Cutting-edge design, advanced riding technology, combined with Honda heart create a new-gen performance motorcycle for the road

SINGAPORE – Motorcycles are often too distinct for their own good. Classic bikes have soul, sports bikes have performance, urban bikes have design chops. But the lines are hardly crossed because of genre separation.

But here’s a whole new vision of what a motorcycle can be to the urban rider: The Honda CB 1000 R.

It’s not enough for the modern urban performance motorcycle to simply be fast, or look fast, like the future bikes mentioned it has to be the complete package, one that makes a rider feel like they’re riding the streets of Neo-Tokyo.

The new Honda CB 1000 R is all that and more. That’s not a surprise, coming from the world’s foremost motorcycle manufacturer, but read on to find out why the CB 1000 R is the sort of bike that will make you truly feel like you’re moving forward.

Neo Sports Cafe Design

Motorcycles belong in any vision of the future, and science fiction is the proof: Look at the lightcycles from the movie Tron or the famous red bike from the manga/anime Akira. The CB 1000 R wouldn’t look out of place in a manga, anime or a sci-fi movie. Honda decided to take a completely different approach, ‘Neo Sports Cafe’, that combines cafe racer style with sports performance and minimalist, new-age lines. Combine it together and you have a bike the has familiar cues of the past, but which merge to make something that has a presence unlike anything else.

Honda Quality

Design is almost meaningless without quality and top-notch execution – both things Honda motorcycles are well-known for. The CB 1000 R continues that strength with an extremely high level of execution in everything from the switchgear to engine cases. There are only six plastic parts on the bike’s whole exterior and the rest is all solid, cleanly-machined metal, seen in the radiator, rear sprocket and engine covers. A choice of three colours: Candy Chromosphere Red, Sword Silver Metallic and Graphite Black.  

Digital Domain

All of the lights on the Honda CB 1000 R are LEDs, including the tail and signal lights. It’s obvious in front with the headlight bearing not just its main beam with a clear, white LED, but also the circular LED running light signature that surrounds it. On the bike, the futuristic reverse-contrast LCD instrument panel shows the rider all the relevant information clearly, including the different riding modes.  

Modes / Systems

Honda’s motorcycle expertise is seen clearly in the various systems available to the CB 1000 R’s rider. There are three ride modes – Standard, Rain, Sport – and each tunes the Honda ride-by-wire throttle, power delivery, and engine braking, and the Honda Selectable Torque Control (which controls rear wheel traction) to suit. There is also a customisable ‘User’ mode for riders to save their own preferred settings.

Suspension/Brakes

The bike has top-drawer chassis components that wouldn’t be out of place on a superbike, in fact, Honda’s own CBR 1000 RR uses similar suspension and brakes. The front forks are the latest Showa Separate Function Front Fork – Big Piston (SFF-BP), together with the Showa rear shock, and both are fully-adjustable to suit almost any sort of riding conditions. The Nissin radial-mount 310mm dual disc front brake system offers litrebike-level stopping power.

Engine with 4-2-1 Exhaust

The CB 1000 R’s engine shares its architecture with that of the 2006 CBR 1000 RR Fireblade, and it already has more power than that bike, as well as the previous CB 1000 R model, with 140hp at 10,500rpm. Like the current CBR 1000 RR SP model, it has forged pistons. Tuned for smooth, manageable power and on-road usability, it’s supported by the 4-2-1 exhaust system that has itself been optimised for deeper, raw tone especially above 5,500rpm.

Honda Performance

The spec sheet and features mentioned make for an impressive list to view, but riding enthusiasts know that a Honda is greater than the sum of its parts. More power and agility is married with smoothness and seamless rider experience that always supports and never leaves you in doubt.

As MotoBuyer/CarBuyer has said in its review of the Honda CB 1000 R: “That’s not a bad thing, because you peer down at the speedo and realise the bike’s already made you a smoother, faster rider. That sort of rider-machine magic doesn’t happen very often at all….The CB 1000 R is the sort of motorcycle that reminds us why Honda is such a powerhouse in the two-wheeled world.”