James Bond may be most famous for tooling around in a suped-up Aston Martin, but the latest film looks set to feature a collection of Honda motorbikes prominently. Recent footage from Skyfall, the 23rd movie in the series, shows the secret agent riding a CRF250R motocross bike through the streets of Istanbul. The bike, which has been adapted to look like it had just been borrowed from a Turkish merchant, has also gone on show at the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu.

“We needed a highly versatile off-road motorbike that could be easily modified, without compromising performance or safety, for the opening sequence of Skyfall,” said Gary Powell, stunt co-ordinator for Skyfall. “Honda’s CRFs are probably the best off-roaders out there so it’s great that we’ve been able to partner with Honda as the bikes, while heavily modified, were superb to work with.”

A pair of CRF450R bikes were also chosen as HD camera filming machines to allow the crew to keep up with the chase scene. With the kind of punishment the bikes are going to get in the filming of a Bond movie, let’s hope the producers thought to get them properly covered by insurance!