How Many Honda NR750 Motorcycles Were Made, & What's One Worth Today?
Sometimes an engineering failure can lead to a valuable collector's item, which is what happened with Honda's NR750 motorcycle from 1992. Not only is this sports bike from the '90s one of the rarest Honda motorcycles ever made, it's also one of the rarest motorcycles ever built in general. Honda made the NR750 as a racing bike and really wanted to push the envelope with its engine.
When motorcycle racing officials made a rule against V8 engines, Honda engineers saw that as a challenge to make a V4 with the same power output as a V8, leading to a uniquely designed engine. The engineers created oval-shaped pistons that gave them enough room to have eight valves per cylinder. Despite it kicking out 120 horsepower, the Honda racing team struggled to pull a win with this innovative engine, forcing Honda to move on. Not before the NR750 became available to the general public, however. Not only did it have a unique engine within its frame, it also had its two exhausts located underneath the seat — a feature that Massimo Tamburini admits to influencing his design for the Ducati 916.
Honda went ahead and created a limited amount of NR750s for the general public to purchase. 300, to be exact — of those 300, eight were exported to England. It's difficult to find one of these limited edition bikes for sale, but when they are listed, they're not cheap by any means.
[Featured image by Rainmaker47 via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC BY-SA 3.0]
What's the NR750 worth today?
In 1992, the NR750 had a price tag of $50,000. That would be a fairly reasonable price for a limited edition bike today, but when adjusted for inflation, that comes out to $111,741.98. Which means any original owners of the NR750 — also known as the RC40 — have more than doubled their investment. Normally vehicles start depreciating in value the moment they leave the dealer's lot, but limited editions, especially one of the first limited editions by a major manufacturer, are a little different. If the owner treats the vehicle well and keeps the mileage low, the value is only going to go up.
One NR750 sold at auction for $110K in 2021, which is roughly what the bike is worth today. Not bad for the seller. However, that's not even the highest an NR750 goes for today. A custom black one, as opposed to traditional red, is listed on Iconic Motor Bike Auctions with only 18K miles, and it's going for $125K. For a mere non-refundable $9,000, a potential buyer can reserve it. The NR750 might not be one of the most expensive motorcycles ever made, but it definitely retained its value. If you're ever on the hunt for an NR750, expect to shell out six figures.