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Honda to unveil final production street version of RC213V MotoGP bike

Press event on Thursday before Catalunya MotoGP weekend in June will be scheduled unveiling of RC213V-S sportbike

May 27, 2015

Honda Europe has invited the European racing press to the unveiling of the final production version of the RC213V-S, the street-legal version of the company's RC213V MotoGP racebike.Emanuele Bella

This close up of the right side of the RC213V-S shows some production pieces in its build, including the stamped "Y" connector in the exhaust and the exhaust canisters with smaller silencer tips, as well as the cooling fans mounted on the production-style radiator. The dry clutch on the MotoGP racebike engine has been replaced with a wet clutch.

While the prototype version shown at EICMA in November had projector headlights in the ram-air intakes and bar-end mirrors, it's unlikely that the production version will have bar-end mirrors. Yamaha's latest R1 with its projector beam headlights signal that perhaps the RC213V-S prototype's headlights might be similar.

The Honda RC213V-S will likely come with top-shelf suspension components from Öhlins and the latest braking system pieces from Brembo. Price will likely be in the $300,000 range.Emanuele Bella

"The people who build Marc Marquez’s championship winning bikes will also be building this road bike," said Nomura of the RC213V-S. He also stated that the bike will have over 200hp.Emanuele Bella

The European press has received an invitation from Honda Europe to attend the scheduled unveiling of the RC213V-S, the road-legal replica of the company's RC213V MotoGP racebike, on June 11, the Thursday before the Catalunya GP. First unveiled at the EICMA show in November of last year, the RC213V-S stunned onlookers with how closely its construction resembled the actual MotoGP RC213V. In fact, in an interview by SR correspondent Jon Urry with President of HRC and Managing Officer and Director of Honda R&D Yoshishige Nomura we published in the February/March issue of the magazine that was done during the prototype's unveiling in November, it was revealed that the bike will be constructed by the same personnel who build the MotoGP racebikes.

"The people who build Marc Marquez’s championship winning bikes will also be building this road bike," Nomura revealed. "The RC213V-S will be almost identical (to the MotoGP RC213V), very similar. The design concept is exactly the same, but the main differences between the S and the racer are the fact the MotoGP bike has a seamless gearbox and pneumatic valves where the road bike will not. The chassis, materials used to construct it, machining and process used to produce and build the road bike will be very similar to the racer."

Because of its non-production-line/hand-built origins, Nomura also emphasized in that interview back in November that the RC213V-S will be a very limited production machine. "It will be very limited, but no final number has been decided. This is a Honda product, not an HRC product, but it will be very exclusive." And the limited number will also mean that the price tag for the RC213V-S will be stratospheric. When we guessed a price of around €250,000 Euros (approximately $310,000), Nomura answered, "That would be almost right, we have not yet decided on a price as yet because we have not built the bike. It will be a very high price."

And what about horsepower levels? "Over 200 horsepower," replied Nomura.