I wonder if somebody in U.S.A.or anywhere owns one of these highly collectible motorcycle icons. how many were produced? how much do they go for? these days... etc.
IIRC, I saw one for sale in Japan around 1995-1996 and it was going for around $50k back then. Waaaaaay overpriced for anything other than collecting. Here are a couple for sale. http://www.improvelife.info/v65/special/nr/ I've only seen one on the street (in Japan).
I just know that bike from magazines in 1992. Interesting design of oval pistons. IIRC the price back then is $50K, and now it is still about the same. Pretty cheap for a collectible piece of engineering IMHO. I wonder why nobody else tried oval pistons after that.
I'm guessing some combination of racing rules changes (the only reason for the oval piston design), PITA to machine, PITA to deal with oval piston "rings," and probably a few other things I haven't thought of.
Quite possibly the most legendary Honda motorcycle ever made ... and worth double that amount. The rule book had to be changed BECAUSE of that motorcycle. 750cc two-stroke power .... in full trim it'll put out more than 200HP, and it is probably the sexiest motorcycle alive. I put 40K miles on a '97 VFR mostly because it was about as close to looking like an NR750 as I was able to comfortably afford. Bill in Brooklyn
While Honda did have a two stroke oval piston racer, it wasn't related to the NR750 (other than having oval pistons). The NR750 was NOT a two stroke. It did NOT put out 200hp...more like around 135...it'd probably take a good deal of work to get it much above that. As far as legendary Hondas, I'd think the CB750, CBX, and RC30 would all be better known and probably more worthy than the NR750. The NR750 just happens to be an overpriced oddity.
What about the six cylinder 250 racebike? That'd be cool too... For my money though, the RC30 takes top honors hands down. I'm a died in the wool Ducati fan, but I'd LOVE to add an RC30 to the collection.
Actually HRC did produce a few pre-NR oval-piston 750cc racebikes in '88 or '89. The bike in sprint tune would put out a reported 200+ hp. Suzuka 8-hour trim was more like 175 hp. The stock NR only put out 110 rwhp or so as you said. It was actually very heavy even with all of the CF bodywork, and wasn't especially fast compared to its other 750cc contemporaries in '92. Honda hand-built three per day, and reportedly lost thousands on every one it built. I have heard production numbers from 100-300, truth is probably somewhere in between. The plan was to only build it for one year, as more of a finishing touch on a strange detour of motorcycle design. I have read they stopped production earlier than planned due to lack of demand, there was a worldwide recession in '92 and the Japanese economy was hurting more than most. The original oval-piston concept was in response to the FIM rules regarding 500cc GP competition. In order for a four stroke to be competitive it had to rev much higher, which required a very short stroke to limit mean piston speed, which meant very small individual cylinder displacement, which were then transformed into half as many oval pistons. The V-4 NR really is a V-8 with its adjacent cylinders siamesed together. It was never imported as a US model, although there are a handful (<10?) here. Personally, I would love to have one someday, but it is one of those bikes I would be too afraid of wrecking to actually enjoy riding. Same with a Britten or Bimota Tesi.
Honda also made a 16,000 rpm (IIRC?) 250cc motor back in the 80s or early 90s. Must be fun to hear an engine spinning that high.
Wasn't there a version of the GSXR, perhaps the 400, in the early 90's that revved to 19k? It may even have been a 250, but I remember skimming through an article about good, cheap track bikes and seeing that one. I think it may not have made it to the states. Honestly, I would rather have an RC30 or RC45 in my garage than the NSR, at least I could ride it fairly easily and actually enjoy it. Either that, or something from the Ducati 996/998R range would be tons of fun.
Pretty neat bike, but as mpolans said way too expensive for anything other than collecting. Oval pistons are cool and all, but how do you bore or even hone the cylinders when its time for a rebuild some day???
no one has mentioned NR750 as the first bike featuring it's exhaust pipes underneath it's saddle ( a desing cue later imitated by Ducati) and today everyone considers that as Ducati feature.
500cc GP bikes had them much earlier than 1992 as well. The NR though does have many interesting design features that had not been used before or since. Honda did really throw the kitchen sink at it technology-wise. Possibly the most exotic production bike ever built.
The Honda VFR750 had it a couple of years earlier. A team called ELF had a 500cc GP bike that had a single sided swingarm in the rear, and alternative front suspension that used a single-sider for the front as well. This was 1988. If you do a patent search you will see that Honda does own several variations on the SSSA design. Apparently BMW, Triumph, and Ducati have all developed their own version as well.
the honda rc30 was the first production bike to incorporate the elf licenced swingarm. followed by the nc30 (400cc version) and then by the hawk. the swingarm was developed by elf for use on the aforementioned elf 500 gp racer, which, by the way, was honda nsr 500 powered. the swingarm was then used by honda on the rvf endurance racers, true 750cc gp bikes built to win the suzuka 8 hour races. honda built the nr750 because it could, and wanted to make a statement regarding their technological prowess. the technology and development had already been done, so it was a matter of producing the bike for the history books. as previously stated, honda's oval piston technology was spawned to try compete with the 2-stroke 500cc gp bikes. it was rumoured that sochiro honda himself despised 2-stroke technology and wanted at all cost to avoid building a 2-stroke racebike. the oval pistoned nr500 was their ill-fated solution. spencer put the bike on the top step in a heat race at laguna and then ran 5th at silverstone in the gp before breaking. although it wasn't a sucessful racebike, it was a brave attempt at doing the impossible. the production nr750 is a showcase vehicle for honda technology. the rc30 and the rc45 were more "pure" racebikes and certainly, much faster than the overweight nr750, but that wasn't the point, was it?
