Honda VFR 750R RC30 Rothmans Replica

Honda RC30 marked a huge leap forward in Japanese motorcycle design. It was the 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