PATENTS confirm Honda’s next generation CBR1000RR is coming for 2020

And it’ll have active WINGS

We first brought you the news of Honda’s Superblade a week ago, but in case you missed it with everything happening over the last few days, here it is again.

We’ve been telling you for years that Honda’s been working on a new CBR1000RR superbike – and with patents emerging online showing a new road-going superbike with active aerodynamics, it looks like it’s finally happening.

Ok, so first things first. It doesn’t look like we’re going to be seeing the V4 Fireblade that everyone (including us) have been banging on about for a few years. Instead, the patents show a bike which looks very much like Honda’s existing RC213V MotoGP machine – and aside from a handful of changes to make it suitable for the road, there’s one big difference. It’s got Active Aerodyamics.

That’s right. The new Honda superbike hides a set of four springloaded winglets that are activated by an internal computer. Pretty cool. In principle, the tech would help the new Honda CBR1000RR to increase downforce during hard braking – and still be streamline for high-speed sections.

And with WorldSBK rules stipulating that the aerodynamics on race bikes must be the same as on the production model, it looks like Honda is gearing up for a big season in next year’s World Superbike Championship. But we already knew that, with rumours swirling that Alvaro Bautista will be riding for the factory HRC team in the WorldSBK paddock.

At this stage, there’s been no official confirmation from Honda, but it sounds like we won’t have to wait too much longer to see it in the flesh.