1975 Honda RTL300

An uninformed observer might glance at this Honda trials bike and think it was a long-forgotten production model from the heydays of the 1970s, when it seemed every major motorcycle manufacturer had a bike for every purpose.

But that uninformed observer, as the uninformed often are, would be wrong.

This RTL300 was manufactured in 1975 by Honda Racing Corp. as a full-factory competition machine. Marland Whaley rode it to the 1976 and ’77 AMA and North American Trials Council national trials championships.

A closer inspection tells the real story. There are the sand-cast magnesium engine cases, the fiberglass tank, the square and elliptical tubing frame, the alloy under-engine cradle, a trick heat shield protecting the carburetor from exhaust temperatures, and titanium parts throughout.

In the 1970s, HRC invested a small (for Honda) fortune to develop a factory trials program, and the RTL300 was the result. It was a 305cc four-stroke single tipping the scales at a svelte 192 pounds.

Whaley left Team Honda in 1978, and American Honda abandoned its factory effort with the RTLs, storing them at their U.S. headquarters in Gardena, Calif. Of the fewer than 10 that were left, some went overseas and others were destined for the crusher. This one was saved by some Honda brass who appreciated what the bikes represented—a time when the world’s biggest motorcycle company turned its attention to one of the most niche motorsports in America.

A decade later—coincidentally about the time Honda produced the RTL250 factory competition bike—American Honda donated this championship-winning RTL300 to the American Motorcycle Heritage Foundation. You can see it on display at the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in Pickerington, Ohio.