You Can Buy James May's Awesome Honda Superbike

Yes, Captain Slow had one of Honda's gnaliest superbikes.

Photo by: Collecting Cars

By: Jonathon Klein

Nov 1, at 8:01am ET

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While both Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond both consistently made fun of James May being all "Captain Slow" across both Top Gear and The Grand Tour, the iconic presenter has always had one of the best go-fast collections of vehicles of the trio. While his Ferraris were always what folks gravitated toward, like Hammond, May's motorcycles were always way cooler than anything else.

But May has always had a penchant for Honda motorcycles, and specifically for the Fireblades in the family, having owned a handful of them over the years. As with all good things, they come to an end, though. Now, May is shedding a few items from his collection of machines, including a 2013 Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade with just 5,844 miles on its odometer.

How cool would it be to rock up to your local track day or the next meetup on James May's personal Fireblade? More importantly, I still fully believe this is the coolest motorcycle livery to ever exist, though I'm more partial to the generation just before this 2013 model. That one, that bike, I'd give a kidney for. But this is a close second.

May's motorcycle is being auctioned off on Collecting Cars, the auction site that fellow Top Gear personality Chris Harris helped found a few years back.

According to the listing, "This Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade Repsol is a thrilling Japanese superbike, combining the model's acclaimed handling and formidable performance with the distinctive racing-inspired livery associated with Honda's MotoGP success. It is powered by a naturally aspirated 998cc inline-four, delivering power to the rear wheel via a six-speed manual transmission. First registered in July 2013, this example has been with the seller, the celebrated motoring journalist and presenter, James May, for seven years. The odometer shows just 5,844 miles from new."

What do you think?

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As you'd expect, it's basically in perfect condition with all the accompanying documents you'd want in a used motorcycle of this provenance. And as you'd expect from May and his fastidiousness, the bike is absolutely up-to-date on its servicing and looks basically showroom new, even though he's put a fair few miles on the superbike.

The bike is being auctioned at no reserve, with the current top bid being just £8,755 (about $10,000), with four days left at the time of writing. My guess is that it'll get a lot higher closer to when the auction closes, as with other vehicles the trio has sold over the years, they've definitely increased those vehicles' values by being in their presence.