The first customer delivery of the Honda RC213V-S, the road-going version of the RC213V MotoGP bike, took place at Honda Racing’s UK headquarters in Milton Keynes in December last year. The first Honda RC213V-S went to John Brown, owner of a Honda dealership in Manchester, and collector of performance motorcycles.
John Brown, who bought the brand-new RC213V-S in his collection, said, “When I first heard of this project I thought ‘when this happens I have to have one of these’. It is a truly amazing opportunity to own a piece of HRC racing history. As soon as it went on sale I registered my interest on the website, and when I received the call from Honda to say my order was accepted it was a very special day for me. I joined my family business as a 17-year old and have been a Honda dealer ever since. My dealership has been one of the top-three in the UK for many years and the bike will be great with my existing collection. I’d like to thank all the people at Honda for making this dream come true.”
Purchase of the bike is via registration on the Honda RC213V-S website.
Tetsuo Suzuki, Operating Officer for Honda Motorcycles, said “Throughout the development process we have kept the Honda RC213V-S as similar to the MotoGP machine as possible, so that the customer gets the closest experience to riding the RC213V.”
Honda RC213V-S is the interpretation of a MotoGP weapon for the road. Combining Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) know-how, and specially designed parts machined from exotic materials, the RC213V-S is equipped with head- and taillights, side mirrors, speedometer, muffler with catalytic converter, license plate holder and horn to make it road-legal.
This very special motorcycle prepped for delivery in Honda’s UK racing shop where the bikes for its MotoGP, WSBK and Isle of Man TT racing efforts are prepared. The engine is a 1,000 cc, 90° V4 that has its roots in the VF750F Interceptor, which came out back in 1983.
Other changes from the race-only RC213-V are coil springs instead of pneumatic actuators for the valves, and a gearbox lifted from the production-spec RCV1000R racebike instead of the seamless MotoGP unit. The changes were made in the interests of long-term reliability.
Honda RC213V-S was three years in development and released for sale on July 13, 2015 at a price of €188,00 in Europe and Rs 1.34 Crore in India. Every machine is hand-built in Honda’s Kumamoto factory.
