FIRST RIDE REPORT Honda RC213V-S - MOTOR GERR

So many queries. is that this RC213V-S very a MotoGP bike with lights? it's higher than a high road-going superbike, like AN R1? Why is it therefore expensive? Aren’t all of them oversubscribed out? Won’t it simply be an upscale man’s toy?

All these queries and additional area unit pin-balling around my head as I roll on a hotdog Valencia MotoGP pitlane, able to enter the track. The RC213V-S (‘21’ for twenty initial century, ‘3’ for third generation RCV) is slim, compact so abundant smaller than it's in photos. assume somewhere between a knotty Aprilia RSV4 ANd an exquisite NC30 and you’re somewhere there.

You’re inclined forward, foreplay the short tank, like Marquez, however even for a soul like Maine it’s not incommodious or uncomfortable.

A few minutes agone i used to be ogling grandeur attention to detail – the hand-fabricated chassis, Öhlins gas fork, atomic number 12 wheels and therefore the swathes of perfect carbon fibre. Like me, you’ll in all probability ne'er be able to afford the RC213V-S, however it's definitely worth the 188,000 monetary unit (£137,000) damage once you see what you get for the cash, and once you contemplate that last year’s RCV1000R ‘open’ MotoGP bike value 1,000,000 Euros to lease… and another million to run. The RC213V-S actually appears like a discount once you think about it in those terms.

This commonplace version has 159bhp, that isn’t a great deal by trendy road-going superbike standards, however the V4 power motor is like velvet, with no lumps, bumps or surges within the delivery.

With simply 170kg to push on, the quality RC213V-S accelerates laborious enough to stay you interested and it’s straightforward to show in quick lap times.

Then there’s the handling. It’s not simply additional agile than a a thousand, it makes 600s and 400s appear to be lumbering hippos. It turns sort of a 250cc doctor bike and there’s no sense of factory-made bulk or fatty tissue. It’s hand-made, blueprinted perfection – and a motorbike created to praise the rider.

But it’s a touch of a pussycat, too – a bit… soft.

After a couple of laps you begin to beat the grip of the road-compound Bridgestone RS10 tyres, the road constraint and so you begin yearning for additional power. Enter the Sports Kit version.

If you'll afford the 188,000 monetary unit RC213V-S, you'll in all probability go the additional twelve,000 Euros for the Sports Kit, that shaves 10kg off the load, offers you a full 215bhp, a race-pattern gear shift… the list goes on. It conjointly has race pads and nowadays Honda have fitted our take a look at bike with sticky Bridgestone V02 slicks.

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