Honda RC30 marked a huge leap forward m in
Japanese motorcycle design. It was the »-. S first Japanese bike to
rival the beauty and build quality previously the domain of exotic
specialists like Bimota. When it hit the market in 1988 the press were in
danger of running out of superlatives. And dealers soon ran out of bikes to
sell to the well-heeled enthusiasts who queued up to spend twice the price
of a Suzuki GSX-R on the most talked-about bike for years. And the
talk was certainly no exaggeration. The RC30 combined the light weight,
quick steering and fantastic rider feedback of a race bike with excellent
ride quality, reliability and perfectly stable behaviour on even the most
indifferent road surface.
The RC30 - also called the VFR750R, but
everyone referred to it by its factory code name -was based on the
all-conquering full-factory RVF750 Endurance and Fl bike. When Fl gave way
to World Superbikes, one-off bikes like the RVF were no longer eligible, so
the RC was designed from the start as a limited edition road bike, intended
to sell just enough to qualify for World Superbikes. Crucial parts - such as
chassis, engine casings and carbs - can't be changed under WSB rules, so
they needed to be ready to race. In other areas, Honda were free to
concentrate on making the RC30 reliable and user-friendly for the road,
knowing that those parts could be changed for racing if necessary. The
RC's V-four is a superb road engine. It's smooth, extremely powerful and
very reliable. It's also instantly recognisable - you can't mistake the
sound or feel of a Honda V-four, whether you're sitting on a standard RC30
blipping the throttle, or sitting by the side of the TT course listening to
a tuned example on full throttle. The RC has a rich droning exhaust note
that never really sounds as though it's working hard. On die road, it
probably isn't - even first gear on the RC's close-ratio box is enough to
take you to 80mph, so full load in top gear isn't something the RC has to
put up with very often.
On the track of course, hard work is what it's
all about. A full factory race kit was available from the start - containing
everything from modified pistons to new camshafts and crankshafts - as well
as kits from the many independent tuners who brought their skills to bear on
its complex V-four engine. And the RC30 was born to race. It raised the
stakes in the fledgling World Superbike Championships, dominated the
demanding Isle of Man TT course and became the bike to have if you wanted to
get anywhere in World Endurance. It would be a long time before the other
manufacturers caught up. Visually, the RC shouts its race credentials
with its single seat, its smooth, uncompromising lines and its single-sided
swing arm at the rear. The latter was designed, like the quick-change
mechanisms on die front forks, to waste the minimum time on pit stops
in 24-hour endurance races. For the road it has no real function except to
look good - and it certainly docs that! Hidden away above it, though, is one
of the most perfectly set-up suspension systems ever fitted to a road bike.
It tracks over bumps as though they don't exist, and it would take a
racetrack to make it misbehave. The forks, too, are well set-up they may not
be fashionable inverted types, but it's the quality that counts. It's
a testimony to the excellence of its design that even now, eight years after
its launch, the RC30 is still capable of top ten finishes at the TT, and
it's still a stunning bike to ride on the road.
Source Super Bikes by Mac McDiarmid
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