Stephen Mines in his Honda N600 with a VFR800 motorIf you ride motorcycles and you’re under 60 years of age, it’s almost a certainty that you played with Mattel’s Hot Wheels. Sometimes, the little toy cars grow up, and that’s the idea behind the Hot Wheels Legends Tour, which features performance-enhanced automobiles. Part of the Hot Wheels Legends Tour is the Honda Super Tuner Legends Series, and that’s where motorcycles enter the equation.The winner of the inaugural Honda Super Tuner Legends Series competition is a Honda N600 powered by a Honda VFR800 V4 motor. For those who don’t remember, or didn’t know, the 1970 Honda N600 was the first automobile Honda imported into the United States, and a precursor to the Honda Civic. It was a tiny four-wheeler, with an air-cooled 600cc SOHC twin that pumped out all of 35 horsepower or so at a lofty 9000 rpm, and around 32 ft/lbs of torque. That was good for a top speed just north of 80 mph.
Stephen Mines wasn’t satisfied with the power output of his N600. So, he installed a V4 out of a Honda VFR800 to move the little Honda car around—a bump up to about 90 horsepower and 49 ft/lbs of torque, and a redline of 12,000 rpm. This also allowed Mines to go with more sporting rear-wheel drive.Honda VFR800 engine.Putting that much power into a stock N600 chassis might be a bit much, so Mines modified a Mazda Miata suspension system and figured out how to shoehorn it into the N600. The seats are from a Polaris RZR SxS, and the bumpers are from a late-1960s Chevrolet Camaro. The result is a Honda N600 that looks pretty much stock, yet packs a powerful punch for a car just over 10 feet in length.Honda Super Tuner Legends Series winning Honda N600 with a VFR800 motor.Mines’ VFR800-powered N600 will be on display at the SEMA Show at the Las Vegas Convention center from Nov. 5 through 8. Of course, we’re more interested in driving it than looking at it.
Our first segment introduces you to the new Arch 1s. This latest, slightly more sporting American V-twin, adds to the original KRGT1 coming from the boutique manufacturer based in Hawthorne, Southern California. Senior Editor Nic de Sena rode through Malibu with Gard Hollinger, who co-founded Arch Motorcycle with his friend, Keanu Reeves. The 1s is a unique ride for sure, and Nic explains what makes the bike really stand out.
For the entertaining story behind Arch Motorcycle from Gard Hollinger himself, you must listen to his podcast episode on Motos & Friends HERE
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The guest segment of Motos and Friends is brought to you by the faster and most technologically advanced, 2023 Suzuki Hayabusa—visit your local dealer or suzukicycles.com to learn more.
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In our second segment, Associate Editor Teejay Adams chats with multiple Emmy award-winning writer, Producer, Director, and actor, Thom Beers. the former Chairman & CEO of Fremantle Media North America, responsible for American Idol and America’s Got Talent.
Thom’s fertile imagination led to most of the really big reality TV shows such as ‘Deadliest Catch’ (now in its 17th season!), and many others. Of course for us in the motorcycle world, you’ll be interested to hear the genesis and story of how he started the first real fabrication reality show ‘Monster Garage’, that showcased Jesse James, and then how that led to ‘Biker Build Off’ and the ‘Zombie Choppers’ movie.
You’d imagine that most of Thom’s time is spent sitting behind a desk and on his phone. Not so. His intense stories of capturing much of the content for these shows make for some hair-raising listening.
