RC51 Track Day in 4k

[@ppipowerclass]

Track days: The only reason a guy should EVER have to get down on one knee.

[@Cygnus307]

This rider was in a class of his own that day (I know, it wasn't a race). The 51 is my favorite bike of all time so this was a blast to watch, with amazing video quality no less!

[@adibee88]

Jetstream, you're definitely in the WRONG race class! hahaha The way you were running the other riders down, makes me proud to own my RC51 and see its capabilities, keep up the great work; ride safe!

[@jetstream01]

adibee88 Thanks! And haha yeah I've since moved up to A group instead of running in B. Lots of people faster than me in A and it's fun to try and chase them down! RC51 is a great bike but very tiring to ride around this short track.

[@karlkelley8353]

Thumbs up! Now I'm going to go give my RC a hug!

[@toastopia1]

i loved at 8:26 that guy did a double take when you smoked past him!, he had you in the straights but you reeled him in on those corners! amazing riding!

[@rocker1210]

This is pretty therapeutic to watch, nice riding!

[@illectrikjm]

Awesome Video! I enjoyed watching you crush every single bike you came upon!

[@KTMDude44]

Really enjoyed watching that, I have the same bike, but I must have a faulty one because it doesn't go THAT fast ha ha ha. Ride safe guys.

[@jetstream01]

Cliff Patten glad you enjoyed it! Hey that's what's good about watching videos of your same bike...you know yours is equally capable! At least with slicks on haha

[@cmckx144]

Awesome video! I like the location of the external mic, you can hear the great gear drive on the cam!

[@brianroagers6894]

Reeling them in are ya! Great riding sick bike love the sound!

[@Hammymoto]

Love your videos man, miss doing track days.

[@johnsuzuki6406]

There's no better tuning aid than a good rider.great bike...great rider.all the best.

[@jetstream01]

john suzuki thanks! And I gotta agree...people invest heavily into add-ons or modifications to make their bike faster, but I think track days and maybe rider courses are the best ways to go faster.

[@topgun8683]

You just passed everybody, cool bike!

[@weatherwatchTX]

Dude you’re a great rider.

[@rays1467]

bike sounds good...i miss my RC but looking for another one now. i've ran Buttonwillow quite a few times and you seem to know the line around it pretty well. Nice riding. Get some tire wamers, they will help those tires last MUCH longer, it's all about heat cycles. Unless you're ok with coughing up $$$ for tires all the time. ;) BTW - i noticed at 10:46 you passed another RC51...could that be Micbael Mendoza?

[@dougi1967]

That last turn before the front straight is where I almost cracked my back in half

[@thomaschristener2902]

Great bike, great ride, great video! Thanks for that

[@jetstream01]

Thanks!

[@Sooperdooper74]

Great Ride, on my favorite bike!

[@motosotarc5347]

Nice ridin!

[@hlpang1075]

What a sweet sweet bike

[@philippemarcoux4361]

Great skills!

[@djdramatical]

Great laps. I love 12:28 when dude like wtf. You running slicks and warmers or street tires. Looking fast out there.

[@jetstream01]

djdramatical thanks! Running slicks with no warmers in this video, but I do run warmers now.

[@rbyourb]

Ah man that was nice, great video.

[@realdata8624]

that's a nice paint job!

[@cruzanbum3108]

LOOKS LIKE A BLAST!

[@cachacaczaja]

better than movie

[@therealsambodian]

Jetstream, you stopped by my garage and checked out my rc51. I was the one you smoked at the 4 minute mark. I didn't know you were the Laguna rc51 guy lol. Good riding man you were booking out there!

[@jetstream01]

+Sam Mey Hah what are the odds?? I remember stopping by your garage. I always love seeing other RC51s out there. Your bike was really nice. Are you the one that had the really loud pipes? There were like 4-5 RCs out there that day and one of them sounded like it had no mufflers lol

[@therealsambodian]

+jetstream01 I have Sato Banzais with gp cans, so they're loud, but not that loud lol. Mine was black with the gold wheels. I was also surprised about the number of rc51s of at that trackday, usually I'm the only one riding this pig out there.

[@jetstream01]

+Sam Mey when I was at Laguna there were a few RC51s as well. I guess there are more people still enjoying them than we thought! and Satos are nice pipes I have some for street use as well.

[@micbaelmendoza1173]

+Sam Mey hey I remember you as well on the black and white stripped with the sweet titanium satos. i was right by the exit and saw you pass each time. nice setup. these things are pigs but fun as hell to pull out of a turn. Ive looped mine in the back roads in livermore/patterson, I slid mine at button willow, and each and every time has started back up no problem

[@sandymitchell8182]

I got nervous just watching!! hahaha

[@drsus0]

nothing like the gear drive sound... miss mine.

[@micbaelmendoza1173]

ahh yeah you were there the same day as myself. do you recall seeing an all black rc51 with red pinstrip painted all over. I was shacked up by the exit to the track just off to the left. you are pretty quick around the track. these heavy beasts are fun as hell to carry through the turns. they do it with such ease. I ran michelins (not my favorite choice) both days. ran in the rain all morning too no problem. hit me up, ive done quite a few neat things to my own that I could share with you no problem

[@jetstream01]

+Micbael Mendoza I do remember seeing your bike there! I should've stopped by your pit. I definitely need to get my bike dynoed and I could always use advice on which mods to do to the bike. I do currently have a PC3 with a map for my Yoshimura pipes I found online, but as you know the only way to get a truly good map is to have it done. I really need to get a different throttle that reduces the turn by like 50-75%, but MotionPro doesn't make one for our bike. Have you found any solution for that issue?

[@therealsambodian]

+jetstream01 you should try the HRC throttle tube, it's did wonders for shortening my throttle pull.

[@jetstream01]

+Sam Mey Is there a particular one I gotta get? or does the same tube work with multiple Hondas?

[@therealsambodian]

+jetstream01 the part number is 53141-MT7-000, it's $30 and does wonders. I see you grabbing a lot of throttle each time you shift, this will help. If you're not already on speedzilla.com, you should. There's a ton of useful info.

[@micbaelmendoza1173]

+jetstream01 yeah Sam Mey is correct. I too installed an HRC throttle tube and i love it easiest mod ever. The way i think about it instead of reducing overall turn throw, for every degree of rotation with the the 1/6 throttle tube actually causes the throttle body valves to open more quickly and more aggressively. furthermore it makes blipping the throttle even easier and requires much less rotation to do so. I do believe the honda hrc tubes are the same for the fireblades and what not but all you have to do is compare part numbers and refrence a proper fit

[@jetstream01]

Romeo for some reason I can't reply to your comment. But yeah I'm going to A group next time. I was just in B group because most of my friends were riding there. The mods to this bike are Yoshimura RS3 pipes, Power Commander, Slicks, Scotts steering dampener (although it stopped working). Suspension was set up by Dave Moss, but I blew a fork seal so I gotta get it redone.

[@micbaelmendoza1173]

+jetstream01 Id recommend a full exhaust always, the stock is stupid heavy and cluncky. all of the attachment points power reducers, I would go with just a full stainless as the titaniums are nice no doubt but expensive as hell. I would recommend some BMC stock style paper air filters, and if you haven't already re-geared the bike you are missing out.

[@micbaelmendoza1173]

+Micbael Mendoza Heres my advice: 1) compression test your motor for life and longevity, if compression is low then you need to have your valves inspected and if out of tolerance have them adjusted to bring back into spec. HIGHER COMPRESSION=MORE POWER 2) install every engine mod you want i.e. plugs intake and exhaust. anytime you make changes to your engine after a tune, it screws with the entire tune and basically you have wasted your money 3) finally you are ready for a complete custom map for your bike. On a side note: this is exactly how I did mine, after crashing mine I took about a year process in between work and jobs to get mine all dialed in the way I wanted it. Before the tune with just a downloaded tune my rc ran okay but never felt all there. After the tune it was a completely different bike hands down. My friend ran his completely stock rc51 sp1 at the track and I did all his easy maintenance in preparation and i rode his for a little while and aside from the stock weight, it just felt so cluncky and not smooth on the throttle. I let him ride mine, and it damn near scared him how quickly the power comes on and pulls the front end up We offer custom maps using our dyno for $295. what we do is dial in your fueling to much less from the factory lean state to a more rich fueling If you were to get a pcV with ignition we could also dial that in as well, but honnestly unless you are running higher compression pistons and flowed heads new cams theres no real reason. Lastly if you are just curious to see where your bike stands on performance we will throw your bike up on the dyno for $60 and make several pulls for an average horse power and torque reading. If and at that point you are unsatisfied with its power or lean state we will dyno the bike for the full $295 and include the $60 horse power pull into the total cost/bill The way i see it is you want to know if your bike is running to lean because at the track temps are hot and hard on the motor. running to lean is actually reducing the life expectancy of the engine. if you have anymore questions about the dyno service you can check out our website www.livermoremoto.com/ or if you just want to ask me some more question regarding a mods list you can email me at [e-mail] that goes for you too sam mey

[@marcsworld1love]

5:40 RC51 (what was the bike you passed) passes underneath holding a solid tight line. This video gives me more confidence riding my 2003 RVT RC 51 here in the canyons around Malibu where i live short ride from. I'm curious what gearing you are running, and did you do any other mods? Thanks, looking to be better before i get to old. Soon i will have my forks serviced and get my suspension dialed in if i can find a suspension guy, or girl here near my home in the San Fernando valley. 7:55 opponent shows his horsepower, but you show him your braking and turning skills. 10:33 on the throttle mid way through the turn. Those tires and suspension were on point.

[@jetstream01]

Thanks for the comment. At 5:40 that other bike was either an R6 or GSXR600, hard to tell. If it was another liter bike I would've been demolished down the straight haha. Bike was completely stock aside from the Sato exhaust and Power Commander. Never touched the suspension or anything. Running Pirelli slicks pretty much makes up for any bad suspension setup to the extent I was pushing it in this video. I'm about 10-15 seconds per lap faster at this track now (see my latest video on the Panigale V4) so I'm not sure how the ol RC would've handled that kind of pace. In any case it always handled anything I threw at it absolutely amaingly. I miss that bike pretty badly.

[@Whitie02]

51 for life

[@onlyoneromeo]

Looks like you need to get bumped up to the next class if there is one. What miss you have done to the rc51?

[@micbaelmendoza1173]

hey jetstream01 i love the rc51 I ran mine down at buttonwillow raceway just this month for 2 days. bike ran perfect both days. actually managed to crash out on the first and bike was perfectly fine after washing out. these rc's are badass. If you haven't had yours professionally tuned yet then you are missing out on so much more throttle control and smoothness. I work at LIVE MOTO in livermore CA. I help operate our in-house dyno and I was able to re-map mine and pickup some nice power. the torque can be altered so so much and make it way more smooth. I have an sp1 and pulled around 117hp with a full frankenstein exhaust. but the sp2 should pump out closer to 124-125hp with the exact same mods. We have the graph to prove it. come check us out if you are in the bay www.livermoremoto.com/ the rc has so much more potential to make that throttle smooth but snappy which is perfect for the vtwin. from the looks of it... you might have been there the exact same day as myself?!

[@emilyarelyvictor1]

What's the set up on the dampener? Bad ass vid!!!

[@jetstream01]

Thanks? You mean the steering dampener? It unfortunately stopped working a while back for an unknown reason and I have yet to get it fixed.

[@michaelknauer7471]

That's one thing i don't like about the bike is the two little radiators on the side, it does a horrible job at keeping it cool. I noticed your temp reads about the same as mine when im pushing the bike...230 degrees smh, i think i might do a front radiator conversion...

[@jetstream01]

Michael Knauer yeah this is a very hot running bike. What I don't understand is Nickey Hayden's race RC51 did have a large front radiator...so I'm not sure why they didn't adopt it for the street version. the point of a v twin is to make the bike narrower (see any Ducati) and yet the side radiators cancel that out. The VFR is the same way. Come on Honda!

[@liamj2363]

On the plus side they pick up a lot less crap off the road...

[@jetstream01]

Liam J that's true...I have more than one friend who has had to deal with a punctured radiator.

[@absolutelynonameslef]

Try the SPAL fan conversion before going the front mount route. Much better cooling capacity.

[@YINGYANGPOLARBEAR]

I'm keeping my RC51 till I'm in my grave

[@funnyman801]

sold mine in 2002,so sorry ,stuck on a xrv750 now

[@carlosrubio8234]

Polarbear me too. greetings from Spain.

[@sillieww]

Ive had multiple bikes but the RC51 will always stay with me.

[@homefront3162]

Excellent

[@KSwapTheWorld69]

Did you just lap the whole track?!

[@justaguy4real]

It's be interesting for races with the bikes mm only in 5th hear ha

[@MB190EVO]

very cool

[@itsjussjerry]

You're movin' man! what lap times? I would guess low 2:00?

[@jetstream01]

You know I never got a clean lap in (without traffic) so I don't really know what lap times I was turning.

[@elliottstjerne5877]

Dang! What's the highest you have ever jumped that thing?

[@jetstream01]

10ft minimum!

[@tuekyndal4805]

I loved it :O)

[@rdsii64]

I noticed that a good many of those riders were preoccupied with putting their knee on the deck using an exaggerated incorrect body position. Assuming the RC51 riders camera is attached to the bottom of his helmet, he seems to be using a correct body position. He is less fatigued and able to ride the wheels off his motorcycle. He should give the other riders a lesson.

[@josephjarvis278]

V-Twin Torque Monster

[@jakeb92980]

7 Years later and turn 2 is still a mess.

[@LETerEATRenne]

6:33 nice

[@airdoctor1251]

I'm looking for a track bike , most of the options were cbr600rr , r6 , etc. To avoid the 1000cc 170 hp+ bikes and learn better. I know the RC51 is not a slow bike but what do you think of it as a track bike compared to 600cc bikes (torque for sure is missing from the 600cc but else) What is the wet weight of your bike? edit: is it sp1 or sp2?

[@jetstream01]

My bike is an SP2 because it's a 2005 model. The wet weight is almost 500lb. It's about as fast as a modern 600 down the straights but does a bit better on acceleration. So basically, riding an RC51 is like riding a really heavy and large 600 lol-not an ideal track bike. However, you'd be hard pressed to find a bike that's as much FUN on the track as this is...and it's still very capable on the track. You'll find yourself way more worn out but it does handle very well despite the weight. So for a track only bike, I'd say a 600 is better. For a really fun bike that isn't the fastest or lightest, go with an RC51. Keep in mind that stock bodywork is almost impossible to find, so you do have to worry a lot about wrecking it.

[@airdoctor1251]

what about chinese fairings ? and preserve the oem ones? edit : okay also the engine parts are they readily available? I think that is very important :o

[@jetstream01]

Air Doctor well, it's a Honda so the engine is pretty bulletproof as long as you keep up on maintenance. I wouldn't worry about it too much. There are no Chinese plastic fairings I've found that are in the 3 piece "race" configuration, so I am running fiberglass Motofairings with a Hotbodies tail since the Motofairings one didn't fit (off eBay). However, the main problem is you still have to worry about a gas tank. I bought a second tank on eBay and I swap it with my stock one for track days. My bike has the black/grey bodywork stock which is even harder to find than the red one.

[@airdoctor1251]

Price isn't bad , for the motofairings. Why is the gas tank an issue? related to crashing? then in that case what about the lovely side radiator* ? got a solution for that?

[@jetstream01]

Air Doctor the gas tank is an issue because if you go down with the stock tank, it's likely to get scratched or dented. And plus it's hard to match the colors of your track bodywork, but that's a small issue. And no solution for the side radiators! Pretty dumb decision to put them there...if you look at Nicky Hayden's race version of the RC51, it actually has a large front radiator. I'm not sure why they put them on the side. The bike runs really hot because of that...

[@worzysp1]

Man as much as I wanna big up this video. and I know the sp1 is the closest bike your gonna get to a race sports bike being built by hrc honda and having one! but how do you know this isn't a track rider?

[@jetstream01]

worzysp1 I'm a little confused by your comment. What do you mean how do I know this isn't a track rider?

[@mr.fireblade6662]

4:10 Rc51 ?

[@jetstream01]

J.P Gonzales yep! There were actually 3 of us out there.

[@onlyoneromeo]

What gearing are you running?

[@jetstream01]

ROMEO All stock

[@onlyoneromeo]

Wow. Ok. I heard the best hearing was one down MD one up because the internal gearing was so high. This was the only way to get to redline in top gear.

[@jetstream01]

I've heard of other people changing the gearing, but the bike pulls hard enough in 1st through 3rd gear that I don't really see how it would be a benefit.

[@Pillokun]

This is clearly CGI. No way a 999cm3 v-twin can outrun a Daytona 675, no freaking way :P And without a quickshifter... damn man, you must have lost like your own weight in sweat after this workout.

[@worzysp1]

Man a sp1 can way out run that bike!!! are you for real!

[@aaronschlueter2171]

Shitting on me.

[@jetstream01]

Absolutely