FLYING MACHINE FOR ALLCOMERS
If you tied me up and threatened to thrash me with a wet lettuce until I came up with three words to describe Hondas, I’d go for smooth, fast and stable.
Take the Fireblade, for example. In the hands of real bikers like John McGuinness, it wins the TT, but even in the hands of bluffers like me, it’s a joy to ride swiftly without ever feeling as if it’s going to pull a surprise and fling you over the nearest hedge.
No surprise, then, that the CB1000R follows in that tradition by being a supremely user-friendly flying machine.
Honda’s gone back to the genes of the original CB1000 for it, stripping it back to the basics for a simple design and an enjoyable ride. The result looks great – like the love child of a super naked and a retro.
The riding position is slightly on the sporty side of neutral, with a lovely multicoloured LCD dash which shows everything you need to know at a glance, including which of the four riding modes you’re in – standard, sport, rain or user. The latter can be tweaked to suit your own combination of power delivery, engine braking and traction control.
The Honda boffins have been hard at work reducing the bike’s weight by 15kg, creating a 20% increase in the power to weight ratio, and giving more torque between 6,000-8,000rpm.
As a result, even standard mode produces very satisfying acceleration, with a beautifully linear power delivery in a happy marriage with a trademark Honda featherlight clutch and slick six-speed gearbox.
The result is oodles of oomph from basement revs all the way to a redline which has been nudged up from 10,300 to 11,500rpm, accompanied by a glorious howl from the exhaust.
Braking, with two big discs up front, is brutal but smooth, with a slipper clutch to stop the back wheel locking under aggressive downshifting.
Handling is also trademark Honda – beautifully light, neutral, precise and stable, thanks to a very slightly longer wheelbase than the outgoing model.
So, all in all, a really well sorted package which looks fantastic, goes great and will satisfy everyone from a nervous newbie to all but the most irredeemable hooligan.
The CB1000R+ version, for £12,299, includes extras such as heated grips, lots of nice aluminium detailing and a quick shifter.
But not a wet lettuce, sadly. What on earth was Honda thinking of?