We were all rubbing our hands in glee and anticipation when we first heard about the MotoGP derived Honda RC213V-S. At long last, Honda seemed to be waking up from its decade long slumber, offering something which could hold its own against the likes of the S1000RR and the new R1. The prices and other details about the bike, however, have rendered it a painful shock to Honda fans worldwide. The reigning MotoGP champion seems to have come up with a bike which will cost you a bomb and earn you a trophy with the word Stupid inscribed over it. Let’s start with the numbers.
The RC213V-S in stock form will deliver an inexpressibly underwhelming 150 bhp – makes us wonder what that highly drummed up MotoGP derived tech is meant for. Almost every litre class superbike offers more power than that, substantially more in case of the leading models. Heck, that power figure is less than what the stock CBR1000RR offers. What’s the big hubbub about, really?
So a deal cannot quite get any crappier than this, right? Seems like the ingenious folks at Honda have found a way! The US spec bike gets 101 bhp at 8000 rpm in stock trim. That’s less than your 600cc everyday workhorse. Hilarious!
Amazed? Wait till we tell you that the same bike will produce 70 PS for its Japan spec version. Go figure!
So that’s that about power. What’s going to make your eyes lose their sockets though, is the astronomical price for this piece of metal. At 1,88,000 euros (or an astounding Rs 1.35 crore!) the price is beyond the reach of almost everyone, so essentially this super expensive, underwhelming machine would embellish some filthy rich mortal’s drawing room as a trophy. And what an epic achievement would that be for Honda as a brand!
There is an option of bumping up the power though. Shell out about 12,000 Euros (Rs 8.6 lakh) for the Sports Kit, and the output will go up to a dopamine drenched 215 bhp. Wow, so that solves the problem, right? Nope! For as soon as you get that piece of go-faster kit, your prized RC213V-S is no more road legal – you cannot use it on public roads anymore. So for Rs 1.44 crore in Europe you get a motorcycle that’s usable only on the racetrack. What’s more, Honda is not even offering a warranty on its product once you opt for the performance kit. The race kit is not even an option for the American customers, who are taken by Honda to be cash rich oafs.
We have witnessed Honda for long enough sitting lazily and doing nothing about every other bike maker – Japanese or European, sprinting ahead of it in sheer performance terms as far as the street motorcycles go. The world MotoGP champion is happy minting money manufacturing 100cc piddlers in India even as compatriot Kawasaki just refuses to stop amazing us.
The RC213V-S for a Honda fan boy is testimony to the Japanese bikemaker’s indifference to its fans’ expectations.
There’s one thing the RC213V-S does right, though. It makes the much, much cheaper 300 bhp Kawasaki H2R look monumentally glorious in comparison. And there couldn’t have been a better way to show Honda where it really stands.
