Top 10 bikes to buy instead of one Honda RC213V-S

Fill your garage with 10 sports bikes for the price of Honda's road-going RCVs

THE Honda RC213V-S is certain to be an eye-opening experience to ride but in terms of bare figures it’s not breaking a lot of new ground. Apart from its price, that is.

At an expected £137,000 in Europe (based on the German-market list price of €188,000), you could fill a large garage with ten gorgeous bikes for the same money. Here’s how we might choose to spend the same amount of cash (if we had it!)

All prices are based on bikes offered for sale or recently sold at the time of writing. Now we’re off to buy some lottery tickets…

1: Ducati Desmosedici RR, £38,000 (money left: £99,000)

Want a V4-powered MotoGP replica that’s crammed with the latest tech (of its time) and hand-made from exotic alloys and carbon fibre? How about a sand-cast engine that’s near-identical to the one used in a MotoGP bike? Look no further than the Ducati Desmosedici RR. The going price for a lightly used one appears to be around the £38k mark, and that suddenly looks tempting in light of the RC213V-S. Depreciation isn’t likely to be an issue, either…

2: Honda RC30, £15,000 (money left: £84,000)

Remember when you could get a nice RC30 for less than £10k? No more. Plenty are offered at £20k-plus now, but £15,000 is a realistic price for a good one that’s actually been used rather than one of the seemingly endless zero-miles garage queens that show up for sale. Again, it’s a proper V4 race bike with unquestionable heritage, and a proper HRC-built machine at that.

The RC30 was a race winning bike straight out of the crate and gave Fred Merkel back-to-back World Superbike Championships in 1988 and 1989. Joey Dunlop also proved both his talent and the ability of the bike, when he took a standard RC30 to the TT in 1988 and won.

3: Kawasaki H2, £22,000 (money left: £62,000)

Since the RC213V-S is a brand-new, limited-production machine, you will probably want a bit of that VIP new-bike-buying experience, and you’re sure to get that if you’re an H2 buyer. Roll into any bike park and all the heads will turn.

The H2-R would be nice, but it’s track-only and would swallow too much of the budget, and the H2 is likely to be fast enough for most.

4: BMW S1000RR, £13,700 (money left: £48,300)

Another brand new bike, consider this one the daily commuting machine of the bunch. There isn’t much to be said about the S1000RR that hasn’t been said before, but safe to say it’s not likely to disappoint.

Alternatively, you could fill this spot with a Yamaha R1, Kawasaki ZX-10R or pretty much any other superbike of your choice.

5: Ducati 999R, £9000 (money left: £39,300)

Yes, it’s the unloved ginger step child of the Ducati superbike line, but the 999R was the proper top-of-the-range, carbon-fibre-and-unobtainium homologation special of its era and the basis of a dominant WSB racer that won three titles in four seasons (something none of its prettier descendants have achieved).

In future its Pierre Terblanche-penned styling might be looked at more kindly, too, making this a potentially good investment as well as a great bike to ride.

6: Yamaha OW01, £12,000 (money left: £27,300)

Like the RC30, the OW01 was a proper homologation special, and while it wasn’t as successful on the track it’s still a machine that’s got a certain aura about it. Prices are definitely edging upwards, too.

7: Kawasaki ZX-7RR £7000 (money left: £20,300)

Another of the bargain-bin bikes (when seen in this company) the ZX-7RR was Kawasaki’s take on the homologation special. Yes, it looks a lot like the normal bike, apart from the single seat, but there’s a close-ratio gearbox and flat slide carbs in there too, plus a special chassis incorporating an adjustable swingarm pivot point.

8: Honda RS250 (1988), £6500 (money left: £13,800)

Want a GP bike? Well why not have a real one instead of a replica? The RS250 proddy racer was derived from Honda’s works 250s, and even a 1980s one is probably going to be more than enough to be an eye-opening experience for any road rider taking it to a track day.

9: Suzuki RG500, £9000 (money left: £4800)

You can’t have a collection of GP-inspired bikes without including one from the old two-stroke generation, and the RG500 is legendary. Prices have been rising for a while, but seem to have settled down at the moment to around the £9k mark for a decent one.

10: Honda NS400R, £3500 (money left: £1300)

There isn’t much left in the kitty now, but Honda’s NS400R is still somewhat neglected when it comes to that short-lived 1980s era of GP replicas. Shame, since it’s a sweet handler and can be tweaked for a lot more power than its rather disappointing stock figure (is this the RC213V-S’s real grandfather?)  While £3500 seems to get a decent one, there’s still £1300 left in the kitty in case you want to get a real minter. The V3 engine is a bit different, too, and means your £137,000 collection will include a triple as well as twins and fours.

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