Honda's New Electric Mountain Bike Makes Us Yearn For Some TrailsRideApart[email protected] (Enrico Punsalang)Tue, September 22, 2026 at 11:19 AM UTCAdd us on GoogleHonda's New Electric Mountain Bike Makes Us Yearn For Some TrailsHonda looked at all the motorcycles in its garage and decided we needed yet another excuse to disappear into the woods.There are motorcycles that make you want to cross continents, motorcycles that make you want to find the nearest racetrack, and motorcycles that make your driver's license nervous. Honda's latest creation isn't technically a motorcycle at all, but one look at its new e-MTB Prototype has me wanting to head over to my nearest bike park.Honda unveiled the electric mountain bike at Sea Otter Europe 2026 in Girona, Spain, and this isn't just some design exercise destined to spend eternity rotating on a show stand. Honda says it's officially entering the e-MTB segment, with the bike's production name, pricing, availability, and market rollout to be announced later.Honda's New Electric Mountain Bike Makes Us Yearn For Some TrailsGet Out And RideThe New KTM 690 Rally Wants You To Find A Trail And Confront Your FeelingsYamaha Is Spending Money To Make Sure We Still Have Places To RideAdvertisementAdvertisementAnd yes, Honda has already let Toni Bou loose on it. Because if you're developing something designed to scramble over rocks, roots, and other inconvenient pieces of planet Earth, you might as well hand it to a 40-time trials world champion and see what happens.Honda calls the idea behind the prototype "New Terrain, Same Dream." Beyond that, details remain frustratingly scarce. There's no word yet on the motor, battery, range, suspension specs, or where it'll land in the increasingly serious e-MTB market. For now, Honda is mostly giving us something pretty to stare at.But Honda messing around with mountain bikes isn't actually new. More than two decades ago, its motorcycle R&D division created the RN01 downhill race bike, a crazily overengineered machine with a frame-mounted enclosed transmission. Honda raced the RN01 internationally before eventually walking away from the project and disappearing from mountain biking.Honda's New Electric Mountain Bike Makes Us Yearn For Some TrailsThat history makes Honda's return considerably more interesting than another big manufacturer jumping onto the e-bike bandwagon. The new prototype appeared alongside the WN7 electric motorcycle, CR electric motocross prototype, RTL Electric trials bike, and, fittingly, the old RN01 itself. That's quite the family reunion, and a pretty clear indication that Honda's ambitions aren't limited to electric motorcycles.AdvertisementAdvertisementWe still don't know what Honda will call this thing, how much it'll cost, how powerful it'll be, or when we'll actually get to buy one (if at all). But Honda says more details are coming as it prepares for launch.Source: Honda, VisorDown
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