Honda puts its MotoGP bike on the road

LONDON, England - Honda's RC213V has won consecutive MotoGP championships in 2013 and 2014 though only its riders will get to experience its blistering racer.

Now the bikemaker (June 2015) has announced it has made changes to its RC213V and will launch it as the RC213V-S.

It will accept orders in some markets for its new road-legal RC213V-S from July 13 2015 though we're waiting to hear from Honda SA what the score is in South Africa.

ROAD-LEGAL RACER

The new RC213V-S is, Honda says, the result of customer feedback and makes it possible to use a MotoGP bike on public roads.

The RC213V-S inherits its MotoGP sibling's camshaft gear-train structure though, Honda says, a switch was made from pneumatic valve to a coil-spring system. The racer's seamless transmission was changed to a conventional system.

IMAGE GALLERY: 2015 Honda RC213V-S

The new bike is powered by a 158kW, 999cc, V4 (see gallery images).

Honda said: "To achieve the specifications that make the RC213V-S eligible to run on public roads the minimal amount of necessary changes and additions has been made compared to the RC213V.

“As the purpose of development of the RS213V-S, rather than trying to replicate the dynamic performance of the RC213V the focus of the development approach was on recreating as much as possible of the complete vehicle packaging of the RC213V and its riding feel.”

A sport kit, for use on closed circuits, is available.

Additions made for riding on public roads:

Revised head and tail-light
Revised licence-plate lights
New turn signals
Right and left rear-view mirrors
Revised speedometer
Muffler with a catalyst
Licence-plate holder
Horn
Honda smart key
Self-starter
Kick stand
Steering angle - from 15 to 26 degrees
Tyres - RS10 Bridgestones
Brakes: Stainless-steel (front) and Brembo brake pad (rear)

RACING PEDIGREE

In 1954 Honda declared it would take part in the Isle of Man TT races, part of the Road Racing championship Grand Prix at the time. Honda developed its own racing machines and in 1959 started competing in the Isle of Man TT.

In 1961 Honda won the TT race championships in the two classes it entered. The total number of cumulative racing victories for Honda reached 600 in 2005, which rose to a 695 as of June 11, 2015.

Specification comparison: RC213V-S and RC213V