Oldies: A short history of the famous RC 174 also called "Honda 6"... (5)

To fully understand the importance of what is called "the Honda 6" in the history of motorcycling, leading to the RC 174, we can obviously place it on a technological level, but also insert it into the saga of the duel between the International Motorcycling Federation and the builders, a worthy parallel to that of the police and the robbers!

Find here the introduction to this short story of the very famous RC 174 also called Honda 6.

This series of articles is inspired by the announced presence of the most authentic replica of la HondaRC174 during the Sunday Ride Classic on the Paul Ricard circuit, May 17 & 18, 2025...

1 / Presentation

2 / The context

3/ The first Honda 6

4/ The RC174

5/ “6 and” end… or almost!

At the end of 1967, Honda, officially having nothing left to prove, abandoned the Grand Prix. This is certainly true, but it is probably only part of the reasons that led Soichiro Honda to withdraw its fabulous machines from the most prestigious of motorcycle competitions.

On the one hand, Honda, since 1964, had been involved in F1 with its RA271…

On the other hand, the company's finances, supervised by Kiyoshi Kawashima, were beginning to worry the latter. Kiyoshi Kawashima, who joined Honda in 1947 and later became president of the company (1973-1983), had warned Soichiro Honda that a double dancer in F1 and GP was not a viable strategy for the Japanese company and, on the contrary, it was necessary to invest in commercial exploitation.

A certain "750 four" was going to revolutionize another facet of the world of motorcycling, and perhaps the world in general, in July 69...

Finally, in Grand Prix, the FIM was beginning to worry about the current achievements and projects (true or false), technologically incredible but financially unreasonable, which were reaching its ears: 50cc with three cylinders and 14 speeds at Suzuki (RP68), 125cc with 5 cylinders and 23 rpm at Honda (RC000), V149 in 8cc. It therefore announced that it was going to limit the number of cylinders, which it did in 500.