Honda RC213V-S
It's a V4.
It's $184,000.
From Fox News:
"Exotic cars finally have some real competition in the toys for rich girls and boys department. Honda has introduced a street-legal racing bike that goes on sale in July for the eye-popping price of $184,000.

The RC213V-S is based on Honda’s MotoGP championship winning motorcycle, and the two are so similar that Honda says they share about 80 percent of their parts. Common components include a massive swingarm, Öhlins shocks, a slipper clutch, magnesium wheels, and Brembo brake calipers squeezing Yutaka rotors. The street version also features an aluminum frame, under-seat gas tank, and carbon fiber-reinforced plastic bodywork just like the race bike.

The powertrain is a 999cc V4 connected to a six-speed gearbox that’s close to the competition version, but replaces its pneumatic valve springs with steel springs. As a result, engine speed is reduced, but with an optional sport kit it will spin to 13,000 rpm and produce 212 hp.

That’s if you live in Europe or Australia where the kit’s available and the standard bike makes 156 hp at 11,000 rpm. Due to noise restrictions, apparently, US-bound RC213V-S will be restricted to 8,000 rpm, which equates to a relatively paltry 101 hp. Nevertheless, it’s equipped with adjustable power modes and engine-brake control, plus and a race-develoed traction control system.

The RC213V-S is the most expensive street-legal production motorcycle ever offered by a major manufacturer, easily topping the recent $65,000 Ducati 1199 Panigale Superleggera and $50,000 300 hp Kawasaki H2R. The order books open on July 12th, and only 200 are expected to be produced, which is nearly $37 million worth of motorcycles."

Over this past winter I came across this little gem — '87 VFR700 FII, in Candy Wave Blue. Mostly original, 23800 miles and it even runs, unlike most of my finds. It required a 7-hour trip on a winter's day to Detroit to fetch it, and once home it was officially named #10. I've never actually seen the blue/sliver color scheme in person but it shows very well, if a bit subdued for an 80s sport bike.

The teardown revealed a well-preserved VFR with great compression, only a couple of valves slightly out of spec, and one carburetor float cracked. The seat and windscreen were roached but most everything else was in good tack. The 700 came with a recent gold-colored drive chain in great condition which inspired me to build from there. I've decided to go a mild hot rod route with this refurbishment; some carb tweaking, Yoshimura 2-into1 pipe and fender eliminator with aftermarket turn signals. The seat will be recovered in black.

After the carb work was complete, valves adjusted, fresh plugs, coolant & oil, it was time to turn to the leaky forks. Disassemble, clean, replace, adjust. The fork internals are in great shape so it's a pretty straight-forward service.

While the forks were off, I found the steering bearings to be notched, so a fresh set of All-Balls roller bearings complete the front end. 

Brakes were up next: upon inspection, I found that most of the hydraulic components would require attention. So, everything was stripped, followed by a bath in the ultrasonic cleaner. Fresh caliper seals, master brake & clutch cylinder rebuild kits, sight glass replacements and brake pads. Wheel bearings checked out fine and the silver/grey wheels themselves are in great original condition, definitely not always the case.

A fuel drip was discovered at the very bottom point of the fuel tank, obviously the result of the tank sitting unused for a period of time with water collecting at the low point. I really wanted to keep the original blue tank so I had my welder patch the area where the pinholes appeared. As a result the low-fuel sending unit will never again find a place on this fuel tank, and that little feature is now deleted from #10.

The fun part is here as reassembly begins. Forks remounted, brakes refitted, carbs and air cleaner installed. The Yosh pipe polished like new — I have developed a refinishing technique for black-painted exhaust pipes which leaves a smooth satin-y sheen to them and this set looks great!

When the time came for a test firing, the engine caught almost immediately and sounds amazing.

More to come..........

Parts Bike
Early in the winter season I placed a Craigslist ad looking to buy a VFR project. Here's what ended up in the truck. It's an '86 700 with parts missing, like the bodywork and fork assembly. What it notably does have is a decent set of original mufflers, for which I offered $50. The buyer agreed, but only if I took the whole mess. Deal.

The bike had had the front cylinder head removed ("I was gonna part it out") and left outside for "about a year," so the engine was full of a murky mixture of water, dirt, sludge and something resembling oil. After draining 1.5 gallons of dirty water from the sump, out came the sludge. Believe it or not this engine still turned over by hand. 

No title, bad engine, so I decided to just tear it down to the crankshaft to salvage what I could and scrap the rest. In any case, I've now got many more small parts to add to the stash.

Welcome To The Shop...
...which, of course, is actually my garage. While shared with my street bikes, Patti's car (she inexplicably fails to share my garage priorities) and my truck during the frigid months — a Honda Ridgeline, naturally — it's still an effective workspace and retreat. The limited space forces me to channel my efforts on one, or maybe two, projects at a time. I also have a roomy workspace in the basement for parts storage, detail work and cold-weather tasks.

The bikes pictured above are: a VFR project in the foreground, since moved on to a new owner; my personal '90 naked VFR750 behind it; barely visible against the wall is my '81 XL500S big-bore dual-sport; and to the right our ST1300 ABS and my much-loved '92 Yamaha TDM850. If you're not familiar with the unique TDM (no worries, most riders aren't), here's a link to my info page:

If you're ever in the area, contact me for a visit and cup of coffee.

Some Of My Hoard
Some of these are sacrificial, meaning they will be chopped up to repair parts destined for restoration. I've gone to some trouble getting professional paint color-matching, and while not a big fan of restored/repainted bodywork, things are getting to the point of it becoming a necessity; good survivor pieces are becoming scarce.