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1976 Honda
RC500A1E Type II Pierre Karsmakers
On May 2nd in
Fermo Italy
at the 500cc Italian Gran-prix, Honda unveiled this bike.
The RC500A1E Type ll. It was Honda's first "designed from
the ground up" Grand-prix motocross bike. News traveled
fast through the pits that day that
Honda had a new ultra trick bike. Pierre Karsmakers
qualified fastest to World Champion Roger DeCoster during time trials.
In the first moto Pierre was left standing on the starting line
with a fouled plug. The second moto Pierre won wire to
wire. The journalists that covered this race, talked more about
the bike than the race itself. It definitely stole the
show. No bike drew more attention since Yamaha came out with the
monoshock in 1973. Honda had arrived.
When you
look at this bike it is immediately apparent that there was a
lot of thought in designing this bike. The attention to
detail is amazing. A lot of innovations that are used
to this day were started with this bike. I have tried to
explain this in the text below. Other than paint (the original
was too far gone) the bike is in 100% original condition
including the tires since the day it was parked.
Dave
Arnold's comments:
When the crates with these bikes arrived, you knew something was
up. The crates themselves were a work of art. They
were made of a mahogany type wood, and when we opened them
up.....WOW. You could just smell the horsepower.
There was so much titanium and magnesium, everything was so
trick. There was actually a smell that I can
remember to this day. This was a works bike like no other.
Prior to this we would get the bikes and parts and we were
pretty much on our own for the season. This time we knew Honda
was serious. When we took them out to break them in and
set them up, we went to Saddleback. The motors were just
so shriekingly fast! They were almost
too fast. Honda's ability to stay on top of engine
development at that time was second to none. They were
definitely pushing the envelope with this bike. Each bike
came with two front ends. One with external springs and
one with internal springs. With the new chassis and laid
down shocks, every thing came together.
Pierre
Karsmakers' comments:
We got this bike a
few days before the Italian Grand-prix. During time trials,
I had the fastest lap times, but the bike was pinging a little
on top end. I told my mechanic to put in a larger main jet
to cure this. Instead he put in a colder spark plug and
the bike wouldn't start for the first moto. By the time we
put the warmer plug in I was already a lap down. I still
passed DeCoster and was in front by 29 seconds but a lap down.
The second moto though, I got the holeshot and wheelied away
from everyone! The bike was so fast and had a very smooth
powerband too. The motor had a very good characteristic.
The suspension was also fantastic. The bike was so
superior at the time, everybody was just shaking when I was
there (laughter). It was really a good feeling. It
was the first bike made just for the long travel design. I
had a special set of Koni shocks made just for this bike.
The spring rate and the damping were just right the first time.
Koni made all the right calculations when they built them.
The front forks were fantastic also. The only problem I
had was sometimes the fork gators would get caught between the
external springs. That, sometimes was not a nice feeling.
That was the only problem. The bike was very reliable, no
problems at all whatsoever.
I was very
instrumental in the design of this bike. It involved a lot
of testing, meetings and travel all over the world. I was
actually the guy responsible for getting the countershaft
sprocket moved close to the swing-arm to keep the chain from
coming off due to the long travel. It was the perfect
bike. The bike was fantastic!
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click on upper image to enlarge
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