Honda RC213V-S patented

SURE, Honda has officially shown it’s ‘concept’ for the endlessly awaited road-going Honda RC213V-S superbike but somehow the chances of really seeing a production version still don’t seem to have been 100% confirmed.

Now, however, the firm has filed patents for the bike’s design, revealing a machine that, unsurprisingly, looks identical to the concept shown last year. And with that move the firm’s intentions to really make this bike seem to have taken on a new level of reality.

Having said that, the only element that’s actually been patented is a tiny section at the back of the bike, where the rear light and numberplate hanger are fitted, shown in grey on the images. The rest of the styling, which is effectively identical to the race bike, remains unpatented at the moment.

One inference might be that the rest of the styling is subject to change before (or should that be ‘if?’) the bike reaches production. Alternatively, Honda might not want to be seen to be patenting the shape of a race bike, since it could be seen as an unsporting attempt to use legislation to seal-in an advantage and prevent rivals from using the same idea.

The tail light and licence plate hanger – the parts patented here – are never going to be used on the racer and are clearly unlikely to change, allowing Honda to patent them as road bike components.

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