Greg, are you still working on your suspension? If so, let me give you the advice I got from most of the sites I visited and asked this question.
I purchased mine new in '02 and now have 44,000 miles on it. New suspension, wheels (made a big difference on turn in), quick shifter, race throttle, Sato high mounts, HP Cycle (Lake City) tuned, what a damn fun bike.
The RC suspension is, at best, capable for a rider 150 to 160 lbs. any more then that and it just can't hang. The rear shock is short, by design, and soft for TWO up riding. Remember, this bike was produced in 2000 and updated in 2002. Back then, Honda would put soft shocks and banana seats on the bikes being raced at the tracks, but the track bikes have all the good stuff, of course.
When you replace the rear shock - do your research on this, you'll find that every person to ever take an RC to the track got rid of the stock stuff because it sucks so bad for going fast - you'll get a replacement longer than stock to get the weight more on the front for quicker turn in.
For the front, you can't set it up for your weight, your too heavy. I'm 210 and couldn't do it. I had the forks redone for my weight and aggressive track riding and it was such a difference, I finally understood just how the AMA guys can go so fast. With the stock stuff, I would wonder how anyone can go so fast in a corner on a race track, after, I couldn't believe how much faster I could go not even trying.
The RC is an awesome bike and still competitive if you know how to ride it, but at the high speed tracks it gets swallowed up by the 1000's.
If your going to street ride and do an occasional track day, you'll be fine on the stock stuff, but if you decide to pick up the pace at the track, you'll need new suspension.
Good luck.
|