Like the RC30, the NR750 raises my pulse like few other bikes ever did. Honda's desire to squeeze a V8 motor into a package the size of a V4 resulted in the bike in the video above. Honda wanted to build a four stroke bike that would compete with the two stroke gp machines of the time. A V8 would do nicely if it wasn't so bulky and heavy.
They came up with the oval piston as a solution. The NR500 put out 130bhp at twenty thousand rpms. It was fraught with teething problems and Honda was burning through semi loads of cash developing it with less than stellar results at the track. Fast Freddie managed to get one up to fifth place at the '81 British GP before the bike went out for a sandwich.
But Honda didn't abandon this technology, especially after spending the GNP of a small country bringing it about in the first place. So what the hell boys, let's whip up an endurance racer, bump the displacement up to seven hundred fifty cubic centimeters and see if she'll have a go. The resulting bike weighed in at around three hundred twenty pounds and put out a buck fifty in the horse power department. Entered it at Le Mans, but decided it was in need of a french dip, and did not finish the race.
So the next best thing was to make a road going version, bristling with cutting edge technology and price it so as schlubs such as myself would not have the opportunity to see one, much less purchase an example. I believe the entrance price to be in the Thirty seven thousand dollar range. But exclusivity ensured prices were in the fifty to sixty thousand range. They only made around three hundred of them, and did not ship any of them to the states. That meant I have a better chance of talking to one of the Keebler elves than actually casting my gaze upon one of these rare instruments. So I'm subjected to viewing these bikes through the eyes of others, like some sort of two wheeled peeping tom. Thank you YouTube.
Till Next Time................
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