In 2024, an ambitious project was presented for Honda, such as manufacturing its first electric trial bike, a job that would come shortly after doing the same in the motocross specialty successfully. At the moment it is a competition prototype, but the goal in the near future is to incorporate the electric motorcycle into the catalog of the Montesa range.
Honda’s commitment to sustainability is something that has always accompanied them, as they demonstrated in 2005 when they stopped manufacturing 2-stroke motorcycles. Now, the market and priorities point towards electric motorcycles, which are also very interesting in the case of trials, since a large battery is not necessary to match or far exceed the range of any current 2T or 4T motorcycle.
HONDA RTL ELECTRIC RACING DEBUT
Takahisa Fujinami completed a tour of Japan a few months ago with the aim of contributing to the development of the bike and collecting dynamic data in competition, for which he participated in three races of the Japanese National Championship, resulting in three victories, standing up to his friend and compatriot Kuroyama, also at the controls of an electric motorcycle: the Yamaha TY-E.
After these competitions it is clear that the Honda RTL electric is a competitive bike to at least compete in Trial2 in 2025 and think about moving up to TrialGP probably in 2027.
Honda has been looking for a rider for this task and the premises were, at least, to have a rider capable of fighting for the title of the category, and also to offer geographical proximity to accelerate the development of the bike.
The rider, as confirmed by Honda in this news where it officially publishes the riders in competitions, will be Miquel Gelabert, until now a Vertigo Motors rider.
MORE ELECTRIC IN TRIAL 2
In 2025 we will have at least 3 brands with electric motorcycles represented in the Trial2 category.
Electric Motion, which won the last round of the World Championship in Ripoll, the GASGAS TX-E, which does not compete under an official structure, but privately owned by Sondre Haga, who also won a race in Japan, and finally the Honda RTL.
The first photos of the pilot will be announced in an official statement soon.
