Normally it’s vintage bikes which cause bidding to get out of control, but a mint 2016 Honda RC213V-S has broken auction records after selling for a whopping £182,500.
It’s become the most expensive Japanese motorcycle ever sold at auction. But the price is more understandable when you remember that the RC213V-S was built as a MotoGP bike for the road, with a limited number hand-built by specially-trained Honda engineers. And this example has never been ridden, and it’s still in the original flight case with just one mile on the clock.
The listing by CollectingCars.com included details such as the fact the bike has been registered, and kept on a trickle charger despite never being unboxed.
The sale breaks the previous record, which was only set in October, 2021, by another RC213V-S, which sold via a Japanese auction site for approximately £177,000. So if you happen to own one, then you can rest easy knowing your investment is only going up in value for the foreseeable future. Which is good, as the original list price in Europe was €188,000.
Honda debuted the Honda RC213V in MotoGP in 2012 with Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa, and the model has taken a total of seven constructors championships, along with six world titles for Marc Marquez. So you’d imagine the road version is pretty special, especially as it shares around 80% of its parts with the MotoGP bike.
It features a hand-fabricated aluminium frame with carbon-fibre body panels and titanium fasteners for a small, lightweight chassis which feels like a 400cc sportsbike in size and the 170kg weight as standard. Power comes from the 999cc four-stroke V4 engine putting out 159bhp as standard, and you get MotoGP accessiroies including the full-adjustable Ohlins TTX25 gas forks at the front and TTX36 suspension at the rear, forged Marchesini magnesium 17″ wheels and a host of rider aids. The slightly larger wheels (the MotoGP bike used 16.5inch rims) are some of the main differences from the Honda race machines, along with stainless steel brakes, a sequential manual gearbox and a bigger steering angle.
This particular example has already been fitted with the full HRC Race Kit supplied for the Honda RC213V-S, which boosts power to 215hp and shaves 10kg from the weight to reach a featherlight 160kg, with extras including a recalibrated ECU, a titanium exhaust system, a front ram duct, a race-pattern quickshifter, a data logger and a remote control cable for the front brake lever.
For more on new, classic and custom Honda motorcycles, click here. And if you have the cash available, the occasional example of a Honda RC213V-S appears on auction sites like eBay, with a current example listed at just £199,000 for an unregistered bike with the serial number 007.
Leave a Reply