Motorcycle News - Soichiro’s finest: the Honda RC30
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The latest entrant to this pleasingly busy market is Retro-RR from England. It’s a high-quality quarterly with 132 pages, celebrating bikes that were ridden or raced in the 80s and 90s. We were so impressed with the launch edition, we asked if we could reproduce an abridged version of our favorite article—covering the mighty Honda RC30. Enjoy.
In the late eighties the VFR750R—better known as the RC30—was a dream for engineers and designers. With all emphasis on creating a race-winning production machine with very little regard for the budget, the bike that spawned the term ‘homologation special’ was generously bestowed with magnesium and titanium.
Based on the RVF endurance racer (not to be confused with the later RVF750 RC45) the RC30 used titanium con rods and forged two-ring pistons with skirts so short they weren’t allowed to leave the house.
Casings were machined differently for the new oil galleries and the rev ceiling was raised from 11,000 to 12,500rpm. It even had a slipper clutch, long before they became the norm. Only the V4 architecture truly remained.
Fully adjustable Showa suspension graced both ends with the front forks designed for speedy front wheel changes. The single-sided swinging arm made for similarly rapid rear wheel swaps; this was a bike that had all the ingredients, both mechanically and aesthetically.
But on the racetrack that sublime chassis and motor with its flat, almost totally linear, torque curve added up to a fast lap time. It was easy on the tyres and more importantly, easy on the rider. Never before had the term ‘racer on the road’ been more apt.
It won domestic championships the world over and tamed the toughest racetrack of them all, the Mountain Course on the Isle of Man. Legendary riders such as Steve Hislop, Joey Dunlop, Phillip McCallen and Nick Jefferies all took TT victories aboard the RC30. It wasn’t long before pretty much every privateer racer wanted one.
But every once in a while, an opportunity presents itself. This is exactly what happened to our friend, Alessio Barbanti [below]. He’s one of the most respected photographers in motorcycling and a thoroughly Italian man who knows style when he sees it.
“About two years ago a friend called me and said to come over for coffee. Nothing unusual about that, so I strolled over to his workshop and there it was, my dream machine.”
“I was very lucky. You might say ‘in the right place at the right time’. The bike is in almost perfect condition, everything is genuine Honda and I have the original exhaust too.”
We’re still waiting for an invite to the Italian Alps to find out for ourselves just how good Alessio’s bike is. Though I have a feeling we might be waiting some time. Retro-RR | Facebook | Instagram | Original words: Rob Hoyles | Images: Matteo Cavadini, Alessio Barbanti Motorcycles via Bike EXIF http://www.bikeexif.com February 28, 2019 at 11:18AM Leave a Reply. |
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2/28/2019
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