Honda CB1000R Review - Page 2

Honda CB1000R Review - Page 1 - Page 2 - Page 3 By Trevor Hedge And with powerful Tokico radial calipers performing the stopping duties it is a good job the forks are up to the task. We tested the non-ABS version of the CB1000R and found the brakes to be outstanding in both power and feel. Honda has once again struck that perfect compromise between suspension performance and ease of use that seems so elusive for other manufacturers. Triumph’s Speed Triple is a fast and brawny bike that requires a lot from its rider and takes some serious muscling around. Triumph claims a dry weight of 189kg for the Speed Triple while Honda claims a kerb weight of 217kg for the CB1000R. We can only guess that in full road trim the pair must be a lot closer than those figures might suggest as on a tight road you would swear the Honda is a great deal lighter than the Triumph. Honda’s claimed weight distribution of 106kg on the front and 111kg on the rear also doesn’t seem to make much sense as on the road the CB1000R certainly gives the impression of having a forward weight bias. In the saddle the rider is canted forward somewhat which no doubt adds to that impression. Some thought must have also been put into the way the rear shock pivots in the swingarm as the machine does not squat under acceleration. Ergonomically the CB1000R works. At first I thought the seat a little hard but it felt better the more kilometres I travelled, an excellent sign. I found no vibration issues and suffered very little buffeting at speed. Unfortunately we never sampled the pillion accommodations as our test machine only came with the rear cowl fitted in place of the pillion seat. The instrumentation is all digital and works better than it looks. An LCD bar tachometer similar to that seen in Honda’s now discontinued VTR SP1 and SP2 sports machines is the most prominent feature and is flanked by two smaller LCDs displaying the time, odometer and tripmeters, engine temperature and speed. In this day and age of speed enforcement a larger and more central focus on the speedo would be welcome but it is certainly one of the better executed digital layouts I have come across. The one major shortfall of the previous CB900 Hornet was quality of finish as it certainly did not live up to the standards of quality customers expect from Honda. Corrosion on the lower triple clamps and headers was almost instantaneous on the Hornet but there are no such signs of skimping on the CB1000R. The die-cast aluminium frame is beautifully finished off with a black surface treatment that looks very hard wearing. The triple clamps, both upper and lower are finished nicely as are the bars, fork caps and the exquisite rear wheel that is showcased well by the single sided swingarm.   Continue to page 3

Honda CB1000R Review - Page 1 - Page 2 - Page 3

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