Thinking about picking up a 2000-'01 RC51. Opinions?

I'll have to check that out. Much appreciated!

 

The RC 51 is the most affordable piece of the Honda RC's bikes one can get. I just wish i can...

 

While they are all good, look at 2002-2006. They are better Than previous years. Better frame swing arm lighter and a few more hps

 

+1000000000

He always answered every question i had about mine without being a dick about it. As far as im concerned Kyle racing is the end all be all of rc51 tuners. You can no longer sign up on ROGUE but the rc51forum has a ton of great knowledge and mike and dan stay on that forum. Dont take anything to heart that Dan Kyle says about the RC51. He is very very straight forward and does not sugar coat shit.

The RC51 is a love it or hate it bike. I suggest doing a ton of research and if you can borrow someones even better.

My suggestion is to get an SP2 over and SP1. The SP2 (2002+) had better wheels, swingarm, throttle bodies, etc. a better bike as a whole from the stock config. Ergos are a bit harsh but my 65 year old father rides his daily. There is nothing and i mean nothing that sounds better than an uncorked 51, and i still have yet to find anything that felt more stabil mid corner. If i had the money i would buy another one to sit in the garage with my big viffer.

There are some things to be addressed if you get one. Mostly the gearing and cooling. The bike in stock form is geared very high in 1st. i stalled it about 20 times the 1st week i owned it. a -1+1 fixes that and works well in town and at highway speeds. the fans come on at 219 degrees so it roasts you. hard wiring a fan in sinc with the thermostat works best. keep it on at slow traffic speeds.

if you geometry is set up stock you will want to put on a 190/55 tire, comes with a 190/50 stock and shim the rear shock a couple mm. what a transformation.

 

Almost all the ones I've found so far have 1 down/1 up and I suppose this is the reason why. Good info. So you're saying it's best to wire the fans to a switch, or to install an ADDITIONAL fan and wire it in sync?

 

LOL f3racer, Both Dan and Mike don't sugar coat shit. I was at their shop in early summer and they had a lot of RC 51 stuff just sitting around.

 

Gator,

Yeah you're right about that.

Rotary,

If you keep the factory fan sensor in place and then hard wire a switch in series then if you ever forget to turn on the switch then you don't have to worry about it over heating.

Sp1 and sp2 have different switches. If I remember correctly.

 

If the RC51 is like the VFR, switch in radiator grounds the fan motor to make it run (when it gets hot). I hard wired a relay actuated by a small switch. to parallel radiator switch, either one will make the fan run, the other doesn't care. If you don't use a heavy duty relay, use a switch that is rated for 10 amps.

 

My son lost it in SW Wisconsin on Gravel. Punched a hole in the engine case and bent the frame. Gone but not forgotten! The VFR has "Heart" but the RC51 has "Soul". Had an "06 CBR 1000 RR after that. Even though the CBR had more horses and is more "Refined". I would still buy an RC51 in a Heartbeat!!!! A huge chunk of motorcycle history.