some pics of my new RC51
 

I came across a killer deal on an 01 RC51, has PCIII, yosh slip ons, and a few other odds and ends. Mostly stock otherwise. Picked it up just the other night. Things I need to get done:

1 fork seal (help here!!!!)
small exhaust leak at collector (friend's weld)
ripped driver seat (new seat, corbin? sargent?)
paint (friend's shop)
PCIII maps (saw this site ROGUE, they also had a service manual)
fluids change (honda dealer!)

So if anyone could help me with any of these things I would appreciate. Also, my superhawk is for sale if anyone is interested.
enjoy the pics

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and the money shot
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Are you seriously taking the bike to a dealer for changing fluids? Really?

No I'll just be purchasing them there. I'll do it myself!

bike looks good, ive never seen a flat black one, i like it alot. ive got a corbin seat on my gixxer i hate it. its too hard, you need to sit right back into it and it cups your ass, otherwise it probably causes more ass numbness than it does good. also do both fork seals at the same time, the other may blow shortly after and this way youll have clean fluid in both forks with the same level of fluid, previous owner may have over or under filled them if they arent original, and if they are then chances are that fluid looks like mud by now.

pcIII is a complete piece of shit, 9 out of 10 people i know who run them have problems with it, be it street or race bikes. i know of a couple guys who havent had any issues but the rest have and they end up ripping the crap out so be mindful of that

ouch, thanks for your input. seems I'll check out the other seat options because I'd love a soft one. As for the PCIII I've read bad things also, in comparison to PCII. too bad, but hopefully I can make it work for me in contrast to others' experience. And for the forks, well I just called my local honda dealer. they are looking to get $325 for replacement (including parts) of both fork seals. that's a lot of money in my eyes, so I'm going to try and use the tutorial on here and maybe get the "correct tool" to do it. I've heard of people using PCV and cutting in half. But I don't have the experience with the oil filling, dampening etc. that I may need, so I may take it to the honda shop. I would like to try it myself, to get the experience if it becomes necessary in the future. what do you all think? and where do I get oil?

at the very least, remove the fork tubes yourself and take them to the shop. I paid $100 for a set to be installed that way.

Ahh I thought that may have something to do with it. I will call again!

yeah man i dropped the tubes out of my bike in about 20 minutes, very simple to do, i have a buddy whos a honda mechanic he did mine and i just had to buy him the special tool to pull apart the ohlins forks. as for fluid, any bike shop will carry it

Well RC51 forks are not all that hard to rebuild but you will need a few special tools.

Also as they are USD forks they go together a bit different and there are a few tricks while putting them back together.

First step is to get an RC51 sevice manual and give it a read.

Then if you have questions ask away as a couple of us are running those forks. ;)

i love corbin seats. i had one on my 05 gix1k and it was narrow because the bike is narrow, and that made it uncomfy, but it was better than the oem seat. i had a corbin on my rc51 and it was good. corbin on hawk is very good. corbin on my 1098 is ok.

Nice bike. How about some more details about your new ride. How many miles etc.

sure thing. have many plans for it, mostly to get it to OEM. it's near there now, but it could use a few items. it came with 26k miles, clear title. runs and drives good, I registered it today and took it to work. On the rear cylinder though, the header pipe is basically disconnected on both ends. Lack of clamp strength I believe, that or that gaskets.rrrk but I'll figure it out. Very fast, or at least it seemed so with a mis-calibrated speedo. I'll need a speedo-healer in other words. The powercommander stuff I've been trying to figure out. I have the cables and just downloaded the software, so I'll be revamping the map. PO said he installed a new set of yosh's but didn't touch the powercommander <-- invitation for me to touch :)

Imo sargent makes the most comfortable seats.

i had a stock k1 gix seat on my vtr and i loved it. it was much better than stock, but my k1 gix corbin seat is absolutely terrible. its fine if im sitting against the tail but i like to sit right against the tank and that probably makes it that much less comfortable. might be different for different bikes.

Looks like a fun bike!

Some free stuff here for the RC51: Free RC51 Service Manual Download Honda RVT1000R RC51.info

[QUOTE=uchi;314165]yeah man i dropped the tubes out of my bike in about 20 minutes, very simple to do, i have a buddy whos a honda mechanic he did mine and i just had to buy him the special tool to pull apart the ohlins forks. as for fluid, any bike shop will carry it

Hell -short of the fairing being in the way, which is the same as any other bike with a fairing.. You are looing at thirty minutes to carefully take the front end apart- Fork seal are more indepth -than just changing the seals out- a shop should have Honda SS8/10 wieght suspension fork oil (if the shop is a recitable shop/ that oil should be used)
If you have never done the fork seal on a set of USD forks- I would take the set to a certified tech. at a shop...

For production seats, Took my RC51 seat to have it custom, repadded, and covered...

[QUOTE=1971allchaos;314384]\

agreed, i had a buddy who runs a shop do mine just because mine are worth too much money to risk damaging, and because he owed me a favor, lol.

i dont remember on my vtr but im pretty sure i dropped the forks out without even removing the fairing. just a matter of shoving your hand into places that may be tight. however you do it make sure the bike is supported well. i hang my bike from my rafters by the frame sliders.

I may just have a new cover put on. It's a cardboard-flat seat, not very comfortable, but maybe I can have the upholsterist add some padding. New covers (to shape) are near as much as a new OEM seat on ebay, maybe I'll just get a generic pick off the store wall..

When I spoke with the dealer a second time he told me that if I brought just the shocks and all the parts it would be 2 hours labor time (1 per fork), if I had the whole bike add one hour.. $70/hr I think that isn't bad.

thats not bad at all man. yank the forks theyre easy enough to do

nice find nothing.
If you don't have the money right now, you can try to stop the fork seal leak by sliding a flat thin piece of plastic around the inside edge of the rubber seal while you liberally spray silicone spray in and around seal. I don't know if this will work on your USD forks, but I did it to a leaking fork seal a couple years ago and it's still dry. I would still change the fork oil and other fluids. Get a manual and start doing this stupid shit yourself.