I had a bit of a surreal day this past weekend – within the span of a few hours I got to ride my personal Bimota Tesi 3D, our shop’s Bimota Tesi H2, and something I never thought I’d be able to ride…a Honda RC213V-S belonging to a very trusting client!
This was one of the first bikes to have a keyless fob, and it’s definitely one of few where the key is serialized to the bike!
First, let’s back up 24 hours. I’ve been asking motorcycling legends and people who have been helpful/significant in my career to sign the bodywork of my Kramer track bike. I had two wonderful people sign it on Saturday:
First was the most important person in the world to me – my girlfriend of 17+ years, VyVy!
Second was Kent Kunitsugu – the former Editor-in-Chief of Sport Rider and, I’m proud to announce, the new General Manager at Iconic Motorbikes!
I’m hoping that having Kento on board will free me up a bit, we’ll see how it goes! But for now, let’s go back to Sunday: I rode in from home on my Tesi 3D, and then parked it at the shop. I love this bike.
The stars of the show today were two-fold. First up was Iconic’s Bimota Tesi H2.
But that was second fiddle to one of the most incredible motorcycles ever built: a Honda RC213V-S. We sold it on our auction site for $265k (still in the original crate) and the awesome owner asked us to make it road ready. The water pump had failed while it was sitting but thankfully the fine folks at Padgett’s Motorcycles in the UK were able to help us get that sorted out. Out technician Olly got the bike ready and the owner said my business partner Adam and I should take it out to the Rock Store for our usual Sunday ride to break it in. We were on the fence due to the value of it but it’s an opportunity that may only come around once in a lifetime – thank you so much to the owner for giving us the chance.
I started the morning on the Tesi H2 – it’s one of the loudest and fastest (295 hp at the crank after a supercharger upgrade and a flash tune) bikes I’ve ever ridden:
To be frank, I’m faster on this bike when it’s in rain mode as the fueling off idle is harsh and it’s not easy to be smooth on it. After all, slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. I enjoy the spectacle of it but I generally feel that it’s better for showing off than it is to ride. The blow-off valve makes a hell of a noise, though! Here’s a video I filmed with it months ago to show off that sound:
Our usual Sunday ride includes a stop at Topanga Lookout at the intersection of Schueren Road and Stunt Road. We were killing a little time as a group when two gentlemen riding the new Kawasaki ZX-4RRs pulled up. They take off their helmets…and it’s Chuck Graves and Tom Aquino, the father of Tommy “Hollywood” Aquino! “Small World” tangent: we recently had Irina at Lieto Factory make us some bike mats over at Iconic. After we posted about them on social media, Chuck asked Irina if she could make some Graves mats as well, which I thought was cool! Chuck and Tom were incredibly nice guys and it was wonderful to meet them both.
Chuck’s bike is on the left, and you’ve probably seen photos of it if you’ve read any of the “First Ride” reviews as that bike was at the US press launch to show journalists what the ZX-4RR could be with some mods.
Per usual, we ended up at the Rock Store. Here are some of my favorite bikes that were parked at the famous motorcycling destination:
We sold this MV Agusta F4 SPR as a project, it was cool to see that the new owner had brought it back to life. He’s looking to sell it if you know anyone that wants one…
This was a prototype for the sportier ARCH 1s.
We sold this 748 on our auction site and the buyer eventually became an investor in Iconic.
In some ways, the 213 is a bit subtle. There were some times where people would walk right past it to stare at the Tesi H2, but it was nice to see some motorcyclists all over the Honda.
We ended up seeing Chuck and Tom again.
At the Rock Store, Adam and I switched bikes and I hopped on the 213V-S. “I hopped on the 213V-S” is a phrase I never thought I’d get the chance to utter, but Iconic Motorbikes has opened up some incredible opportunities to me. This is a Euro-spec bike so it makes 156 horsepower (212 with the race kit, but the seller wants it to be street legal so the race kit will remain uninstalled).
Here’s some stuff I learned:
– Honda imposes a 7k redline on the RC213V-S during the break-in period.
– the dash is basically the same as what you get on the Fireblade of the time.
– dry weight is 375 pounds, and the race kit saves 22 pounds.- it’s tiny, it feels like a 600!- the sound, ergos, and general sensation made me frequently feel like I was riding the ultimate evolution of my old RC30.
– it has an assist/slipper clutch but I was surprised to find that the quickshifter only works going up.
– the fueling is perfect. PERFECT.
– the suspension reminds me of the NR750, somehow sporty and supple at the same time.
– it looks even better on the move, and the Rising Sun livery is probably the best Honda paint job of all time. If I put bodywork on my upcoming CB160 race bike (more on that later), I might have to copy this livery.
– it’s tough to go fast on a bike you don’t own that’s worth this much!
Here’s a quick shot of the group I rode with – such a great mix!
That wraps it up for now. It’s almost been a week since I rode the 213 and I’m still giddy about it. Now I just need to ride a Britten…
