What’s your dream bike? Maybe that isn’t a fair question, because how do you choose just one? If an ultra-rare Honda RC213V-S is somewhere on that list, have you ever wondered what it would be like to put one together? (Sure, it’s an impossible dream, but you might as well dream big, right?)
Back in early November, 2021, we reported on an RC213V-S that had just become the most expensive Japanese bike to ever be sold at auction. The auction, which took place on a Japanese site, saw the equivalent of $237,700 change hands. With such a rare and special homologation machine, it’s honestly not that surprising.
Although California’s Iconic Motorbikes seems to be a living, breathing repository for RC30s, up until 2022, it hadn’t gotten its hands on an RC213V-S. That all changed back in January, though—when the company managed to obtain not only one of these extremely rare machines for a customer, but also the all-important Honda Racing Corporation race kit, which was available from the factory as an option for this bike. It comes in a black and silver flight case, which is of course practical—but it certainly doesn’t hurt that the presentation is also top-notch.
For those unfamiliar, Iconic maintains a regular social media presence, frequently posting both photos and videos on Instagram and Facebook, as well as slightly less frequent videos on YouTube. Most of the time, the YouTube videos are the 16:9 format that you’d expect out of a YouTube video. However, Iconic just posted a video combining all of its Instagram videos documenting the process of putting the RC213V-S together—which is absolutely amazing to see, but it’s also unfortunately vertical because it was originally shot for the purposes of Instagram Reels.
Don’t get us wrong; we still love to see it, even if the formatting isn’t perfect. Honestly, when else are you going to get to vicariously live through a shop putting such an unbelievable factory work of art together? The welds on the racing exhaust are absolutely ridiculous. The machining of things like the valve seats is the epitome of a chef’s kiss. Every tiny little piece of jewelry on this thing is utterly glorious, and whoever the customer is that bought this and will be using it as a track bike—our hats are off to you.
Toward the end of the video, we get to hear Iconic fire it up—and even take it for a test ride. It sounds absolutely as ridiculous as you’d expect, and Iconic mechanic Olly confirms that the test ride is everything you would hope and more. Be sure to have your headphones connected for this one—no tinny speakers will do it justice.
