This week, it’s all been news from the EICMA show at Milan, but there are more motorcycle shows coming with more cool bikes. Like this one from Honda.
While it’s battery-powered, this electric concept seems to be as much of a throwback to the 1970s as it is a look to the future. Look at the paint scheme – it’s pure retro, like something MotoGP star Mike Hailwood would have flogged around the track.
The RC-E concept also makes use of another 1970s engineering ploy. Back then, if you wanted to make your bike more impressive, you just shoehorned a bigger motor into it. Remember the Z1 and CBX? Well this Honda is built along those lines – it’s powered by the motor from Big Red’s Insight Hybrid Car.
The machine has Brembo brakes, and Ohlins shock and forks. There’s even an LED headlight stuffed into that front fairing, although it’s not obvious at first.
We’ll know more about the machine when Honda releases more details, but for now, we’ll have to leave you with this: Honda says the bike gives 600cc performance from a 250cc-weight chassis. As long as battery range is sufficient, that should certainly catch a lot of people’s attention, should this bike ever make it to production.
cool bikeÂ
need it
[…] One of the coolest concept bikes we saw last week was Honda’s RC-E concept, due to be unveiled at the upcoming Tokyo show. […]
A bike like that might actually get me back in a showroom.
It is interesting to note how electric bikes could take off, leaving behind the bad image bikers have received from running open exhausts on their gasoline powered machines. As electrics take hold, be prepared to read about how bike accident statistics will spike as, in addition to not seeing the rider, claims will be made of not hearing the rider. There will also be an increase in pedestrian accidents, again based upon the lack of noise. Its bad enough today with pedestrians walking off the sidewalk without looking, wait until there is just a little whine as the bike approaches. We may see lawmakers mandating that electric vehicles, including cars, will be required to have some audible soundtrack to protect mankind. Seems quite ironic.
License plate holder, turn signal mirrors?? Â This thing looks ready for production!