PROJECT CORNER STEVE LANE'S HONDA VFR-RC45

Welcome to our project-themed paradise. A place where readers like you take a few snaps, tell a few tales, and get to show us what they've been grafting away at in their garages. This month we're taking a look at Steve Lane's Honda VFR-RC45 Project...

- 

Why this bike?

As a child of the 1980s and early 1990s, and with my dad passionate about bikes, as a family we spent many weekends at the various racetracks of the Midlands, and I loved the club racer RC30s, and then the later BSB/WSB-spec RC45s.

Fast-forward 20-odd years and although I'd built a few nice trackday bikes and a few magazine-featured streetfighters, I'd never really gone to town on a bike completely from front to rear, so I decided to build an RC45. However, I couldn't afford the £30k-plus that a real 45 commands, so it was quickly decided that it would be a replica.

After a few weeks of searching eBay, I found this '97 model; the upside it had only done 8000 miles on it, the downside being that it had been lovingly street fightered by someone who really shouldn't be using hand tools. Oh, and it was down on the south coast!

What's the end goal?

I'd seen a few Castrol Honda and Honda Britain replicas, and although they looked convincing from a distance, they didn't seem to be much more than a paint job and replica bodywork, but I was determined from the outset that my bike would use as many genuine parts as possible, and if I couldn't find a part, I would make it myself.

The end goal is to build a bike that wouldn't look out of place in the Suzuka 8 Hours pitlane, but hopefully at a fraction of the cost of a real race bike.

How’s it going?