Close-up of the Fox 36 fork and carbon monocoque. Photo: mydrivers // Honda. Source: Photo: Honda
Honda has revealed the RN0, an electric mountain bike targeting a 2027 launch — the brand’s first MTB in nearly two decades. The prototype debuted at Sea Otter Europe 2026 in Girona, built in partnership with ADP Engineering, a subdivision of German bike brand Rotwild. No pricing or dealer network has been announced yet for the US or UK.
The hardware
The RN0 uses a full carbon monocoque frame with what Honda calls a Gullarm rear suspension — a single-pivot design braced by three independent linkages. Up front, a Fox 36 fork handles trail duty. The drivetrain is Shimano through and through: an EP8 mid-drive motor producing 85 Nm of torque, paired with Di2 electronic shifting. Wheel size is a mullet setup — 27.5-inch rear, 29-inch front — and the frame includes a UDH derailleur hanger and externally routed cables.
Close-up of the Fox 36 fork and carbon monocoque. Photo: mydrivers // Honda
The design philosophy Honda is pushing is “Man Maximum, Machine Minimum” — essentially, a bike that feels like a bike rather than a motorized appliance. Professional motorcycle trials rider Toni Bou tested the prototype, though trials geometry and trail riding are very different disciplines, so treat that as a marketing signal rather than a technical stamp of approval.
A complicated return
Honda’s mountain bike history is short but notable. The RN01 G-Cross ran from 2004 to 2007 as a factory downhill race machine — Greg Minnaar won the 2005 World Cup aboard it, according to Brújula Bike. The program folded after three seasons, leaving Honda absent from the category for the better part of twenty years.
The RN0 arrives into a competitive e-MTB market where Specialized Turbo Levo and Trek’s Bosch-powered lineup set the premium benchmark. Honda is positioning the RN0 as high-end, but without a price, that claim is hard to assess. The Shimano EP8 motor is capable — 85 Nm matches Bosch Performance CX on paper — but per E-Mountainbike, EP8’s market share has dropped sharply, from 27% in 2023 to 13.3% in 2025, as manufacturers shift toward Bosch and newer rivals like the Avinox M1 (105 Nm).
What to watch
A 2027 production date gives Honda time to finalize specs and sort distribution. The Rotwild connection hints at European manufacturing, but whether that translates to strong availability in the US and UK remains unclear. If the price lands anywhere near Specialized Levo or Trek Slash+ territory, Honda will need the RN0 to feel genuinely exceptional on trail — not just impressive on paper.