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Mugen Honda MRV1000 – Should of Produced this cool ride.
For many moons I have wanted to see this one off Prototype, but alas, so far, I have only read about it and seen it on you tube, but it always warrants a little bit of a write up, the Knee slider did a bang up job, so thought I would add their bit on here too, but they should of made this machine, even so more now as the trend is hot to trot and I would buy one, so, come on Mr Hirotoshi Honda, lets get this together and on the tarmac, and of course- affordable would be nice!!!
Hirotoshi Honda – son of Honda founder Soichiro – reveals the priceless prototype Mugen MRV1000 streetbike he built 14 years ago.
Honda Mugen MRV1000
Honda Mugen MRV1000
At this year’s Isle of Man TT, there was a classic parade with many old machines not seen in a long time, among those participating was this odd motorcycle, a Honda Mugen MRV1000. A quick look shows a strong British influence with an engine style reminiscent of an old Vincent, but what the heck is a Mugen MRV1000?
From the little information available, it seems Hirotoshi Honda, son of Honda founder, Soichiro Honda, founded a company by the name of Mugen in 1973. The company built Honda based racing engines and has evidently been pretty successful, but Hirotoshi is a Brit bike enthusiast and wanted to build something along the lines of a Vincent.
The MRV1000 was an attempt to create a limited production street bike with a 4 valve, twin carb, 1000cc V-Twin. After they built it they realized it would cost far too much to be marketable and this prototype is the one and only of its kind.
The engine definitely has the look of a Vincent, though I think the originals had slightly better lines. It would have been interesting if Honda would have produced the MRV1000. They can build interesting machines with British styling cues, the GB500 for instance, but even there, it never sold well and now is recognized in hindsight as having been quite nice with collectors always on the lookout for low mileage examples. With that history, it’s likely this one wouldn’t have sold well, either, followed after a time when everyone would be scrambling to buy one. Go figure. Anyway, it’s something I had never heard of until I ran across a short piece in Classic Bike magazine. Another one that might have been.
Link: Club Honda Classic
Honda Mugen MRV1000 rear wheel detail
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The Gas tank tells you right away what this puppy is:
The single Gauge and alloy triple tree’s work well.
Check out the front hub, aweome stuff.
Although in 20120 Kuniomi Nagamatsu took the motorcycle to the Isel of Man for the Parade lap in 2010 and on the Gooseneck Bend, he fell off, sending the machine sideways into the bend, luckily at a slow speed and the bike was ok, a rare motorcycle that not many of us will be lucky to see im afraid.
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Honda’s son reveals Mugen twin at the TT |
