If you were eyeing the clean Yamaha OW01 in Holland we posted earlier this week but want something closer to home, how about this awesome looking RC45? Sure there will be brand loyalists amongst the RSBFS fan base – but at this stage does anyone care if the OW01 &OW02 series machines were
1994 Honda VFR750R RC45 for sale on eBay
Known as the Honda RVF750R RC45 in full name parlance, the RC45 was a step forward from the RC30; essentially the same motor configuration and transmission were used, with the engine recieving fuel injection, a shortened stroke for more RPM and head tweaks for breathing. Many of the RC45 advancements were shared with the oval piston NR750, showing Honda’s goal of supreme engineering along with a Henry Ford approach to platform use.
From the seller:
US spec 1994 HRC RC45 for sale. One of only 50 produced for the US market in 1994 with 20 or so delivered to private race teams… very rare bike.This bike is in excellent condition with only 7611 miles. It has aftermarket indicator lights and Marchesini wheels but I have all the originals to make the bike look just as it did out of the factory.
I don’t have any time to ride it… It could be yours.
A US specification RC45 is down approximately 18 horsepower from the European variant – but that power is relatively easily “found” again with a wiring change to the fuel injection unit. Many believe that the RC45 is one of the rarest of the Honda models to be found these days: from a total of 200 produced only 50 were imported into the US, and of those at least 20 went directly into the hands of race teams. That doesn’t leave many street bikes left, which is why these do not come up for auction very often.
The priviledge of owning a piece of HRC history does not come cheap. This particular bike is listed with a starting bid of $25,000 USD, with a reserve in place. No takers thus far, but this is early days for this one. Check out all of the details here, and then give us your thoughts on owning a homologation Superbike – would this be it in a “money is no object” sort of world? It just might be in mine (minus the funky turn signals). Good Luck!
MI
This is SEX ON WHEELS ! These are the posts I live for ! I long strived to get one when I had RC30s . Now they are back to near what they sold for new . Out of my reach , but great to see they seemed to be an investment and hold their value , if not even appreciate some .
Beautiful bike. GLWS, wish I had an extra $25k laying around.
I would love to get one of these! The seller fails to give any pertinent information about this bike in the description. Does anyone have any information about this particular RC45?
They were $28K new, so, no they haven’t been a great investment- just a great bike that’s finally catching up to true current value. But, the lack of details. history, maintenance, and information from the seller is stunning on a bike this expensive and rare. I’ve seen better presented $1K CT70 Minitrails!
Auction ended suddenly after site posting!!! Weird!!!
Just because it was posted at $25k does not suggest that amount would have be enough to get the seller to part with it. Considering how rare these are and their racing history, I’d have been unwilling to part with one for anywhere near that amount. I am curious to know, was 200 examples really the global production run for these? I remember a rumor that the castrol wsc team had problems obtaining engines due to scarcity in the late 90s, so maybe there is truth in that after all. Perhaps they should have switched to something more readily available like NR750s. Yeah, I know, not legal….
Seller stated that 20 of the US sold models went to race teams. Was just wondering, did AMA racers keep the VIN tag on them? This machine is #20 from the picture. Not sure how it could be verified how many went to race teams. Does AMA racing document VINs? I don’t recall any RC45s being raced by anyone other than the american Honda effort. Well, I do remember seeing a privateer entry at Pomona in 1994, but that year was not kind to any superbike effort on the new RC45… I don’t recall every seeing any in domestic competition after that.
There were more than 200 made, I’ve never seen an official figure but have never seen a frame number over the mid 200’s. With some minor mods to rear suspension(mainly ride height) these bikes are transformed.
I don’t understand why its a 25K bike, that’s gamma money? How fast can a diesel be? Now I want to ride one, maybe I would convert to those 4 strokes I have been hearing about!
I am curious what it actually sold for. The seller must have gotten a great offer to pull it so quickly off ebay and not wait to see what other potential buyers had to offer. I certainly would have waited longer.
“DCS
September 18, 2013 12:40:07 pm
I would love to get one of these! The seller fails to give any pertinent information about this bike in the description. Does anyone have any information about this particular RC45?”
That is my old bike. A day doesn’t go by that I don’t regret selling it back in 2004. But the cash loomed larger and was needed more that the bike at the time. I had the bike from 1999 through 2004. Took it from 600 miles to about 6800 miles.
It was spit ‘n polish clean then and seems to still be that clean now.
Only 50 where allocated to the US, most where raced over the years. Back in the early 2000’s when I compiled an owners database I could only account for about 30 being in civilian hands. All the other US serial numbers where AWOL.
In retrospect I suppose we could have eaten pork n beans for a few years so that I could have kept the bike LOL…
Hey SixthGear : When you get a nice clean lightly modified one in the year 2000 for 20 Grand I would definitley say it was an investment ! If you paid the original 1994 sticker price of $33 000 Canadian then I would say maybe not .
One also went for 9 Grand in Cali in 2000 , but it was trashed cosmetically .
Agree. But I was comparing it’s original USA spec price ($28K) to the current ask of this one- $25K. Not good news if you had bought one in 1994.
As I too agree with you . Your 28 K was our 33 K …though if you look at it the exchange rate doesn’t jibe for that time so someone is getting the short end of the stick … However anyone who paid full price for their RC30 isn’t complaining these days , eh ? I could have bought a pair of them crated back in 1990 for 11 K a piece because Honda Canada felt stuck with them ! And that’s probably why hindsight is 20/20 !
This bike sold for $31k. The seller said there was a lot of interest, and he feels he may have sold it too quick at $31k.
I keep looking for the RC45 that I had back in the late 90’s. It had a one-off Ti exhaust made by Yoshimura that I got from HRC USA, Marcheshini wheels, and I had performed the ecu wire mod.. I had the bike from new, and whenI sold her sent all the stock stuff with..
Every time one shows up here I keep hoping its my ex. Just found the trackday pics, even sadder now.
Steve what was the VIN number of your bike?
I wish I still had some of the docs. I had saved all the paperwork, dyno charts, etc. from having it set up and worked on, sadly that was about 3 moves ago and my paperwork from that time has been missing.
About all I’ve found so far is some pics of me riding it badly @ Pocono; I’m from SE Pennsylvania…
That’s odd – I have never communicated with an RC45 owner (current or ex) who never knew exactly which number bike they had. After all, there where only 50 that came to the USA and all you would need to know is the last 2 digits of the VIN.
So which number RC45 do you claim to have once been the owner of? Not remembering which number RC45 one owned (or RC30 for that matter), would be like not remembering your kids name.
Because I was an entitled 19 year old kid who was swapping thru bikes at a disgusting rate back then.
This particular RC45 would be very distinctive due to the parts it had with it, and the fact that it had some expert paintwork done due to my FATHER dummy dumping it on a ride @ a stop… But you’d really have to know where to look to know where the touch ups were. Here I am @ Pocono on her, at a Reduc trackday ages ago.
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q230/Dequiallo/Scan1_zpsc6d2c7f9.jpeg
Hi, I have one of these bikes. It had been my brother’s, he passed away last year. I am having trouble getting the title changed into my name. The vin tag year does not match the stamped numbers on the bike. The vin year does not match the year of the bike. It’s been verified through the CHP that the bike is not stolen. Nevada DMV has me going to California next week to get the cert. of origin. The info stamped on the bike reads: RC45, a couple other numbers, the last 3 numbers read: 206. I am assuming this is bike 206 out of 500? I don’t want this bike, I would love to sell it. I have tried to talk to the local Honda store near me and they are rude, and not any help. I don’t even think they know what I have, after taking the bike to them. My question is, does anyone know of a bike shop, website or person I can call to get more information on this bike?
How is the bike verified ‘not stolen’ with mismatched VIN info?
The US received 50 bikes, Canada got a couple and the rest of the world shared about 2000 bikes. There where a lot more RC45’s produced than people realized. Each market got their own homologation set. The UK got a hand full, as did Germany, Sweden, France, Switzerland, Italy, Australia, Japan etc.
Each country that had separate Superbike class homologation requirements – and each country series started at VIN #1. Japan got the most bikes, way over 1000 examples and they where a 1994/1995 model year bike in Japan.
It sounds like the bike you have is a Japanese bike? Is this bike from Washington State or Oregon? There where a number of Japanese import RC45’s on the West Coast by 2002.
A grey import RC45 like that is a $10,000 bike for the reasons you are experiencing. Transfer and re-registration is a bear.