If a motorcycle withstands the slow but inexorable passage of time, it means that it has been important whether for performance, technological innovation, or aesthetic beauty. Some motorcycles prove their importance by the continuity of time they have been produced in. Others, particularly motorcycles ahead of their time, demonstrate their value by increasing their appeal long after their production run has ended. It seems that Honda has produced an incredible number of motorcycles that are a source of lasting meaning and interest. Time does not affect the beauty and value of these bikes.
The following list is by no means complete of the great Honda motorcycles of all time and, in fact, excludes some of the most iconic and collectible motorcycles Big Red has ever built. Rare or spec bikes such as the NR750, RC30 or RC45, VFR400, NSR250R, etc., are not featured here. Instead, this list includes models that for the most part are readily available on the used market.
Tracing the history of these success stories is exciting. The difficulty is in narrowing this list down to just 10 models.
10 The Most Produced Motor Vehicle In History: Honda Super Cub
The Honda Super Cub is a single-cylinder 4-stroke motorcycle that has made Honda famous around the world. It has been continuously produced since 1958 and still sells millions each year. The Super Cub is the most produced motor vehicle in history. The Super Cub's U.S. advertising campaign, You meet the nicest people on a Honda, had a lasting influence on Honda's image and American attitudes toward motorcycling, becoming a marketing milestone.
The latest version features a front disc brake with Abs, LED headlights, digital instrumentation, keyless start, and spoked wheels. It also has more brilliance thanks to the 125-cc horizontal engine of 9.7 hp, which uses the four-speed gearbox coupled with an automatic centrifugal clutch, then without a lever on the handlebars. What motorcyclists around the world still like are the design, brilliant performances, and handling. The flaws, on the other hand, are the load capacity and the gear shifting that is sometimes sloppy.
9 Honda Gets Back To The Top Of Motorcycle Racing: The RC51
Since the 1960s, Honda has often been the undisputed queen of the racing world with its four-stroke multi-cylinder engines. But twenty years ago it realized that to continue to achieve major success in World Superbike, something truly new was needed. So in the 2000s, Honda built a 1000cc V-twin engine in the wake of Ducati, its main rival in World SBK.
In fact, the new Honda RC51 had a very different design than Ducati's and featured a 90° V-twin engine mounted on an aluminum twin-spar frame. The most coveted model is the SP2, particularly the 2004 Nicky Hayden replica variant.
8 Honda's Best Cruiser Bike: The Gold Wing
The Honda Goldwing was produced beginning in 1975. In the seventies, Honda's Japanese engineers decided to produce the largest and most comfortable touring bike ever built. Initially, they thought of using a 6-cylinder engine of 1470 cm³, but due to problems of handling and weight, they opted for a 4-cylinder opposed engine of 1000 cm³ displacement. Thus was born in 1975 the Honda Goldwing GL-1000, also characterized by the presence of 3 disc brakes, unusual at the time, but necessary for safety given the considerable weight.
After continuous improvements and updates, also and above all for the electronic part and accessories, production continued until the model released in 2001, the Honda Goldwing GL-1800 with an engine of 1832 cm³ 87 kW. This model is lighter than its ancestor thanks to the use of various aluminum parts and is the first model to be equipped with ABS.
7 A Modern Classic: Honda VFR750F
This motorcycle can be considered a modern classic. It is as precise as clockwork and arrives in 1994 after years of success for Honda. It is renewed above all aesthetically and further refined in the mechanics.
With the 750 sports bikes now well over 125 hp, the 600 increasingly fast and balanced, Honda further emphasizes the sport-touring character of the VFR by building an elegant and imposing 750 as a maxi, inspired by the beautiful lines of the NR oval piston. For many the most beautiful VFR ever built.
6 The Fireblade Conquers The World: Honda CBR900RR
This bike was produced between 1992 and 2004 under the Fireblade moniker and it's no accident. These are, in fact, series production models that have also been studied to be able to derive competition models to be used in the World Superbike Championship.
The commercial name has remained unchanged even though the displacement has been varied over time, from the initial 893 cm³ up to the 954 cm³ of the last version; consequently, the motorcycles can be divided into several series. It is an agile, brilliant, and exceptional motorcycle in acceleration and engine braking.
5 Performance And Style Never Get Old: Honda Hawk GT NT650
A classic motorcycle like this needs no introduction. But a few considerations need to be made. This bike is over 2 decades old. Nonetheless, this Honda Hawk GT has aged beautifully and anyone who is a mechanic lover would appreciate it. Honda paid a lot of attention to detail in this model. When it came out in 1990, this bike was even more expensive than the CBR, and for good reason. The engine is solid, the brakes are good and it's really nice to look at.
This bike's strengths are its modern styling, safety, low seat height, and cost of between $1,000 and $2,000. On the downside, constant maintenance must be done and the absence of a fairing does not protect from the wind.
4 The New Romance On Two Wheels: Honda GB500
Honda's interpretation of the classic 500cc British single, the GB500 Tourist Trophy is another cult classic. This motorcycle was never popular in the American market and that remains a mystery. In fact, the bike featured the air-cooled mill and sported a single 42mm Keihin round slide carburetor. It also had Showa suspension, electric start, Kickstarter, and a single front disc brake. And it weighed less than 400 pounds on a full tank.
This bike is a classic in its own right because it's not an old British single, but a motorcycle built in Japan in the 1980s by people who romanticized a glorious era before their own. In other words, it was an idea that didn't catch on until decades later.
3 Honda's Undisputed Champion: The VF750F Interceptor
Honda has long been synonymous with four-stroke V-4s and owes that reputation to the revolutionary 1983 Honda Interceptor, one of the first production motorcycles, along with the 1985 Suzuki GSX-R750, to create the sports bike category as we know it. It wasn't long before consumers went crazy about sportbikes which sounds very ironic, given that Honda's main goal for the Interceptor was a success on the track.
For the 1983 season, the AMA reduced the displacement limit in the superbike class from 1,000 cc to 750 cc in hopes of remedying the handling qualities of the superbikes of the era. While the Interceptor won six consecutive races in '83, Wayne Rainey won the championship aboard a Muzzy Kawasaki GPz750. Then Honda won the next five championships.
2 Singing Header Pipes: Here's The Honda CBX1000
The 1979 CBX encompasses a broad spectrum of cultural tastes, which was decidedly broader than the development trends in the motorcycle world at the time. The Interceptor would debut four years later, and the CBX wasn't a sportbike per se. It wasn't even a Gold Wing. This bike was just awesome. Its 1,047 cc engine gloriously offered itself to view under the frame putting its six glorious chrome headers on display.
The CBX was designed by Soichiro Irimajiri, who was responsible for the legendary RC165 and RC166 six-cylinder Grand Prix bikes. While Honda famously added cylinders to its race bikes in the 1960s in search of more revs and more power, the CBX revved up to 9,000 rpm and produced 105 hp. The wet weight was 600 pounds.
1 The Turning Point Of The Motorcycle World: The Honda CB750
The CB750 can be considered both a fitting conclusion and an ecstatic beginning. Taking into account all of Honda's Grand Prix success with multi-cylinder motorcycles and its reputation for reliable and economical small-displacement single- and twin-cylinder motorcycles, the CB750 seemed to be the culmination of Honda's decades of work.
At the same time beginning in 1969, it sparked the beginning of a new era in which Japanese four-cylinders became dominant for the performance-oriented motorcycle. The CB750 changed the motorcycle world.
Sources: motorcyclistonline.com / wikipedia.org