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Honda RC-E Concept

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UPDATE: Added more information & technical specifications from Mugen’s press release.

This morning we learned that John McGuinness will be Mugen’s rider in the team’s bid to break the 100 mph barrier at the 2012 TT Zero. Heavily speculated to be a stealth project by Honda (?? / Mugen was started by Hirotoshi Honda, the son to Honda founder Soichiro Honda), much speculation has been done over what sort of bike Mugen would be bringing to the Isle of Man TT, and now we have that answer.

Called Shinden (??), meaning “God of Electricity” in Japanese, the machine may not have the same exquisite lines of the Honda RC-E electric superbike concept, but upon closer inspection, Mugen’s electric race bike seems like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Breaking cover at a press conference in Suzuka, the Mugen Shinden features a brushless three-phase 90 kW (120hp) DC motor, carbon fiber swingarm, and a carbon fiber twin-spar frame design.

Judging from our internal metrics, you love the Honda RC-E concept…you really love it. And what’s not to love about the electric superbike concept? The stylish design doesn’t stray too far from the basic shapes and lines that we think of when we conjure up a motorcycle in our minds; and if we’re really honest with ourselves, we all expect Honda, with its engineering prowess, to knock a project like this out of the park.

We still don’t have any real details about the Honda RC-E concept, but it’s probably safe to steal a line from KTM, when the Austrian manufacturer debuted the KTM Freeride E, it said that as a market leader, it could not afford to let competitors and new-comers explore the electric space by themselves. Rumored to have one of Honda’s hybrid automobile motors housed inside, the overall electric drivetrain package looks to be quite bulky, making us wonder how much battery power is on-board (or would be on-board, assuming Honda has even installed batteries on the concept).

What does Honda plan to do with the RC-E exactly? Well that is anyone’s guess really. Is the bike purely an experiment and display of what’s been going on in the Honda labs? Is the RC-E concept a precursor to a soon-to-be realized production model? Will we see one at an electric racing event soon? Only time will tell.

The Tokyo Motor Show is next month, and Honda has something special for two-wheeled enthusiasts. Fresh on the heels of KTM debuting the first major OEM electric dirt bike, Honda has an electric concept of its own: the Honda RC-E. The japanese company is being fairly terse about the RC-E’s details, simply stating that the bike is “an EV version of a super sports bike that pursues the joy of riding. A powerful and smooth ride unique to an EV model is achieved with the 250cc-class compact body.”