Honda RC213V-S breaks auction record with eye-watering price

A box-fresh and brand new Honda RC123V-S has become the most expensive Japanese motorcycle sold at auction

RC213-VS-01

AN as-new and un-crated Honda RC213V-S has just set an auction record, by selling for an eye-watering £182,500. In the process, this example of Honda’s MotoGP bike for the road becomes the most expensive Japanese bike ever sold at auction.

As you can see, the bike is still in its original shipping container, un-ridden, and with just 1-mile on its odometer – presumably gained from the testing the bike undergoes at the factory prior to shipping.

Launched in 2015, the RC123V-S was billed as a MotoGP bike for the road, and with its diminutive size, 160kg weight, and 215bhp (with the race kit fitted), it certainly is not a bike that disappoints.

And the allure of the RCV for the road has never gone away it seems, with the £182,000 hammer price of this zero mile example made around £50,000 more than its £137,000 sticker price!

The bike is powered by a 999cc four-stroke V4 engine, and this 2016 model also features the full HRC Race Kit, which comprises a recalibrated ECU, a titanium exhaust system, a front ram duct, a race-pattern quickshifter, a data logger and a remote control cable for the front brake lever.

It's these upgrades – that are as-yet unfitted – that reduce the bike’s total weight by 10kg and increase power output from 157hp to 215hp.

Against a backdrop of the pandemic and general doom and gloom around petrol-powered anything, it’s refreshing to see such a special example trading hands for such a strong price.

Handling the sale of the RC213V-S was Collecting Cars, a specialist auction firm that specialises in two and four-wheeled exotica.

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