Hello, my name is Terry, and I am an addict. There, I said it, I'm sure it's written somewhere that the first step in any 12 step program is to admit that you're an addict, not that I really care much about the other 11 steps, because, well, if this is an addiction, I don't want to be cured?
Okay, so what's this all about? Terry's already got two other projects that haven't really gone anywhere in the last 12 months, and now he's taken on another one? WTF? Will he ever finish one of them? More importantly, will he ever even start one?
The answer is, well, I hope so. On a positive note, my big zero turn mower is now alive and almost finished, I installed my 23 HP (650 cc) Briggs V Twin last week to replace the blown up 17(?) HP Husky single, and I was 'rapt that everything pretty much bolted right up, and better still, when I hooked up the battery (that was still holding a charge) the Briggs engine fired right up! A bit smokey, and too loud with straight out pipes, but the hydraulics work, I thinkk the electric clutch works, so as I was able to turn the key and ride it around my backyard, I called it a success.
Anyhoo, we're talking bikes here, not mowers. Now as you all know, I've owned a Honda VTR1000R SP1, or as they're known in the USA, an RVT1000R RC51. I traded my old 836cc K1 "Bitsa" for it in 2017, and I love it. Its awesome, small, fairly light, and in it's day, wickedly fast, the RC51 was designed as the "Ducati Killer", Honda's 1000cc V Twin road racer that took back the World Superbike crown from Ducati in it's first season, in 2000.
Mine's not "Minty", it's been down the road at least once I reckon, there's no damage but a little ding on the tank, but it's wearing "fast glass" (repro fairing and plastics) which is usually an indication that it's been dropped. No matter, I'm not a rivet counter, and I do like that at least one previous owner has spent big bucks on a lot of very expensive after market "go fast" items. I'm always keeping an eye out for good parts for it, so got excited when I saw an ad on FB last week for some SP1 parts a guy was selling after his bike was destroyed courtesy of a Kangaroo taking him out @ 60 MPH.
Turns out Boris (his real name) is a nice bloke who was gutted that his SP1 was wrecked. I'm guessing that it wasn't insured as it's not listed as an insurance "Write Off" anywhere, which may work in my favour later in the project. Boris was in need of a VTR1000F engine (these suckers are a little bit fragile and his engine had passed away due to a failed cam chain tensioner) and I just happened to have a spare VTR1000F engine that had only done 17000 Km (10,000 miles) so we agreed that I'd give him my engine plus $500 ($350 USD) for the remains of his SP1.
The logistics of this swap was that he lives 500 miles away, so yesterday we met in a little town called Orbost, at roughly the halfway mark, and did the exchange. I was originally just expecting the engine, rear wheel and swingarm, but once I told Boris that my intent was to get his bike back on the road again, he gave me every last nut and bolt that he still had for it. Sadly the plastics were all destroyed, as were the forks, but that's OK, they were later model CBR1000RR forks anyway, so not what I wanted. The frame looked OK, but sadly was cracked quite badly thru the TIG welds around the steering head.
thumbnail_IMG_3707(1) by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
The tank is similarly damaged, it still holds fuel but is well grazed on one side, but as SP1 tanks are as rare as rocking horse manure, I'll fix it. This is a pic I took as I was unloading all the bits last night, after 10 hours driving.
thumbnail_IMG_3700 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
Tonight I took a look inside all the boxes that Boris gave me, and was pleasantly surprised at the amount of cool parts therein, there was even a Power Commander III in amongst the box of electrics, which is great, I've got one on my other RC51 and I know they're worth a few hundred bucks. Sweet!
thumbnail_IMG_3712(1) by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
There was also tons of tools, and an owners manual! I love these engines, I always assumed that apart from the gear driven cams and fuel injection they're pretty much just a VTR1000F engine with a few magnesium covers, but in fact, they're completely different, even the engine mounts are located in different places on the engine, and while the swingarm still pivots off the back of the engine, it's also located thru the frame, unlike the "F".
thumbnail_IMG_3716 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
You gotta love anything built by HRC:
thumbnail_IMG_3715 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
The wheels looked OK.
thumbnail_IMG_3704(1) by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
Well, the back one did, the front one (actually off a CBR1000RR) had been chewed unmercilessly and both Boris and I was impressed that it still holds air. It'll do to push the bike around until I find a better one.
thumbnail_IMG_3717 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
Push it around, you ask? Yep, I've already bought another frame from the US, and a pair of forks for a 2001 CBR900RR which I think are the same as SP1 forks, so in the next couple of weeks, I'll have it back together as a rolling bike, albeit without any bodywork, until I can find some more money, my funds from the sale of my XR500RE are all but a memory after splurging on mower parts and SP1 bargains, but hey, that's OK, one day it'll look as good as my other one! Cheers, Terry.
Terry's RC51 2 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
