Mugen Shinden Hachi Electric Superbike Debuts for IOMTT

Another debut from the Tokyo Motorcycle Show, the next iteration of the Mugen Shinden has debuted and its ready for the Isle of Man TT.

The bike is officially dubbed the Mugen Shinden Hachi – and for those who don’t know, “hachi” means “eight” in Japanese, with this being the eighth iteration of the Mugen Shinden electric superbike.

On the spec sheet, we see that nothing has changed on the 2019 bike versus the Mugen Shinden Nana that raced last year. But, a quick visual inspection sees that the Japanese tuning brand has been busy optimizing its aerodynamics package.

As such, the front intake for the Shinden Hachi has been revised. The tail section has also been reworked, and looks a bit more slippery.

Though the spec sheet suggests that nothing has changed beneath the fairings, we surely can expect Mugen to have taken advantage of the advancing battery technology in the past year, which when coupled to the new aerodynamics package (which includes vortex-creating trailing edges), the bike should be a potent racing platform.

As we have talked about before regarding the aerodynamic design, the Japanese firm has a taken a cue from nature, something that contributor Michael Uhlarik outlined in this A&R Pro story for us, with vortex generating edges also featuring on the Shinden Nana’s bodywork.

We also see that Mugen continues to use Showa’s prototype forks, which have carbon fiber fork tubes, and are much lighter compared to their aluminum counterparts.

All of this is an attempt for Mugen to break the TT Zero lap record, which is currently set at 121.824 mph. For the 2019 assault, Mugen sees the duo from last year return, with John McGuinness and Michael Rutter headlining for the team.

It seems very likely that Mugen will once again dominate the TT Zero grid at the Isle of Man TT, though the question remains regarding which rider will take winner’s circle, and what the winning lap time will be.

Could the Shinden Hachi be another record-breaking machine for Mugen? Only time can tell…and by what margin.

Technical Specifications of the Mugen Shinden Nana: