10 Most Powerful Honda Motorcycle Engines Ever (2024)

Honda is the biggest manufacturer of two-wheelers in the world, and it has achieved that status by selling millions of small-capacity motorcycles in developing markets. At the same time, it is a company with a long history, and a lot of pride, being a successful manufacturer in the various racing disciplines it competes in. After all, HRC (Honda Racing Corporation) is one of the most successful brands in dirt and road racing.

This same pride is present in its production models as well. When it needed to make a statement, Honda went ahead and built something that nobody expected it to, and made it a reliable product the first time out. With the kind of financial prowess it has, coupled with this pride in its products, it is not surprising that there have been a fair number of genuinely powerful Hondas over the years. Wondering which ones have the most power? Then, allow us to curb your curiosity with this list of the top ten most powerful Honda motorcycles.

10 Honda NR750 RC40

Power: 123.3 horsepower

The first Honda on this list is also probably the most valuable, despite being a failure by Honda’s standards. You see, The NR was supposed to be a four-stroke racebike that competed with the two strokes of the time. But it needed to generate the same amount of power, which is why it has distinct oval pistons. Its development was delayed due to innumerable difficulties, but Honda eventually managed to get it to work. Only 300 were put on sale with incredible tech that wasn’t seen in road bikes at the time. Titanium conrods, carbon fiber bodywork, and a digital speedometer were all space-age tech for the public and the NR had it all.

9 Honda GL1800 Gold Wing

Power: 124.7 horsepower

When you think of powerful Honda motorcycles, the Gold Wing doesn’t come to mind immediately because we don’t think of it as a performance machine. However, its flat-six engine produces around 125 horsepower, enough to get it on this list. Yes, even though the performance is blunted by its 787-pound curb weight. It is so heavy because it is loaded up with every single luxury one can think of mounting on two wheels, whether for the rider or the pillion. It isn’t for nothing that it has consistently been one of the top-selling tourers, fifty years after its debut.

8 Honda RVT1000R RC51

Power: 134.1 horsepower

Honda called this model the RVT1000R in our market, and the VTR1000 in Europe and Australia, but its most popular name remains ‘RC51’. The RC was developed to compete in the World Superbike series and copied Ducati’s extremely successful design with a 90 degree v-twin powering things. Of course, while retaining all the characteristics of a Honda. It won the WSBK championship the first time out in the hands of Colin Edwards, then Ducati took the title back, and Honda went straight to the drawing board to whip up the second-gen RC51 called the SP2. This road bike was even closer to the racebike.

7 Honda CBR929RR

Power: 150 horsepower

The correct name for the CBR929RR would be the CBR900RR, third generation. It was manufactured and sold at the same time as the RC51 above, but it followed a different route to performance, with its inline four-cylinder engine. As a result, it made more horsepower and a smidge more torque than the RC51, but it made it much higher up in the rev range. The CBR929RR debuted the Fireblade’s first set of 17-inch rims, 330 mm front brake discs, a swingarm that was mounted directly to the engine, and a titanium exhaust with Honda’s HTEV exhaust valve system.

6 Honda CBR1100XX Super Blackbird

Power: 150.2 horsepower

Honda developed the CBR1100XX with one specific goal: to become the fastest production motorcycle in the world. Its ‘Super Blackbird’ designation was a reference to the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, which was the world’s fastest aircraft at the time. It might not have had the same amount of power as the CBR954RR that launched eight years after its own debut, but its carburetted engine was a marvel for the era, putting out prodigious torque from its 1,137 cc four-cylinder engine. It broke the speed record, taking the crown from the Kawasaki ZX-11, but its joy was short-lived, because Suzuki was working on the same goal and took the crown away three short years later.

5 Honda CBR954RR

Power: 151.5 horsepower

The CBR954RR was the last of the CBR900RRs before the CBR1000RR replaced them. It built on what the CBR929RR had, with more power and less weight. However, examine the figures carefully, and you’ll notice that it had just 1.5 horsepower more at higher revs, and the torque figure had dropped off. The top speed was the same story: it gained 2 MPH over the model it was replacing. Honda knew that incremental changes weren’t working for the Fireblade anymore, and it took the bold decision to revamp the series completely. The result was the first generation CBR1000RR. Honda’s newest entry into the WBSK series.

4 Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade

Power: 169 horsepower

There are two distinct versions of the CBR1000RR to choose from (the rest being incremental updates). And while it is tempting to go with the newest one with the most power output, we’re going to choose the older seventh-generation Fireblade. The first of the CBR1000RRs is a landmark because it was a massive shift from the older CBR900RRs, and we arguably haven’t seen such a big developmental leap in the Fireblade series since then. It wasn’t just the name that changed; among the list of new things were the Honda Electronic Steering Damper, a centralized fuel tank that was more under the seat than in the traditional place, an ECU-controlled ram-air system, and a cassette-type gearbox.

3 Honda VFR1200F

Power: 170 horsepower

The VFR sport-tourer series of motorcycles had only the VFR800 in its lineup until the VFR1200F was put on sale in 2009. What was unique about it was the shaft drive and the automatic dual-clutch gearbox, the latter being a very new technology for the time. The 1200 also had a number of other unique features. The engine was a V4, yes, but unlike other V4s, the forward-facing cylinders were the outside cylinders, whereas both inner cylinders were the ones that leaned backward.

This was done to narrow the waist of the VFR and make it more accessible to shorter riders, but it also afforded the engine better primary balance, neglecting the use of balancers. The result? Less weight, more power. Another fascinating aspect was the C-ABS system that actuated only two of the front’s left disc pistons with the rear brake lever. To further balance the braking force when only the front brake was applied, Honda engineered slightly smaller pistons for the right disc.

2 Honda RC213V-S

Power: 212 horsepower

The RC213V-S was Honda’s racebike-for-the-road; the company claimed it shared 80 percent of its parts with the actual MotoGP racebike piloted by Marc Marquez. Of course, it had to delete the pneumatic valves, and in our market, noise regs wouldn’t let it rev beyond 8,000 RPM, giving us a boring near-100 horsepower output. We didn’t get the Power Kit either that gave the motorcycle that headlining power figure… But that’s by the by. This is a replica of one of the most dominant racebikes in history, ridden by the likes of Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa, and Marc Marquez to multiple titles.

1 Honda CBR1000RR-R

Power: 214.6 horsepower

Atop the Honda motorcycle horsepower hill is the CBR1000RR-R. The Euro-spec version, not the stateside model that's said to be limited to 186 horsepower at 12,000 RPM. Honda has applied quite a lot of its MotoGP know-how to the CBR1000RR-R, especially in the top-shelf SP version with its electronic suspension. Other race-derived tech include a DLC (diamond-like carbon) coating on the cam lobes to reduce friction and a titanium exhaust system from specialists Akrapovic. Showa and Brembo lend their very best components for the suspension and braking to help the rider tame that massive power output.