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HONDA RC51 SP1 2001

This particular RC51 is a 2001 SP1 with 7000 miles. I bought it from the original owner who purchased it in Tucson Arizona. It has non-original slip-on exhaust, windshield, front brake line, rear blinkers and tires. It also has a GP Shifter. I do have all the original parts. It’s never been dropped or damaged. The Foot peg feelers have never touched the ground. Because the engine is a gear driven Cam V-twin, the sound is awesome. The best I can describe it would be a Ducati with a supercharger if there was such a thing. You get the Duck low torque growl and a blower whine. My girlfriend followed me for a short distance and mentioned that it sounded very different.
The day I bought the RC I rode it 60 miles home and had several thumbs up and one guy taking pictures.  I found the bike to be very uncomfortable and not user friendly in stop and go traffic. The engine was running very erratic on the bottom not to mention the backward shifting. Under acceleration while passing cars on the highway it cleaned out and pulled hard with lots of torque and easily hit 140 mph before I let off. When I got home and investigated, I found gas tank rust on the inside caused by old gas sitting for a long time. I’m sure the injectors are junked up as well. 
IN 2001 Honda sold around 2000 SP1 RC51s. Honda Racing Corp (HRC) played a big part in their design and development as evident by the HRC cast into the side cases (behind the side fairings). I compared my SP1 to an SP2 (See photo) The SP2s were produced from 2002 on and were much more mass produced. Several things were noticeably different between the two. The SP1 Swingarm is hand built which is obvious when comparing them. There are other things on SP1 that makes me think it’s much more hand built and assembled than the SP2.

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Honda RC51 SP1: Exhibitions
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