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Honda Displays RC213V-S Prototype: Road-Legal Exotic

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We expect this bike will see production, but at this point Honda is saying very little about the RC213V-S Prototype it unveiled in Milan earlier today. Rumors of a road-legal MotoGP replica have been circulating for years, and it looks like we may soon have something to back them up. At this point, this is all Honda is saying, so stay tuned:

Road-going RC213V-S Prototype: Developed by Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) and Honda Motor, the RC213V-S is a road-going prototype of the awesome Championship-winning MotoGP RC213V machine. Inspired by, and developed with input from many legendary GP riders, the RC213V-S Prototype is set to be the ultimate road-going motorcycle.

Two machines are being presented: a static bike painted with a distinctive Japanese flag to mark 100 years of the EICMA show, along with a fully functioning, running version clothed in full carbon fiber, fittingly ridden onto the stage by 2013-’14 MotoGP champion Marc Marquez.

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48 Comments

  1. Tori Zimbalas says:

    Really whats happening here is Honda is Homologating the RCV…..I cant imagine what it might cost

    I remember the RC51 SP1 HRC works bike was about 100 grand…. and to get one you needed to submit a resume and 50 percent non refundable deposit…

    The other thing that hasn’t happened is Honda has not released a CBR 1000RR

  2. Provologna says:

    Comfortable clip-ons……..NOT!

  3. Ian says:

    If you build it (at a semi-reasonable price), they (not me though) will come!!

  4. Glen says:

    Really? Brake lever guards!

  5. jim says:

    Yup, Kaw and Yam kicked Honda right in the junk this year.

  6. Tom says:

    Honda USA website has 2015 CBR 1000R listed as BNG. Yawn.

  7. Alex says:

    This would be one bike I’d like to own, even if performance was relatively anemic since I don’t have the skills to make full use of a top tier sport bike’s potential and I like it’s lines much better than the monstrosities they’re turning out these days with the humpback gas tanks and Stealth fighter lines.

    • Neutron73 says:

      Yeah….I’m impressed by the prototype nature of the bike, but in the overall scheme of things, I kinda think Honda mailed it in. Yamaha and Kawasaki definitely upstaged Big Red.

      Sure, “IF” this bike even sees the street it will be a crowd attraction, but that’s a big “if”. On the other hand,you can bet there will be a lot of R1s and H2s on the road will incredible street credit. A shame, really, that Honda didnt show off an actual street bike that is at least accessible.

  8. Tommy D says:

    The title should be – “The Emperor’s New Clothes”

    This years Honda reveal lines up the the storyline of that Hans Christian Andersen. Sorry Honda you are naked and should be ashamed compared to the other manufacture’s effort. You can’t show up with prototypes and expect me to be all excited.

    • Al Pinaweiss says:

      you’re joking, right ?

      Honda’s recent offerings, although relatively conservative
      as products, delivered a new way of bike-‘category’ thinking,
      which was, in turn, actually the single biggest trigger
      of the recent change in ‘commercial thinking’ in the motorcycle
      market globally, giving rise to a whole new level of offering.

      Honda started ALL THIS JAZZ in 2011/2012, make no mistake about it
      (in a very understated, ‘seemingly-unexciting-products’ way).

      • mickey says:

        Careful AL, defending Honda in any way around here will find the crowd hunting for a short rope and a tall tree to hang you from.

  9. xlayn says:

    The only no origami bike of the day, I may be getting old but I like the standard looks of the bike.
    So all brands took the approach of “make one incredible bike with a corresponding price” this year, guess people with a lot of Franklins will be extra happy this year.
    Open shootout this year will be incredible.

  10. Let the speculation…continue?

  11. pat depp says:

    it looks like its been slapped together,at the last minute, with a bunch of parts for the show.

    • Norm G. says:

      well that makes 3 observations. but I’m going to allow it (for now).

      they were busy defending a MotoGP title and routed everybody 10 straight (no mean feat). technically they have an excuse, or at least one if pitched it at someone like myself…? I would have to accept.

      • Dave says:

        Re: “they were busy defending a MotoGP title…”

        The guys defending the title have little to nothing to do with the guys who make the stuff they sell.

        • Norm G. says:

          re: “The guys defending the title have little to nothing to do with the guys who make the stuff they sell.”

          maybe that’s been the problem the past decade…? 🙂 LOL

          when it comes to this particular piece of kit (RC213VSXYZ) rest assured they will not be handing over their engineering masterpiece to some “committee of tossers” (every company has one)… even if they ARE fellow employees.

          no, it will stay under HRC command/control and they will tend to it on THEIR timeline and nobody else’s.

          btw, if you guys want to see what this bike will ACTUALLY look like (should it ever arrive) take a ginder at the new “Marcus” Blade. there are 2 editions, no not the base, but the SP (ohlins). the new Repsol colours using the white look brilliant.

          http://powersports.honda.com/

          and if you’ve ever been detail oriented enough to notice any production chassis (particularly swingarms) from Honda going back to the turn of the Century…? you’d notice an unparalleled level of fit and finish versus other brands, fairplay.

          however (comma) I can see just by looking at the pictures above, this prototype DOES NOT have it. anybody who’s seen Bradl’s LCR up close when it was making the bike show rounds here in the states a year or two ago knows what I’m talkin’ ’bout (willis).

          http://tinyurl.com/ozfcrvr

          sorry, I had forgotten about that, getting old (when 700 years you reach look as good you will not) so yes I’m afraid I have to officially co-sign this kit as being…

          “slapped together”.

    • joe b says:

      I cant believe some think this is a “slapped together, at the last minute, with a bunch of parts for the show”. ? Really. Have you looked at the bike, and the pictures yet? You cant tell that its real?

      • Norm G. says:

        re: “I cant believe some think this is a “slapped together, at the last minute, with a bunch of parts for the show”.

        well this is Honda, is it really that hard to believe…?

        re: “You cant tell that its real?”

        what IS real…? how do you DEFINE real…? if you’re talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can…

        …but I digress.

    • joe b says:

      Carefully looking at the details, Race like exhaust with mufflers, new mirrors on the lever guard posts, the right frame cover removed showing burp tank hidden, switches on bars, side stand with ignition lock out, all showing, how one would think this is a last minute “slapped together” for a show, are we looking at the same bike? You know its going to have valve springs in the engine, not pneumatic, so that’s “slapped together”? I don’t think many here actually know what they are talking about.

      • Carl Gustav says:

        Yep. And it even had a year in MotoGP to have the bugs ironed out.
        Must be as ready as can be.

  12. Stuki Moi says:

    I am pretty darned sure, at least part of the reason for the delays, is that the actual engineers at Honda capable of pulling it off, find the whole concept of a “Road Going MotoGP replica” as silly and inane as I do. As opposed to seemingly many salesguys and marketers (and motoHacks), good engineers tend to have some modicum of pride in what they do. And value at least some measure of accuracy in the statements they are willing to go on record making. Prototype racing is pretty much as diametrically opposed to road going vehicle production as you can get. But I guess you can always put fins on a Cadillac and have a roadgoing spaceship……

    • Norm G. says:

      re: “the actual engineers at Honda capable of pulling it off, find the whole concept of a “Road Going MotoGP replica” as silly and inane as I do.”

      well there definitely NOT on about anything dealing with “free lunch” I can tell ya that.

  13. Norm G. says:

    re: “at this point Honda is saying very little about the RC213V-S”

    “Mumford” and Son’s the word.

  14. Philip says:

    Mirrors connected to the lever guards. That’s a new one for me. I know they should have built one of these when they were using the V5 but all in all I’m pretty stoked that they are doing it now.

  15. DaveDos says:

    Looks like it’ll satisfy the interwebs market: complainers who don’t buy. It’s a halo model that’s virtually unobtainable.

  16. Jeremy in TX says:

    Kind of like its True Adventure concept… In its typical fashion, Honda is introducing concepts while its competitors are throwing blows in the pit.

  17. Axle says:

    I’ll call foul on this one, its a cobbled together bike made to look like a MotoGP replica and they probably husstled it together afer being completely upstaged by Kawasaki in Cologn. I doubt this one will ever see the light of day. The tail would melt away from the heat of the exhaust. The muffler system is no where near big enough to comply with any regulations. Brake hoses all over the place that would not be seen on a street bike etc etc. Don’t get excited people.

    • Norm G. says:

      re: “its a cobbled together bike made to look like a MotoGP replica and they probably husstled it together afer being completely upstaged by Kawasaki in Cologn”

      fairplay, not an entirely unreasonable assertion. look at high res pics from the Aspar/Drive M7 debut, and it’s basically Nicky’s EXACT SAME bike with a different paint job and some different wheels fitted. not that that’s bad…? but it’s nothing they (Honda) couldn’t do in a week.

      I too would think they should be MUCH farther along…?

      re: “Don’t get excited people.”

      drats…!!! (Sylvain Guintoli Frenchman/Englishman mashup)

    • Brian says:

      Really the exhaust will melt the tail? That’s such a ridiculous statement ever hear of heat shielding? Also brake hoses all over the place? I have just as many brake hoes on my 2013 Cbr600rr your ignorance is very obvious.

      • Norm G. says:

        no, he’s just observant. he’s taking note of the routing and how production kit (as rule) doesn’t run around the outside front of the forks flapping in the breeze like that…? that’s race set-up. real world runs back of the forks.

        re: “your ignorance is very obvious”

        spoken too soon me thinks…?

      • Curly says:

        Probably won’t melt the tail but will it shake like MM’s does over bumps?

    • billy says:

      Axle, did you think that maybe Honda had this under wraps for a couple of years? Maybe.

  18. endoman38 says:

    Rumors are of a $100,000 or more price tag.

    • Provologna says:

      Maserati sales up 97% year over year. While most Americans’ take home pay is down since ’99 (value adjusted dollars), the top 1% have had staggering increases. Yes, the economy’s improved, but only for them, exactly as planned. Public debt increased several trillion dollars since the depression. Who benefited?

  19. VLJ says:

    That swingarm! That Japanese “Zero” flag paintjob!

    Love that they conjured up the image of the RC30 with this one.

    • Asparagus Joe says:

      I’d say more NS500 than RC30. The color scheme is so Freddie Spencer.
      While not much of a looker, the NS500 was a masterpiece of engineering.
      It was one of the most influential work, engineering-wise.
      Who, back in the 1983, guessed a V3 could prevail over a more powerful V4? That thing delivered.
      And HRC sold it as RS500 to privateers. It was possible to buy the cutting edge unobtainum back then.
      RC30 arrived 5 years later and achieved the same success in SBK. Darn those were the days…

      Let’s hope this thing will do what its designed to do(kick serious arse on track). Who cares about looks is a poser IMO.
      Our long long wait for a real V4 has finally been answered. Or has it? We’ll find out next year for sure.

  20. Norm G. says:

    re: “Rumors of a road-legal MotoGP replica have been circulating for years”

    decades.

  21. Gronde says:

    Why are they hiding the left side of the bike?

    • Norm G. says:

      they’re not hiding. it’s been my observation, MD tends NOT to go “buck-wild” with pictures is all… despite having more in hand.

  22. Blackcayman says:

    Who’s thunder have they stolen? & How much is it going to be?

    Looks like they used a lot of Unobtanium

    • Norm G. says:

      may have to rescind my price quote…? what’s depicted here (anyway) with that front end, chassis, rims and pipe work is all of $100 grand easy, but specs subject to change.

      works kitted SP1 racers from HRC let out for something like $110,000… and that was in turn of the century dollars and may even had provision for spares.

      • Blackcayman says:

        Couldn’t this be the Up-Spec’d version for very limited release, to be followed by a true civilian version for 19,999.

        The other RC bikes weren’t that far from the market

        • Norm G. says:

          re: “The other RC bikes weren’t that far from the market”

          the other RC bikes hadn’t won 6 MotoGP titles.

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