click on upper image to enlarge

                               Even the chain roller is drilled. Foot peg bolts are billet steel. In 1976 Honda used steel fasteners at all stress points. Notice all the other bolts are titanium. Every part on this bike was made to be an RC500.

                         The silencer, which does little to keep the bike quiet has a gusset that also acts as a guard to keep the riders boot from hanging up.

                                  A special intake duct hand formed from aluminum, fiberglass and rubber feeds the air box. Remote reservoirs were necessary to keep the shocks from overheating on the new long travel bike.

                          The rear shocks were custom made for this bike by Koni. The stock Showas did not provide the same quality suspension that the front forks did. Koni was commissioned right away and came up with these shocks that are adjustable and have remote reservoirs mounted in the air box. The rear suspension was greatly improved.

                                              Inside the air-filter cage is a very special part. It is a venturi that was designed in Japan by bolting up an engine in a dyno room. Turning out the lights, using a strobe lights and a high speed movie camera, they would open the throttle and then chop the throttle. This would create a back vapor. Where the main part of the vapor ended, is where the length of the venturi was determined. This was to give the bike more throttle response at low RPM. During this test they also noticed that at full throttle the cylinder would ever so slightly actually separate from the cases!

                                                    Roger DeCoster checks out the RC500 Type ll at the Italian GP

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