  I would've bought a Falco but I didn't fit-needed to drop pegs several inches to accommodate my ancient 6'3" carcase.  I've never been impressed w Honda-had an '83 "Cam Eater" Interceptor,I do love my GL650 though.  Just the ramblings of this old fart. GJ

[pkpk]

That cam-eater represents the worst motor Honda probably ever made.  You're missing out if you judged every other Honda based on that one experience. 

[vince]

I had one of those cam eaters. The cams shafts were not harden to the right spec.. But Honda replaced all the cams and the rocker arms for free. All you had to do was ask. The bike still was the best bike out there and it is to this day a collectible.

[pkpk]

Well yeah but that masked the real problem, which was insufficient oiling of the valve train.  Honda basically redesigned the engine to rectify this.

[Mike Duluth]

Yup, PKPK is right. The first indestuctable VFR was in 86 and stayed that way till this generation, the verdict is still out, we will see.

[Mike Duluth]

I guess I should tell everyone, I picked up an 04 rc51 three weeks ago out of Louisville. Thanks for all the input. I would still like to hear any comments anyone has about the bike.
Thanks

[vince]

Well yeah but that masked the real problem, which was insufficient oiling of the valve train.  Honda basically redesigned the engine to rectify this.

Like I said I had that bike and you are wrong. They pulled a little pipe out of a banjo bolt to give it more oil but that did not fix it. New harder cam shafts fix it for good.
Before the new cams they failed at 6 to 12,000 miles. I put another 40,000 miles on the bike with no problem after the new cams.

[pkpk]

Don't ride in front of Roger, LOL!

Congrats on your new (old) toy! 

What becomes of the Kaw?

[pkpk]

Like I said I had that bike and you are wrong. They pulled a little pipe out of a banjo bolt to give it more oil but that did not fix it. New harder cam shafts fix it for good.  Before the new cams they failed at 6 to 12,000 miles. I put another 40,000 miles on the bike with no problem after the new cams.

Suit yerself.  I've got plenty of knowledgeable sources that tell me the same thing (it's not my opinion or interpretation.)
 

[vince]

I had at the time letters from Honda. The banjo bolt was done on my bike at 3,000 miles. The cams failed on my bike just after 6,000 miles and they went fast. I was on a road trip and was adjusting them and had to turn around and go home. All 4 cam shafts were bad and my dad did a hardnest test on them and they were soft.
And if I remember right the Saber didn't have this problem.

[pkpk]

According to Rob Parker, his Sabre did have a problem with the cam journals not getting sufficient oiling.  Plus there was some sort of twisting of the crank that was suspected to be poor main bearing design.

I don't think this is worth disagreeing over.  There is no shortage of stuff on the web relating to the early Honda V4 that makes it clear it wasn't one of their finer moments.  At least they fixed things so the Sabre/Magna and Interceptors wound up being good bikes.

I find this article seems to encapsulate most of everything I've heard.  http://www.motorcycleproject.com/motorcycle/text/v4hist.html

[RidinAgain]

My 84 V65 Sabre just had cam noise due to the cam bearings having too much clearace, especially with the 3/4 bearing circumference on the outer bearings.  What I did was take all the cam bearing caps off and surface plate them to get the clearance down to min spec levels using Plastigage as my measurement tool.  Took moost of an afternoon to get it right.  After that I could set the clearance to factory specs with no noise.  Bike has over 70K on it now as I service it from time to time for the guy I sold it too.  Still running strong - great mids for a bike of that time.....

[pkpk]

That sounds like something Rob did too.  Did you get the procedure off the old SabMag list?  Rob also said something about having to properly align the rear final drive pumpkin to minimize the crank problem.