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that R.C.
finds when they're
building the bike.
You can also buy the parts, piece by
piece, and do or have done the work by your favorite
wrench. Piece by piece, you won't be saving much money. And you'll be losing something - the added benefit of
having the work done by R.C. Without slighting the
average, or even above average wrench, he isn't that
familiar with the stresses and strains of a Honda 750
when high horsepower is dumped through it. Plus he's
almost certainly never built an R.C. motor before.
Slim Moffet and Byron Hines, at R.C. have
put together hundreds of Cobra engines. They know what's
liable to break, and need replacement. What to look for,
which may not be recognizable to the normal wrench as a
danger point.
So, let's say the two grand is justified
on that end.
There damned well
had better be some other ones before most people run out
and dump two biggies into a space about two feet by two feet.
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Start, then, at the top.
Every single record-holding Honda in the
American Motorcycle Drag Racing record book uses parts
from R.C. Engineering. Most of them have complete Cobra
engines (or sizes downward, depending on class). In the
top classes, all of the record machines have the King
Cobra engine - which is the Cobra, plus a quarter-inch stroker crank and built to individual customer order
(prices start at $2500 for these, and they're race-only
engines).
This, of course, interests the
competition-only rider. But most of us are only
occasional competitors. We'll be at the strip maybe
three or four times a year. Most of the competition is
at the local stoplight, with one eye poised for the
heat.
Can these engines be streeted?
Yes. Quite successfully. Collins
estimates that most of the R.C. Cobra engines have been
built for street/strip use. And run successfully.
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Of course, if your performance interest is a once-a-year looking at 100
mph on your vacation, that two grand could probably be
better spent elsewhere.
That kind of money demands a certain
amount of deep-seated interest in going speeds which
really aren't logical or entirely sane.
The next question which comes up is what
are the specific advantages which you are going to get
from this engine?
First, then, you must look at what you
have.
A stock 750 Honda
Four, in crisp running order, is going to be pulling
somewhere between 35 to (as a wild outside) 50
horsepower, at the rear wheel. Lots of riders
still believe that they're getting 60 horsepower, which
Honda claimed from the model on first introduction.
There may have been 1969 K-Os which had that much.
We have never seen one. But we won't say there
weren't - or aren't - any. A very skilled rider,
on a 750E (remember, they went down one on the
countershaft
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