Australian Motorcyclist — January 2018

TECHNICAL

seen on the street. As long as you

had the cash you could own the bikes

that were winning on TV on Sunday

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been for the lucky few – particularly

if you had the big bucks to buy a

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Wayne Gardner was the reigning

World 500 Grand Prix Champion

and Honda was dominating the

World Endurance Championship

(WEC) scene with the RVF750

(RC45). But that was not enough.

Sochiro Honda wanted to continue

riding that winning wave. He wanted

to prove to the world that Honda

could build the best superbike in the

world. And you could buy one and

ride it to the shops on Sunday.

With a price tag more than double

that of most road-going sports 750s

of the time, the RC30 was a serious

motorcycle. Okay, it was not the

most powerful at a mere 83.5kW, and

for what are essentially two V-twins,

torque was not that impressive either

at 69.1Nm. But at only 180kg dry,

nothing could get close to an RC30

on the scales – or in the corners.

The price

NEW: Don’t ask!

USED:A decent condition but well used

RC30 will set you back between

$25,000 and $30,000.An immaculate

low mileage example is by negotiation

and usually well over 35k! (if you can

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At a glance

Colours - Red, white and blue

Claimed Power - 83.5kW

[112hp] @9500rpm

Claimed Torque - 69.1Nm

[51ft-lbs] @7000rpm

Dry Weight - 180kg

Fuel Capacity - 18L

Chassis - Handmade aluminium

Suspension - Telescopic fully

adjustable conventional forks and

single-sided swingarm with fully

adjustable Showa shock

Brakes - Four-piston calipers,

300mm rotors

seen on the street As long as you

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And it wasn’t about power. HRC

engineers, with absolutely no limits

from the bean counters hindering

design parameters, set out to build a

bike with not only the most tractable

and controllable power deliver on

the planet – but with an exotic

handmade chassis to match.

advantage of this potential marketing
marvel. It was the late 1980s, a decade
of excesses and spiralling technology.
Millions of dollars in tobacco and
alcohol sponsorship were on the table
and engineers were rubbing their
hands together with the thoughts
of high spec, no expense spared
dream racers. Words like titanium,
aluminium, magnesium and carbon-
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of salivating, frothing-at-the-mouth
designers. And the public were about
to be gifted with technologies not yet