This old thread pop'ed up in New Posts. I never saw it before. Just read it all and kept thinking the same things:
Wow!
I'm proud of the bikes I build but can't imagine the attention to detail to make a small model look real!
Laced wheels - you've got to be kidding me - that's hard enough full sized!
I know most hate/loath/are scared of/don't understand AI. I use it every day on things where I'm already an expert to have "someone" to discuss problems/issues. I treat these like actual human conversions and have had many amazing results from those conversations. So, I took a fully deep dive into "how many were made" and how many exist today". As
@Richard Tool knows, there is no possible solid answer - it was a race team "bike" with no production line. Here's the best AI with my poking it over and over to do better came up with:
So, where does that leave us?
If we define terms tightly:
* "RC166 built" = genuine factory works chassis built by Honda’s race department for 250 GP use in the mid-1960s.
* "Still exist" = those same works-origin chassis surviving in any reasonably complete form. The engine makes little to no difference since they were changed as needed.
Then the most defensible, no-BS answer is:
* How many Honda RC166 motorcycles were made?
** Best reconstruction: around 6–8 genuine factory RC166 chassis, with a larger number of engines and gearboxes used across them.
* How many still exist?
** Best reconstruction: about 3–5 true works RC166s survive today, almost all in Honda’s own collection or in major museum/private custody.
** High-end replicas - especially George Beale's - Outnumber the originals and are often mistaken for them.
When I push AI this hard and this is the best I get - there really is no actual answer unless you can talk to the race team manager or maybe a race team mechanic. The answer is not anywhere accessible on the Internet.
The result above from culmination of about 1000 lines of reasoning AI provided. For instance, about halfway in it said:
How you get to a credible 6–8 total chassis:
* You need enough to support:
** Multiple riders.
** Spares.
** Development.
** Evolution across seasons.