VIDEO: Building the 2016 Honda RC213V-S race replica

Our previous post on the Honda RC213V-S road version of the MotoGP racer garnered some interest from readers, so here’s a video released by Honda Motor HK showing how the limited edition, and very expensive, motorcycle comes together. The video appears to have been taken during a factory visit at Honda’s Kumamato facility, where every RC213V-S is hand-built.

Shown in the video are Honda craftsmen welding the RC213V-S by hand. More of a surprise was the hand-finishing of the frame segments before welding. This goes a long way to explaining the race replica’s astronomical price tag. Now, think about what it costs every time you see a MotoGP bike highside and go tumbling down the track, exploding into a million fragments of carbon-fibre.

The street-legal RC213V-S is sold at a staggering price of 188,000 euro (RM890,000). While this might seem an exorbitant sum to pay for a motorcycle, the money goes into the engineering design and materials that make up the bike. This is also not ignoring the fact that the RC213V-S is basically a MotoGP bike, with lights, rear-view mirrors and a side-stand.

Whether you would want to actually ride the bike on the road is another matter, as all the parts on this bike are unique, and made out of exotic materials. According to an Autoevolution report, the RC213V-S, in street trim, puts out 159 hp, while the US-spec version has 101 ponies. If you’re in Japan, all you get is 70 hp.

There is a way to unleash the full potential of that engine, of course. All you need is the Sport kit, which lets all 215 hp run free. The catch is the kit costs 12,000 euro (RM57,000), and your RC213V-S is no longer road legal.

GALLERY: Honda RC213V-S