jamie's new repair, honda RC51 1000R

[BAD97LSC]

my buddy just picked up a 2000 honda RC51, its also known as an RVT-1000-R. these things are big bucks but he stole this for 2,500 because it was layed down on the right side causing quite a bit of damage. the previous owner bought a new frame due to breaking the old one and swapped everything over. he did some very poor crude repairs to the plastics. i stripped the entire thing and fixed all the broken fiberglass and plastics and pulled and fixed a gas tank that my buddy was ready to throw away. of course i spent a ton of time on the gas tank and saved it. i repainted the bike jet black like it came, but i mixed a very tiny bit of royal violet pearl in the clear. in some pics the bike looks metallic blue, but in person it still appears jet black, it came out awesome way better looking that i hoped for. we are currently putting it back together and changing the oil before i put the bottom faring back on. he had a smile from ear to ear the paint looks so wild on it. now because of this, i got another job fixing another gas tank on another street bike and the owner of this bike has a friend with an 8 second 80 malibu race car that is coming to my shop for a paint job, its all primed and body work is done and all i have to do is tape and paint, its a rolling chassis right now so its going to be cake! check out the bike so far.

i'll have more pics tonight with the bike almost back together, they are on my other cam at the shop. i think i should just keep painting stuff!!!!!

 

[k9t8m]

Great work Jamie. Very nice bike. I am a little partial to Twins though. I have a Buell X1.

 

[BAD97LSC]

. when he first got this and came over to my shop i was like " what the hell does that have for a motor?" i did not expect a crotch rocket that looks like this one to sound like an xr 500 dirtbike lol. i'm used to the typical street bike whine but this thing sounds so weird. i have heard the buell's and they too sound like you wouldnt expect, i guess its the signature twin sound. here are a few more shots from today partially reassembled. we are going to change the wind screen also to a smoked clear because someone painted the current one black from the backside. once its wet sanded and buffed it will also have a white number plate in the front and on the rear fender like the race bikes, it will look just like the racing version of the RC-51's. as soon as fay gets the hell out of our state and the sky looks normal again and the sun comes back out i'm dieing to see this thing outside. this is why i cant get the true effect from the paint!

 

[chicken]

all i know about bikes is they have 2 wheels, but its lookin food jamie!

 

[Danlboi]

Great looking job so far there, Jamie!

And that color looks AWESOME!!

 

[Aquabrit]

all i know about bikes is they have 2 wheels, but its lookin food jamie!

Lol. Silly chicken. :N

Btw... your chat absence has been duly... noted!

Bike is looking good, Jamie.

 

[BAD97LSC]

my absence martin? sorry, i'm trying to make a buck and survive. i know i have missed a few past chats, i went in last night but it was 3:30 am, i saw your name but you didnt answer me, i only had one eye open anyway, i was beyond beat, i fell asleep walking to my bedroom!!!

 

[Aquabrit]

I was on about chicken's absence - Lol. I know you were probably busy Jamie. Nah, i wasn't on chat that late, but you know how it is with chat - last person out still shows to the next person that comes in.

 

[BAD97LSC]

ah i gotcha !!

 

[mespock]

Looks good... Hey can you give me your painting skills for a bit...

 

[chicken]

its the wifes fault!!!! i was trying but couldnt get online and tooooo drunk (and loud, lolol) to drive home

 

[BAD97LSC]

well its 99% done, only thing left is the white number plates on the rear fender, the front one is done, this is a replica endurance bike look, its what the owner wanted, i'm not huge on the white, but its not mine so who cares!! its all wet sanded and buffed and looks mint. we put brand new mirrors back on too, didnt have any on it when he bought it. i call the color midnight black pearl, sounds good lol!

 

[Aquabrit]

Looks good!

+1 on that piece of white, but each to their own.

 

[ford nut]

Looks great ! nice paint.
RC51s were built because of Superbike rule changes.
If you ran a twin you could go bigger ccs.
Rule changes again have kicked the RC51 into the history books.
Honda now puts out the CBR 1000RR
Too much bike for running around town IMHO.
Lots of power real easy to get into alot of trouble.
I have a 600 CBR fun bike handles great.
Not sure I would want another liter bike.

 

[BAD97LSC]

you ever just want to punch someone in the face for touching something they shouldnt have. so last night i think its done, all wet sanded buffed and looking sweet. today, he wanted to put vinyl on the back fender to replicate the number plates, but the vinyl shop a few doors down was closed and the piece he had wasnt big enough to make it follow the fender right, so i said why dont i just paint the white on instead, plus you are gonna get tons of bubbles in the vinyl, so he says ok. well i taped it all off with 1/8 masking tape making a mirror image on both sides of the rear fender. then i put the cover on the back that hides the hole for the rear seat when you take it off, this is where i get mad. i taped off matching stripes on this said cover, shoot the white paint on it and before i know it, he pulls the tape off while i am unmasking the back fender and the white paint on the cover lifts off as he pulls the tape. OMG you have to be kidding me. so now i'm ripping pissed and throw the cover down on the table and say now i have to do the whole cover over, just leave it. well in the meantime i take the rear fender and wetsand the whole thing again to reclear it with the new white panels on it and he sticks a piece of white tape over the part that lifted and tells me to clear it, i look at it and in disgust i clear over it, then i tell him now you can really leave it because im not letting anyone know i did that. i said you have a sick paint job on this thing now, i have crazy hours of work into this thing now and i am supposed to let that piece slide? B.S no way. so now the piece is home with me so it can dry over night so tomorrow i can get that crap off and do it right like i wanted to in the first place. he knows i am royally pissed now and i closed the shop and left i am so upset this happened and for no reason too. this is why when i am working on something for a friend or not, get the hell out of my shop and let me do it and come back when i tell you its done. sometimes helping someone out actually screws them in the end, i didnt want help, but he is a good friend and i like hanging out with him but this just totally killed my proud feeling of the whole job. so now, instead of being lazy tomorrow and having one day to myself now i have to go back and fix his crap. once again i have to fix something for someone that wouldnt have to be fixed had it been left alone, this is why i hate knowing how to do so many things because i'm always bailing people out and for what, lunch money? after i fix this thing and wet sand and buff the back fender i told him i never want to see this damn bike again, he ruined it for me, i loved it and the paint job until today, even though i will have it fixed tomorrow its still in my head what happened and i'm still gonna be pissed. oh well, just another day in my life!

 

[eglade]

Nice Work

Jamie, nice work on the Honda. The RC51 in it's day was unobtanium. I saw one new going for 20k (if my fuzzy memory serves me correctly) at my local dealer here in SoCal.
The bike was a score and would make a great track day bike or a daily rider.
I'm planning on going roadracing at Willow in the near future and would love to find a similar score.
The work you did looks great.
My memory is fuzzy and slow at extracting info. The going MSRP was 50k as the RC51 was a homologation special, meaning just enough units manufactured to make legal for superbike racing.
Like I say, I'm getting old. So feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but pretty sure when these bikes first came out, (or the first year of issue for homologation) they were insanely priced and only in the hands of those with watercooled wallets.
Nice to see us mere mortals get ahold of such machinery.
Kudos on making an old warhorse look better than new.

 

[eglade]

Ouch!!! Just read the paint debacle. Bummer!! Welcome to my world. I used to work as a boat mechanic, then an auto tech. The hardest lesson for me was to not care more about someone's machine more than the owner does.
I too have never been able to accept or perform substandard or low quality work in any field I have been employed in or partake in as my hobby, especially when I have to put my name on it.
Stick to your guns.
Even friends will not always appreciate your efforts, but the end result will always pay off, in knowing you never lowered your standards.

 

[jolinc01]

That paint looks awesome. I bet when the sun hits the bike it's beautiful. I've always wanted an RC51, but figured I'd poke my eye out.

 

[BAD97LSC]

here is the finished rear fender, i painted this on it, but the white in the front around the left headlight is vinyl, the missing cover is drying thats why there is an open square hole in the top of the back fender, to match the front, after i painted the white on and re-cleared it and wet sanded it all smooth, i put a matching 1/8 inch silver pinstripe around the two colors like the front end. i think it turned out pretty slick, i didnt like the white in the front, but now since i did the rear i like it. i wouldnt have done this to my fancy black paint job, but its what the owner wanted so ...
the back may look a little crooked the rear fender section isnt bolted on yet its just sitting on the back of the bike. tomorrow i can say goodbye to this, then we are taking a ride to go look at the 1980 drag malibu i am painting next week, uhggggg no breaks no breaks lol.