Tweety

Hey... Copycat... Yeah, yeah I did deserve it... Probably...

When are you gonna get your's in the running? I want a re-match...

Tweety

But hey... I like going fast on any bike... I did kind of chase him on the RC... But it was a wee bit nasty in the powerdelivery so I didn't stand much of a chance... (Plus he's far better than me at a track anyways, so...) Actually he did the lap record while "playing" without realising how fast he was going...

But yeah... He wen't out and beat it later that day on his own bike... I'm not saying a hawk will beat an RC on the track regularily... But it's not THAT clear cut... I'm having entirely too much fun going around younger guys on younger bikes on track to discard the hawk as a track bike...

And no, they don't particularily like being bested by an thirteen year old sport tourer...

insider

After reading this all RC51 owners will ditch their 'overrated" track oriented bikes and get a Hawk...... (one in red)

Hawk = a wolf in sheep's clothes

Tweety

Not bloddy likely... But if they do, I'll trade them... I have a few idea's for modifying an RC... Do'ya think I could trade for an 1098? I have excellent plans for one of those...

(And yes, I'd just go out and buy an unmolested hawk for a dialy ride...)

PUSHrod

Damn there sure are a lot of angels dancing on the head of that there pin.

insider

The only thing I hate about the firestorm is the miles per gallon.....

Tweety

Your looking at it the wrong way... Cars gets miles per gallon... Bikes gets smiles per gallon...

bowhawk

The Hawk is easier to ride fast. I can't believe anyone who says the RC turns quicker. It is more planted and has better feedback but it is a bitch to turn compared with the SH. Now that being said, it is a great bike and with 20 more horsepower it will be faster. It will take the same rider longer to learn how to get it there. I have a friend who raced both and the SH was the favorite but it was heavily modified. RC is a cool looking bike that belongs on the track. The SH seems to **** off the race replica guys because it keeps up and can do daily duty. My 2cents.

insider

I understand you mate, but that applies if you ride occasionally in the weekends, or everyday to work...or if money is never an issue to you....

But if you plan on taking the VTR for longer trips, every weekend, let's say 1000km, or so.....then you start to feel the 'pain in the pocket', as in.... a guy with a cbr 600F will make as much as twice the miles with the same amount of fuel......

I feel the VTR, i f***ing love it.....but for the next bike I really need to take 'fuel economy' into the ecuation as well..

any of you know if Sv1000s has better mileage than vtr? (yes, i know it's a vtr forum)

mikstr

I am sure there are a few VTRs on this site that can give a whole bunch of RCs all they can handle. That being said, an RC with the same amount of time and money invested must be wicked! Two different bikes, two different missions, only linked by the use of liter-size V-twins and the Honda badge on the tank....

residentg

I think that gas, or petrol, as you call is is about 4x the cost per gallon in the UK (you are in the UK correct?) as it is here in the USA, so I can see why this is an issue for you. Not everyone here knows that.

Stevebis1

Hmmm.... Didn't know a cbr600 got 88mpg on the highway

must be an imperial gallon thing. But since your ride was a few quid less (quid, right? haven't read Andy Cap in a while) seems you should save that for the petrol

oh, whats a km? spose we can forgive our friends in the great white north. You should be riding miles for queen and country

Ohio Hawk

This thread has been fun to watch... Yes both bikes have there good and bad points...
I put 32K on my 99 Hawk and 12K on my 04 RC so I can speak experience. I have sold my Hawk and the RC and now ride a FJR on the street and a 08 CBR1000 on the track.

I love all types of bike and every bike has its place, I have had many bikes over the years and out of all of them the two that just had a soul... My 1986 FJ1200 and 2004 RC51.

98ILVTR

I own a SH, but I must admit; something draws me closer and closer to an RC51. And maybe its because I know a place that has one for sale...

insider

Nah man, I'm neither in the US or the UK, I'm in a God forsaken country in Europe... where the price for 1 us gallon of gas is 4 euro (5.4 us dollars) OK? (I hope I didn't **** up the mathematics of the ecuation)..

So if I make about 400 euro per month (almost 520 us dollars) how the **** shouldn't I think of miles per ******* gallon?

And I don't make that money a month because I'm retarded, it's because of the political/economical environment but don't get me started on this.

I had the VTR from late octomber 2009 until 23 march 2010, in which time i've done about 5500km (that is 3430 miles) riding in town, late autumn,a few rides in winter,and early spring.

I've spend exactly one month's whole pay on ******* gas, so yes, I am ******* enthusiastic about riding, about bikes, about the VTR but I REALLY DO CARE ABOUT THE CONSUMPTION since GAS doesn't flow in my sink..

I've explained this so that those of you who judge people who care about miles/gallon will have a better picture....

ps: sorry for all the F words , but now I still have to pay the bank for 3years for my recently WRECKED VTR....so all in all ....I'm pretty far from OK..

Little_Horse

riding fast is 90% rider 10% bike. The RC is not 9 times more bike then a hawk, this is my rule of thumb for riding twisty roads, it doesn't apply to straight roads, but you won't see me on one of those if it doesn't have turns I usually stay away. On another note, don't forget cost of ownership is lower for a hawk, you can work on them they are as simple as a water cooled OHC engine can get and they are cheap to buy. I haven't seen too many RC's for less then 5k.

luis saleiro

Sorry about the wreckage man.
I´m in Europe too and i have to say i think mine doesn´t drink that much.
Mine drinks 7 liter/100 km, that is exactly the same as my car, an Honda Civic (BIG Honda fan here). Ok, for drinking this i have to do a normal trafic drive, but it´s still the same as the car.
Were i live the gas is in a 1,4€ a liter (more or less)
I don´t think you can find many bikes in the market dinking less than 7 liter. Maybe 6 liter?

insider

Hi Luis, since my riding has been 90 % in town, i've never managed to check what's my mileage out of town...
So you say that yours drinks 7 liter/100km...riding in town? or out on the twisties....country roads etc....?

I can live with 7 liter/100km if I go on long trips...
I can't/won't live with more than 8 or 10....

Here gas is almost 1.2 € a liter (depending on the fuel)..

Anyways...if the SV1000s has better mileage than the VTR and if it has AT LEAST the SAME handling (cornering,etc) I'm better off with the SV

residentg

The thing is about SVs is that they are...ugly.

JB

59burst

RC51 requires the *** up face down riding position. The only place the rc51 is better is on the track. Take your buddy on a 300 mile ride, and he'll never put your bike down again. I'll bet he'll even realy want to ride the SH after/during a long ride, but this is the part where you remind him his bike is better, and he should stay on that.

bowhawk

Excellent point, I have more fun on my 50hp Duke. I still giggle my *** off when I ride the SH but even that needs to be ridden fast to have as much fun. I must be getting old.

Tweety

Around here the gas is around 1,4 € per liter as well, and I get roughly 7,5L/100km mixed riding (city, some fun stuff) and around 9L/100km if I'm having fun... On most trips I get 6-7L/100km as longer trips usually means a bit less agressive riding... I put on about 5000km every year of work/daily runs, and most times around the same in longer trips... So yeah it cost money... But it's still smiles per gallon for me...

storm_rider

In the publications I've seen the RC51 rated at 122 to 128 rwhp vs. the VTR's 100 to 104 rwhp. With a full system exhaust, stage 1 cams and some tuning the VTR is within 10 to 15 rwhp of the RC51.

The nicest features of the RC51 are gear-driven cams and fuel injection.

mikstr

SP-1s dynoed just under 120 hp with SP-2 fairing about 5 hp better (from what I have seen anyhow). IN terms of the mods you mention for the VTR, a full exhaust, cams, porting and high-comp pistons would have you in SP-2 territory with better torque. Remember too that the RC weighs a bit more than the VTR (with the SP-2 being, again, slightly lighter than the SP-1, but heavier nonetheless).

Gear-driven cams are indeed nice, but FI (at least the generation found on the RCs) is over-rated in my opinion (although the ability to tune on a laptop does have its benefits).

I want to clarify that I am NOT trying to talk down the RC (I would LOVE having one like RCVTRs!!!!!) but for most mortals, and especially for street riding, I don' think an RC (stock anyhow) is light years ahead by any means. Of course, finding a stock RC is a likely as difficult as a hen's tooth, lol

easton24

I have owned a rc 51 and now own a vtr. Both bikes being stock on a road track a rc 51 is exponetially better. Not even close. Sorry guys I love my vtr but it is not track scapel. The brakes are terrible and I wont even talk about the suspension. Two very important things when riding at your limits on a road track. The rc51 on the other hand has fantastic brakes just leaving them stock and the suspension is not fantastic but good. You can work with it. I dont believe the hp on the rc 51 is more than 120 stock. So horsepower wise maybe not so much. Let just say you can ride a bone stock rc 51 around the track without grinding parts off the bike. But street wise the rc 51 cannot match the vtr. Way more comfortable bike for the road. Just two really different bikes made for two different uses.

storm_rider

I've owned my VTR since new for 11 years now. What a great street bike! Makes speed without a lot of rev's, the ergonomics are comfy and the sounds it makes with aftermarket canisters!

I was interested in getting an RC51. But what did in the RC51 were the lightweight 150 rwhp IL4's - it just can't hang with these.

For a fast bike get a Gen II 'Busa.