21 Sept 2012

Official - Honda to make MotoGP roadbike based on RC213V

Honda CEO, Takanobu Ito, has said the company will make a road going motorcycle based on their MotoGP bike and in a similar spirit to the RC30.

In a speech in Tokyo Ito said:  "Since its market introduction in 1987, the RC30(VFR750R) super sports bike has been loved by a large number of fans. With a goal to create a new history, passionate Honda engineers have gotten together and have begun development of a new super sports bike to which new technologies from MotoGP machines will be applied."

The iconic RC30 was released in Japan in 1987 but it wasn't until 1990 that it was available in the UK and America.  The bike was created for homologation purposes for the World Superbike Championship.

The new 'super sports' bike is not being made for homologation and Honda will no doubt sell every model it produces, despite the rumoured £50,000 price tag.  Rather it is thought the bike partly reflects Honda's desire to sell a customer bike to MotoGP teams as a demonstration that CRT is not the way forwards.

But, with sportsbike sales on the decline, and with the analogy that 'what wins on Sunday sells on Monday'  is no longer valid in a modern, context Honda is being very clever by directly linking it's MotoGP bike to their road bikes.  The effect should filter down from the MotoGP road bike through the CB1000RR and their other sports bikes.