A new adventure begins...

Well, here it is... my new to me bike.  It's a 2000 Honda RC51.  Bought it from a guy in Winnipeg, who loved it but was just not riding it enough lately.  A month ago, before I even sold the Ducati 999 I had at the time, I took it for a test drive.  Everything seemed OK, although cosmetically the bike was rough.  The tires were shot, the mufflers were dented, and I wasn't sure about the shape of the chain and sprockets -- the bike had turned over 29000 km, so if these hadn't been replaced yet, they would need to be.  It was almost totally stock, aside from some things like grips, for example.  It had been down gently, and every body panel had been nicked or scratched somehow.  The tank, aside from a tiny, almost unnoticeable dent, was pristine.  It obviously needed some work, but the price was right.  When I sold the Duc, I phoned the guy and closed the deal, saving a few more dollars in the process.

After getting it home, I started to really look at the bike in greater detail.  I took off all the bodywork, and came to the conclusion that to repaint what I had, even though it was proper OEM parts, would be quite the chore -- pretty labour intensive as there would need to be sanding, and filling, as well as plastic welding of a few cracks in the fairings too.  The tank would have to be drained and stripped as well, and so I'd get a pretty plain, 1-color coat for some considerable dosh. Might need to look at some other options.

I got a good deal on some FMF exhausts, a few mod kits (the flapper valve mod, and the pair mod -- more details later), an undertail, some exhaust brackets, and some flush front signals.  The chain was just grimy -- a few hours with a stiff plastic brush and some varsol revealed a very good quality chain, newer than 30000km old, in the 530 size.  The rear sprocket could be replaced, and a larger size is recommended (up from the 40T stock), but certain CBR1000 sprockets are identical in the bolt pattern, and some year models have 41T -- an improvement without requiring a new chain.  That could save a bit of money.  As these and other parts come in, be rest assured that I will provide some updates as to how easily this stuff goes on the bike, and how it improves the overall package.  Of course, winter arrived after being about 1 month late, so test rides will have to wait.

In the end, the prospect of dealing with painters locally has me gambling (somewhat) on the other option -- aftermarket, OEM-style bodywork from China... well, Steven Harper just arrived there today, so maybe he'll put a good word in for me.  Actually, "auctmarts" who has by far the best reputation of the Chinese suppliers had this set on ebay:

Yep it looks a bit different -- as I said on my 'mono blog, I'm keen on retro paint schemes... this is the style of 60s and 70s cars that were sponsored by the Repsol oil company -- the "R" is the old Repsol logo before they got all funky with the orange and blue and yellow and white.  Suffice to say I am confident that no other bike, let alone another RC51 will look anything like this.  To match the tank is a fairly simple spray in "white" (stripes to be added, perhaps, later), and of course, white is easier to clean.  At the annual motoGP round, the Repsol Hondas and Ducatis are all painted up in this livery -- basically every major sponsor (even KTM in the smaller classes) paint their bikes up to commemorate the oil company's support:

This is Dani Pedrosa from this year's motoGP race -- Dovizioso, Hayden, and Stoner also had the same paint scheme.  So... how much?

All in, all of the fairing pieces shipped to my door for around $550 'murican.  Not bad, if the quality is good.  One OEM sidepanel, without decals, is more than that to replace.  The online reviews from Speedzilla and others say that because the RC51 bodypanels are relatively simple, compared to other bikes, they go together quite well fitment-wise.  There has been some concern with protecting these from the heat, but I'll apply some heat reflective tape to the inside of the panels, and hopefully that will work.  Stay tuned as the cleaning, adjusting, modifying, and improving fun begins.  Riding will come with the snow goes away!