Does Honda's new RC213V-S hit the spot?

After years of speculation, the near-mythical RCV213V road bike is finally here… well, almost.

Two years after Honda officially confirmed they would be building a road-going replica of the RCV213V MotoGP bike, the Japanese giant finally showed a concept bike, and a running test bike, at last week’s Milan show.

The appearance of the bike suggests that Honda are almost certain to put it into production, although MCN understands there are likely to be fewer than 300 built, and the price of each bike could exceed £160,000.

Of the two concepts shown in Milan, one was a beautifully prepared show bike with a paintscheme reminiscent of Freddie Spencer’s V4 500GP bikes, which was a non-runner.
The other was a plain carbon-fibre clothed test mule, ridden onto the stage by double MotoGP champion Marc Marquez. Lifted straight out of the HRC testing programme, it was so urgently needed back in Japan that it was flown straight back to Honda’s R&D headquarters later the same day.