Mercy!!! The Things Magzines Will Say About Your Bike...

Quoted from Performance Bike:

“GROUP SEX, RC45, 916, YZF,GSX-R & ZX-7 TAKE ME TO YOUR DEALER”

“There are only two good things about the Honda’s RC45: everything on
the inside and everything on the outside. If you want an example of the
perfect motorbike then look no further. It’s here. Honda have made it.
Believe me when I tell you: it’s fucking storming.”

“Life with the RC is packed full of memorable rides. Nah – every ride is
a memorable ride. There’s something other worldly, foreign, alien and
unique about the way the V4 growls past 4000RPM before smoothing out and
pulling upwards in a searingly delirious wail of revs. It’s addictive
and enchanting – this bike cast a spell over its rider like no other.
It’s a dream.”

“Crap at racing though… let’s face it, when the corporate might of Honda
can’t persuade their flagship four stroke round a track faster than some
proxy Italian V-twin, probably developed on a fraction of the Japanese
factory’s budget, something is seriously amiss.”

“So what’s the crack? Or as plain-talking Yorkshireman Ronnie put it:”
“Why’s the race bike so crap? What have they done to **** it up”

“You get an idea why as soon as you sit on the road RC. The seat and
back end are low, like a 250. The riding position is similar to
squatting down for an open air log laying session (except you don’t have
to wipe afterwards – not the back bottom, anyway).
The Honda feels stable, secure and comfortable, like the kind of bike
you’d want at the TT (which it is) and not what you’d want to hustle
round a short circuit (which it isn’t) until you’d dumped a stack of
weight, jacked the rear up several feet, slapped some slicks on and got
someone else to pay for it all. And even then you’d better be called
Slight, Fogarty or Kocinski if you want to get close to winning.”

Mark Morrison: "What a tool for slipping in and out and giving is a damn
good thrashing. Everything feels so nice – throttle response, clutch
action, the brakes – all feel well built and expensive. The riding
position is perfect… The seat feels the same height as the front end,
but the RC still steers quickly. It’s a doodle to move around on the
bike to chance direction – it gives you confidence.”

“Confidence is a big chunk of what makes the Honda excellent. It feels
so Super Glued to the road it’d take a full-time gorilla on the gas to
fatally unstick it.”

Ronnie: “and the RC45 gives you that confidence without asking – on the
others you have to go looking for it”

“This is down to superb suspension and ride quality to kill for. The
Honda glides around on a magic Axminster of quietly sloshing shim stacks
and damping oil, unfussed and unstressed by the world beneath its
wheels. It feels like a large chunk of the 18K pounds (27.5 US Dollars)
price tag has gone into the forks and rear shock.”
“The Honda has completely different weight distribution to the Ducati.
The scales say they’re almost identical total weight (the Honda is 2 kgs
more), but there’s no way they feel it. Where the Ducati spreads its
mass out across the entire length of the tall, long, thin machine, the
Honda’s is concentrated into a tiny, short, squat area. It makes the
Honda feel heavier than the 916 – less manoeuvrable, but more stable
over bumps mid-corner.”

“For a homologated racer on the road, the RC is incredibility civilized.
The only concessions to its track potential are the single seat and
sky-high first gear. The former isn’t a pain unless you habitually carry
a pillion, the latter isn’t a pain unless you spend your life in town…
or repeatedly turning round in the road for a photo session. After a day
riding backwards and forwards in front of Kenny P, the RC’s clutch was
starting to grab and groan under the strain. And clutch wheelies are a
no no: “You’ll never see a stunt rider using an RC45,” said Ronnie
(although it took him several aborted attempts to believe what we’d
already told him).”

“Wheelies off the throttle over yumps in the road are a different
matter… and the RC lifts the front wheel with such a glorious, rumbling,
booming noise emanating from the airbox, motor and exhaust… it’s a long
time since a bike made me feel like parking up and nipping into the
bushes for a quick choke. I can imagine a 6 lapper at the TT had Steve
Hislop reaching for Kleenex…”

“And then there’s the build quality – it’s magnificent. Every fastener,
every frame weld, even the tinniest piece of plastic, no matter how
humble, was designed, built and assembled by someone who cared.”

“None of which helps on the track – but thankfully, for wannbe racers
like me and full-time national runners like Mark and Ronnie, the
standard RC is as much as you need. Even on Dunlop D204’s – nice tyres
and all that, but hardly cutting edge stickies.”

Ronnie: “D204 are just good. They’re a bit of a Yorkshireman’s tyre –
they let you know where you stand. I can’t believe how well they’re
taking abuse. They’re not marking as all and I drifting them like mad.
This is the nicest bike I’ve ridden round a track.”

“High praise. But the RC deserves it. Honda have taken a lot of stick
with the 45 – when the bike was first launched back in 94, we thought it
cost so much we put Waste of Money on our June cover. Three years on its
price has gone up a measly 200 pounds and the RC is simply magnificent.”

Ronnie: “In the test, the bike I wanted most was the RC45. everyone with
loads of cash who goes out and buys a Ducati is overlooking one of the
best bikes ever built. They all follow the crowd and go for a 916 –
alright for wheelies but if you want to go from A to B quickly there’s
nowt like the RC. Just because Honda have struggle a bit with the 45 in
Superbike doesn’t mean jack shit on the road. No one could push the
Honda hard enough to find a fault.”

“Best bike in the world? I think so, and trust me… you want one.”


Larry L
94 RC45 #2
Have a wheelie NICE day...
Lean & Mean it in every corner of your life...
If it wasn't for us the fast lane would rust...
V4'S are music to the seat of my pants...
1952 De Havilland Chipmunk...
Yank and bank your brains loose...
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/-xlax-/
http://home.comcast.net/~netters2/
http://www.fox302.com/index.pl?s=vg&user=netters2

 

Sounds like a review done circa 1993 eh Larry?

 

Troy this one is circa 1997 before the end of the WSB season when
Kocinski was crown 97 WSB champion on the RC45...

I also have a 1999 Superbike article titled:
"Seventh Heaven, RC45 v R7 v GSXR v 996SPS v ZX7RR"

but the latest one is in a 2004 T.W.O article titled:
"We test 23 roadbikes from the heyday of WSB"

The chief editor Bertie really like the RC45 so much so it was the
subject of his editorial... I quote:

"Mine? It has to be the Honda RC45. In race trim nothing was so fickled,
fiery or unpredictable, while on the road it was a case of the
ridiculous to the sublime. It was a V-four powered magic carpet and I
still try to convince myself I need one, just to selfishly expand on the
wonderful [test] hour."


Larry L
94 RC45 #2
Have a wheelie NICE day...
Lean & Mean it in every corner of your life...
If it wasn't for us the fast lane would rust...
V4'S are music to the seat of my pants...
1952 De Havilland Chipmunk...
Yank and bank your brains loose...
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/-xlax-/
http://home.comcast.net/~netters2/
http://www.fox302.com/index.pl?s=vg&user=netters2

 

Mmmmmm...that sounds like a very tasty bike, but then, I've always loved
my Hondas! I am such a sucker for a bike with reviews like the above! <G>

barbz

 

Tasty and hard on the inside... soft on the outside... you don't become
fully
sucked in until a ride...

Larry L
94 RC45 #2
Have a wheelie NICE day...
Lean & Mean it in every corner of your life...
If it wasn't for us the fast lane would rust...
V4'S are music to the seat of my pants...
1952 De Havilland Chipmunk...
Yank and bank your brains loose...
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/-xlax-/
http://home.comcast.net/~netters2/
http://www.fox302.com/index.pl?s=vg&user=netters2

 

All to think all those Honda ads in those mags had no influence on the
reviews.

Regards
Mike