No fan of buzzy, high-revving four-cylinder engines, I was determined to find a V-twin sportbike that had all the power, handling and style of my Italian stallion, only with a less demanding (and wallet-draining) maintenance schedule. "Duh-buy yourself a Honda RC51 and be done with it," my wife said one day. Smart woman, my wife-wonder what she's doing with me... In a matter of days, she'd located a crash-damaged 2000 RC51 at a local bike shop, and the owner was so scared by his recent high-speed dismount that he was willing to part with the machine for just $3500. Having spent almost that much on valve adjustments alone for my other V-twin, I quickly whipped out the paper and rolled away a repairable, 1000cc V-twin with just a paltry 3400 miles on the clock.
Peeling away the pavement-scarred bodywork, the RC51 revealed itself to be in fairly tight shape: a cracked clutch cover, a four-inch gash in the gas tank and a set of pipes more beat up than Roy Jones' sparring partner was all that stood in the way of getting her back on the road. But I wanted more than just a reliable road ride here-the plan was to build up a budget Super Streetbike, one that could fill several roles at once: a comfortable commuter, a high-performance mount for the occasional track day and a tight-looking mild custom that would turn heads down at the local bike night. Pipe dream, or supreme possibility? Read on and judge for yourself.
Bodywork
The first thing to go south in any streetbike crash, even low-speed tip-overs, is the fragile (and very expensive) plastic fairings and fuel tank. Rather than replace these pieces with new OEM parts (the price tag from Honda on the new fuel tank alone was $870!), we found a good bodyman in the form of Ron Tonetti at Pittsburgh's North Hills Cycle, who could repair the scratched plastic and the pushed-in tank for just a fraction of the cost of new parts. With Tonetti's expert skills, the repairs on our cracked plastic and dented tank and a reapplication of the factory paint job set us back only $300, leaving plenty of money left for a new set of factory RC51 decals ($109) to finish it off.
To avoid future damage to this reworked bodywork, we installed a full selection of protective frame sliders. These included a set of Lockhart Phillips Carbon Works frame sliders ($58) with a color matched red end-caps (all colors available), along with a set of LP's Pro Impact bar ends ($20) and matching black swingarm bobbins ($20). Both of the Pro Impact items are made from molecular polyethylene, a lightweight plastic that's far tougher than its mass would suggest. Once the protection was in place, we tightened up the tail section with a smooth Superbike undertail kit from Hotbodies Racing ($229), which slots easily and features a double-barreled LED taillight with integrated turn signals and an expanded underseat storage area. The RC51 was originally built by Honda as its Superbike racing platform, so we thought it proper to give a bit of a racetrack-refugee look with a healthy dose of carbon-fiber accessories, also from the Lockhart Phillips catalog. The front fender is an LP Carbon Works piece ($220), as is the rear hugger (also $220) we added to keep road grime off of the new undertail and rear shock, along with a Carbon Works chain guard ($99). All the Carbon Works parts are covered with a durable clear coat so they clean up easily for bike night, and they're featherweight compared to ABS plastic.
Sure, we could skip a few trips to the All-You-Can-Eat-Ribs night at Slappy's Bar-B-Q, but buying carbon-fiber bits is more fun. Finally, to finish off the bodywork mods, we added a dark smoke Speedscreen ($80) from Lockhart Phillips' accessory line and set of flush-mount Meteor indicators from Lockhart Phillips' LightWorks line ($20) to replace the sun-bleached stockers. The LED elements are brighter than the stock bulbs and, tucked in from the windblast, they have to be good for a few extra mph, right? Right.
Cockpit
Like the proverbial monkey getting' biblical with an American-style football, it's fair to say that I don't fit a conventional sportbike quite as comfortably as an average-sized rider. While the OEMs haven't yet seen fit to build any adjustability into their sportbikes to make them better fits for guys like me, Ohio aftermarket performance firm Cycle Cat is miles ahead with its RIPS BR series multi-adjustable bar mounting system ($290). These bars allow you to easily (and almost infinitely) adjust the bar height and angle using any 31/48-drive tool in just seconds, without changing the position of your levers or other controls. Heading to the track, the bars can be lowered for better control; for long street rides, they pivot forward and up for added comfort, and the bar angle can always be optimized for proper weight distribution on your wrists, a key consideration for comfort and control. These will be worth the money just in terms of what you'll save on painkillers alone.
One accessory I was determined not to sacrifice from my old Italian ride was the stylish, lightweight aluminum top triple clamp-Cycle Cat delivered with a gorgeous, TC-series billet-aluminum top clamp. CNC-machined with a stunning trellis design, the clamp is far stronger than the slabby stock unit and looks nifty, too. With some serious (ahem...) track riding on the cards for this bike, the increased stiffness of the Cycle Cat clamp will also be appreciated in terms of improved front-end feedback.
MotoCam
Sure, sportbikes sure look slick with the factory mirrors shaved off and the mounts covered with fancy billet block-off plates (like the trick chromed ones we used on this bike, made by Gregg's Customs and available for $70 from McCoy Motorsports), but without rearviews, how the hell do you see what's coming up behind you?
You've got two choices-twist up your neck looking over your shoulder every other mile, or invest in a high-tech solution like the Motocam MVP rearview camera we used here ($600). The rearview camera lens is slightly smaller in diameter than a soda can-somewhat large compared to the latest technology on the market-but still small enough to tuck inconspicuously inside the passenger peg mount, where it's held on with plastic ties and a small piece of foam to quell vibration. The four-inch LCD monitor mounts in the cockpit via a long setscrew that goes through the steerer stem. Take care to measure this mounting screw carefully-leave too much thread extending from the bottom of the steerer stem and it will jam into your fender under hard braking! The MVP system consists of the camera lens, black box, wiring and screen and it connects to the motorcycle's battery in just minutes, with wiring that can be easily concealed beneath the seat and gas tank.
The image in the monitor is surprisingly clear when the bike is being ridden, with any bumps and vibration cancelled out by an internal damping system, and we were also surprised and pleased at how much ambient light the camera picked up during night riding. Compared to the inevitable glare that you get after dark with standard mirrors, the Motocam is a revelation.
