Japanese Art-2001 Honda Moriwaki MP101

Japanese Art-2001 Honda Moriwaki MP101

Come on, who doesn’t have one of these? Hmmmmm.  I’m aware of Moriwaki but I’ve never seen this model before.  You may recognize the name as they build a 250cc race bike that has been replacing 125cc two strokes lately.  They are also active in Moto2.  They’ve been around for a long time in Japan and I’ve always considered them the Honda equivalent to Yoshimura.  I don’t know if they have direct ties but most of their products and complete bikes are based around Honda’s.  They have a nice website if you’d like to check it out.  I didn’t manage to find the MP101 there but did find the page of the race bike it is styled off of.  Going off of the seller’s number’s this is one of 30 MP101’s built.  The bike is based off of a Honda VTR1000SP.

If you have to have a unique bike and have the wallet to afford it this could be a nice find.  With 10 miles on it, it has barely turned a wheel on the street.  Obviously, with the bike being in Tokyo it adds a little work but nothing that can’t be overcome.  I guess if you can afford the bike the extra cost of shipping isn’t going to be that big of a concern.  My biggest concern would be the large sum of money being transferred and not seeing the bike in person.  I’m not saying anything bad about the seller just pointed out that is one of the pit falls of buying overseas.  Be careful and protect yourself as much as you can just in case.

Here she is:

A little from the auction:

 Hello, I am selling this bike for my friend in Japan who is managing a motorcycle shop.
 This is a brand new Moriwaki MP101 ( based on Honda VTR1000SP-1 ) produced only 30vehicles.
 I believe there are only a few New bike on this model in the world. This is one of them.
 This bike can be ridden on the road in Japan, so not a race only bike but very similar for it.
 
 Shipping timing for this bike from Japan is in Jan, 2011 or later because he needs my help for overseas shipment arrangement.
 I am now staying in Michigan & returning back to Tokyo by the end of this year.

 This bike is a very good display at your living room etc if you have enough money.

 The price for bidding does NOT include shipping costs from Japan to the US, import duty ( if needed ), sales tax, registration etc ( if possible in the US ).
 I can arrange international shipment to the US but all the costs needs to be paid by buyer as freight collect.

Please contact me before bidding because my fried has been trying to sell this bike as well.

The seller didn’t include many pictures in the auction but said you could request more from him.  I did a little search on the internets and found these stock photos and one of the race bike it was based off of (just an educated guess not 100% sure):

Starting bid is roughly $40,000.  Is it worth it?  Your guess is as good as mine.  I really don’t know know how modified the bike really is  (too bad is doesn’t have that frame off the race bike).  I did find the bike for sale on a Japanese website and it lists it for almost 3 million yen.  That roughly converts to $250,000.  That seems way out of wack from the looks of the bike.  Isn’t that a stock Honda VTR1000 frame and swing arm?  You can investigate here. 

If you’ve got the urge the auction is ending  pretty soon so .

IK