Sold my RC30, identity crisis

Well RC....you will regret that sell for the rest of your days....sell the wife..sell the dog..give up your cable tv...what forces took ahold of your brain to even come with the idea. One day you will cry about the words I ONCE OWNED AN RC30. Ifeel for ya.
Come on admit it..the wife wanted a new bedroom set

 

Too rare and irreplaceable to ride, just a garage jewel. Impressive when new, but old-teck now, 16"/18" wheels my ass. I daresay a new Honda CBR 600 or 1k is a far better streetbike in every way at 1/4 the cost. Rich guy's show bike.

 

The big difference between the therc30guy and us is he had a RC30 to sell. He also owned one and I never have. I have a different take on this.

My old riding buddy Jerry used to organize a classic bike auction back in the 90s. We had 80 or 90 bikes out at the South Fork Ranch and I would help him out by pushing bike on and off the stage during the auction. I had an epiphany at one of those auction evenings. Up until that time I had always lusted after exotic old bikes but as I pushed Indians, and Vincents, Ducaties and Laverdas across the stage I realized 1) I could have any of these bike I wanted. I just had to pay the price. I was not willing to pay the price to possess these bikes so I didn't have them. Simple. 2) Some bikes own you. They require care and housing and special treatment. You are a caretaker rather then an owner. Rare bikes require a dedication to preservation that soon renders the bike unridable for all but the richest owner 3) Pampered classic get ridden less and I had to ask myself "what was the purpose of my motorcycle fixation?" I came to the conclusion that I wanted to ride more than anything.

I have toyed with selling my Norton. I know it's not in the RC30 class but it is still a desirable classic. I want to own it and not it own me. I have resisted because it's still damn fun to ride, I still ride it a lot and I don't want anything half as much. I am sure I will sell it some day and not look back. I sure don't want my widow to do it.

 

All true Big Jim!

Makes me think of how lucky we are that Honda had the balls to build so many innovative and desirable machines. The list of bikes that would be in my garage if the lotto ever paid out is predominantly populated with Honda sport bikes of years gone by. My desire to possess these machines is rooted in their unique contributions to motorcycling evolution over the past decades. Some I would ride, like the RC30 while others may simply exist for their beauty alone. The latter don't need to be ridden to provide adequate justification for their existence, similar to a piece of art hanging on your wall. If I felt guilty for not riding a bike, I would seek therapy as it would be my issue to resolve not the bikes.

Remember when you were a young man and someone commented that you wouldn't now what to do with a woman if you ever caught one? This is just like that. I can dream and speculate on how I would feel or what I would do with one but I'll never know till one lands in my garage and the dream is realized. For now, these bikes give me reason to dream and that is what life is really all about. What the hell would I dream about if I actually had one??

I've always been happier when I have a project that challenges me and keeps my mind occupied. When I finish a project I typically get bored with the end product and sell it off after a short period of driving it. Perhaps it's more about the journey than the destination?

 

+1 Big_Jim. As you said " I sure don't want my widow to do it." I don't want her to sell it for what I told her I paid for it!:cool-new:

Gotta go with RC30guy. It's only a motorcycle and not a shrine. Well almost for this one. It really should be in a collection or museum because of it's history and rarity. If anything ever happen to it,(crash), it most likely couldn't be rebuilt back to spec. There's no parts or very few hens teeth left. And it would be a shame to wear it out just riding around for 50-100k miles.

Plus for the $$ you could have some neat other play toys that could actually be used and not worried about.

I do vote for X RC30Guy as a new moniker. Or "has been", "Used2b", "WishIwazagan" or what ever..........

 

My wife says I don't make enough money to be curator of a museum. If you want to ooh and ahh over bikes go to the Barber Museum. George Barber has enough money to do it right and as for motorcycle eye candy, he has it in spades. I love to look at these bikes. They still thrill and I know they are in the best hands when it comes to their care and preservation.

For me, the Y2K VFR in my garage ticks all the boxes. It is comfortable enough to ride everywhere. It is sporting enough to have fun when I get there. The price for all this was affordable and for that price I get the rock solid dependability that Honda is famous for. I can't ask for more.

 

I sold my 53 Velocette. Am I in deep shit too?

 

Yes, put his ass on the "to be banned " list to.

 

No, you are just smart. My buddy Jerry had a Venom and he never would have gotten to ride it if he hadn't lived on top of a hill. That bike was so hard to start he live in fear of a flame out on a flat road.

 

If I won a lotto I would get 3 bikes. 2 RC 30's, 1 low mileage for show, a good used ridden one for riding and a NR50 just cause. Not sure but I think the NR50 is still the "fastest" street production bike beating the Busa by 2-3mph at the top end.

Sucks that you sold yours but life changes and moves on so sometimes things have to go.

 

I still want an RG500 Gamma.

 

At least by selling an RC30 someone else gets to own one :smile-new:

If none were ever sold secondhand, I wouldn't have mine. At some point in the distant future, it's likely someone else will get to own mine... maybe.

therc30guy should be thanked for sharing. I know that in every measurable way many newer bikes are better than an RC30 ever could be, but there is still something unmeasurable about them that makes them special and desirable.

 

At what point ($$$$) does a collectible bike move from rideable to garage queen? 10K 20K? Lack of parts availability?

Last I checked you can still get full exhaust systems for the RC30, but you're SOL with an RC24.

 

It's sad but a well cared for motorcycle should more than outlive their owners. You can't take them with you.

A motorcycle becomes a garage queen when its value, either personal or financial, exceeds the owner's wiliness to risk its destruction. This threshold is much higher for the rich than it is for the little people.

 

It's funny but your moniker reminds me that the Honda CB1 is on my list of bikes to own.

 

Love mine, stockpiling parts for it. Don't plan on selling it. gear driven cams like the VFR.

Clean examples while hard to come by, aren't that expensive. Unfortunately alot of CB-1's weren't taken care of, sent to riding schools or just generally thrashed. Very similar ride to the nt650 hawk, but while the hawk enjoys a sizeable audience. enough that 2brothers has made a full exhaust available again. the cb-1 is all but forgotten. Engine is bulletproof. I haven't had any issue, or heard of any problems whatsoever. If anything you'll probably encounter electrical stuff (that's a given with older Hondas) I've been through a R/R and stator.

Can't go wrong with either the hawk, or the cb-1 for a small factory streetfighter.
All depends if you prefer a well mannered small torquey V-twin. Or an engine that howls like a rhesus monkey getting it's limbs hacked off.

 

I just think it is a beautiful bike. I like the Hawk as well but I think the CB1, with is lay down cylinders and its nakedness looks fantastic. My only problem with it is the same problem I had with my 3 1/2 Moto Morini, I am just too damn big for it. The Morini is one bike I wish I had never sold.

I have been keeping my eye out for a nice CB1 in my price range but haven't found what I am looking for yet. You find a lot of them that did track day duty and are a bit worse for the wear.