10 Honda Motorcycles With Timeless Styling

‘Honda’ brings to mind all the ‘lawnmower’ and ‘VTEC kicked in’ jokes to the fans of automobiles, but like most Japanese companies, it is an extremely large conglomerate that has fingers in a lot of pies. It also happens to be the world’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer, selling the largest number annually. Yes, those numbers are mostly made up of small runabouts in developing markets, but Honda is also one of the most successful manufacturers in racing, right up to MotoGP, the pinnacle of two-wheeled motorsport.

What doesn’t come immediately to mind when one talks about Honda is styling. Honda is known for its great engineering, and form has always function at the Japanese company. That said, over its long and storied history, there have been a number of Honda motorcycles that have been style icons, from cruisers, to tourers, and sport bikes – some of which have influenced the most beautiful motorcycles in history!

To give you the most up-to-date and accurate information possible, the data used to compile this article was sourced from authoritative sources, such as Honda Powersports. We’ve ordered the list in order of initial launch date to give it some order, and have provided the last generation specs, and pricing if the model is on sale in the USA.

Honda Super Cub

Launch Year: 1958

The Cub is the highest-selling motor vehicle of all time. Not only that, most of them are probably still running around, it is that reliable. This isn’t a performance or design icon in the traditional sense of the word; it mobilized the world more than any other invention in history other than the wheel, and its success has bred many copycats. It was launched in the US market at a time when the original 50 cc would have been nothing more than a toy (cue the ‘lawnmower’ jokes), but the ad campaign, ‘You meet the nicest people on a Honda’ made sure everyone knew what the winged badge – and a Cub – was.

Honda Dream CB750 Super Four

Launch Year: 1969

The Dream CB750 Super Four sits at the opposite end of the spectrum from the Cub, and yet its influence is arguably almost as much. It presented the idea that a high-performance motorcycle need not be temperamental or difficult to ride on a daily basis. This idea struck a chord with the customer and forced the entire industry to up its game. It gave rise to the ‘Universal Japanese Motorcycle’, which, like the Cub, had a number of similar motorcycles follow its lead. There exists a CB750 today as well, but it has moved with the times. The original format was available in Japan until earlier this year; a 56-year run is impressive by any standard.

Honda Shadow

Launch Year: 1983

The Honda Shadow was born of the need to give the American public an American-style cruiser, but with a Japanese twist. That twist being refinement, performance, and reliability. This being Honda, it nailed it on all three counts. Some might say that Honda went a little too far and gave it too much refinement (if there is such a thing), making it anodyne in the process. Whatever the case may be, the Shadow is still around today, and is so popular that Honda added a rear disc brake and ABS to it last year. You can’t deny that the Shadow has all the correct proportions for an American-style V-twin cruiser – long, low, and wide.

Honda XRV650 Africa Twin

Launch Year: 1988

The Africa Twin is named after the Paris-Dakar Rally, one of the most grueling rally-raid races in the world. It was developed to race in it, and it won on its debut in 1986. The original Africa Twin had a 647 cc V-twin that developed 57 horsepower and 41 pound-feet, a far cry from today’s 100-horsepower CRF1100L Africa Twin. However, both have enough power and reliability to take on the toughest race in the world, even in stock form.

Honda proved this with the XRV650 in the Marathon Class of the 1989 Dakar Rally, which was for unmodified production vehicles. Not only did it come in first and second, a total of 18 Africa Twins completed the race – no small feat! Its styling influence can be seen not just on the current Africa Twin, but on the CRF300L Rally as well.

Honda CBR900RR Fireblade First Gen

Launch Year: 1992

The first-generation Fireblade doesn’t look distinctive today, but that’s a statement as to how many other smaller Honda sport bikes it inspired, with its twin-pod headlamp and full fairing. What it did was change the proportions of the sports bike as the world knew it, with the visual mass shifted forward and low, accentuated by a front rim that was smaller than usual for the time. Today’s CBR1000RR Fireblade retains those smooth lines and curves, three decades later. It also retains the usability of Tadao Baba’s original, right up to the CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP, the most powerful naturally aspirated inline four motorcycle in the world.

Honda NR750

Launch Year: 1992

The prowess of Honda can be judged by 1992 alone: this was the year in which the CBR900RR was launched, AND the NR750 road bike as well. We could prattle on all day about the influence of the Fireblade on modern sports bikes, but the truth is, the NR750 did an equal amount. It gave us things like a carbon fiber body, magnesium wheels, inverted front forks, a digital display, twin front brake discs, titanium conrods, electronic fuel injection, dual throttle bodies, and a cassette-type gearbox. Oh, and the designer of the Ducati 916 has openly stated that he was inspired by the NR’s twin headlamp and underseat exhaust design. Need we say more?

Honda Gold Wing GL1800 Fifth Gen

Launch Year: 2001

The Gold Wing has been around for well over half a century, and it has always been one of the best tourers money can buy, never mind the fact that it costs significantly less than other comparable tourers. It didn’t truly come into its own until the beginning of the millennium, when Honda decided to up its cylinder count to six, giving us a Porsche-like flat-six engine. Another differentiating factor is the styling; the fifth-generation Gold Wing looks unique among tourers, and that is the look Honda has kept going until today. In fact, there is even a Chinese copy of it!

Honda Valkyrie Rune

Launch Year: 2004

With the big redesign of the Gold Wing, you’d think Honda would sit back and enjoy the moment… but no. It released a cruiser based on the Gold Wing called the Valkyrie, and then a custom bike called the Valkyrie Rune. This was an extremely limited edition run, with all custom parts, and it was produced only for a single year. It looks so outlandish that it looks like a concept bike come to life, which is pretty much what it is.

We’re happy that the Rune exists, because it is evidence that sometimes the accountants don’t win a battle. Oh, and despite its rarity, its value hasn’t climbed as much as you’d expect. You can still have it for the price of a Low Rider S – if you’re willing to put up with the headache of sourcing custom parts whenever you need them!

Honda VFR1200F

Launch Year: 2009

The VFR series of motorcycles can be traced back to 1982, with the first V4-powered motorcycles from Big Red. These were always sport tourers – and the VFR1200F was the last and fastest of the lot. The styling seemed to be from the same school of thought as the Valkyrie Rune, like some alien being on two wheels, but it had cohesion as well. Under the skin, the VFR1200F was far more interesting than you’d imagine it to be; it had the first dual clutch automatic transmission ever fitted to a motorcycle.

Oh, and sure, it had a V4 engine, but not in the way you’d imagine. The forward-facing cylinders were the two outer ones, while the inner two cylinders leaned backward to give the VFR a narrower seat. It also birthed the Crosstourer, a V4-powered adventure motorcycle with a 19/17-inch spoke wheel set – sound familiar? Today, Honda doesn’t have an equivalent, but the NT1100 DCT with its 100 horsepower is the closest you can get to the 170-horsepower VFR.

Honda Grom

Launch Year: 2014

Mini bikes have been around for a long time, but only when the Grom rolled around did we realize how much fun they are. And that is thanks to Honda taking the Grom seriously and putting out a well-engineered product that could, in turn, be taken seriously by customers. The design is anything but serious, though – it is charming and appealing in all the ways a puppy is, and is just right for the product. Under the skin is an engine that isn’t much different from the one powering the Super Cub, but it is paired with a 5-speed gearbox. Yes, it can wheelie like nobody’s business. This is the cutest agent of two-wheeled chaos today.