When the World Superbike championship began in 1988, Honda had the RC30 ready to race, and they won the first two championships, with Fred Merkel riding . The evolving regulations allowed 4 cylinder engines up to 750cc and twins up to 999cc, and understandably , Ducati took advantage of this .
Honda needed a new bike and, in 1994 they launched the RC45 to take them on . It proved to be a tough challenge . Often the maid but rarely the bride, they won the WSB title in 1997 but the bike enjoyed considerable success in other championships.
In this video , I go through the specifications of the homologation, road bike that they based their race bike on , take it for gentle ride and talk about its race record and what , Aaron Slight , the man who raced it throughout its career, thought about it.
Other videos that may be of interest include,
Why is the Honda SP1/2 so Iconic ...https://youtu.be/_Qxc72o8pdI?si=NIMnX_xKknkIpHyY
The Ducati 996r (an early video without gopro) ...https://youtu.be/5SbNXZk6KWs?si=Sk00Z2-C_6jmLNFi