The 2010 CB1000R charges to the head of the Performance Naked class with an unbeatable combination of sophisticated urban styling, eye-watering performance, agile handling and endless thrills. Its compact and muscular form carries the punch of full-blooded litre-class Super Sports. Its lightweight and compact RR-derived inline-four engine delivers electrifying jolts of power focused on exhilarating low-to-midrange torque. The suspension, wheels and lightweight disc brakes also come from the Super Sports class, giving nimble handling and quick, easy control.The bike’s style and design was created in Europe with a strong influence being “ready to attack” The concept was inspired by a vision to create a bike for Europe by the managers of Honda Europe. And then there’s the bike’s heritage. It was developed by Tetsuya Kudoh, the man who was chief engineer and test rider on such bikes as the VFR400, RC30, NR750, CBR600F and VFR750F, so nothing much good in there then. And as such it’s one high-spec piece of kit. The single-sided swingarm is one of the things that gives away the fact this isn’t your average fat and lazy naked bike.
Then there’s the short stubby attitude of the CB100R: the tiny seat unit designed as a token gesture to attract nubile Italian goddess’ who may want to perch on your steed, so to speak. (But in reality no real human would want to sit on the back and you’d never get a tail pack on it, but Honda designed it that way.) It’s all about being purposeful, minimal, and saying to everyone watching that you’re a no compromise kind of guy who likes to ride fast and look good. The CB1000R weighs in wet at 217 kg (478 lbs), which is just 18 kg (40 lbs) more than the super lightweight 2008 Blade and most of that extra weight is in the heavily braced single-sided swingarm.Check out the swoopy four-spoke rear wheel, the LCD clocks that are claimed to be the most expensive Honda make, the jagged lines of the bodywork and the aggressive ‘ready-to-attack’ stance, and you can tell this is no normal Japanese naked bike. It’s designed to give a sporty ride with the stylish looks of a naked, and it more than delivers.
But fearful is not one of the things that enters your head when you start riding the tiny Honda. Filtering through Milan in convoy behind a mad Welshman intent on showing us his knowledge of Milan’s backstreets, the bike is gentle, easy and torquey. The fuelling is perfect, the grunt is huge and I’m already starting to think that for most people, most of the time this engine would be better in a FireBlade than the super-powerful motor de rigeur of bikes that say you’re a real man, even if secretly the amount of horsepower terrifies you.The popular CB1000R sports-road model gets some sexy new colours, including twin tone Pearl Siena Red/Pearl Nightstar Black and a shade of beige, too. Smooth engine mapping and specs are pretty much the same as before, with the 99Nm of torque at 7,750 rpm and maximum power of 92kW at 10,000 rpm.
Unfortunately, Honda is keeping its new super naked for Europe only, but that doesn’t mean our U.S. readers can’t see what their missing. Americans are accustomed to hearing some British blokes called the Stones singing “You can’t always get what you want,” now our pals at MCN give us their rendition with this review on the Honda CB1000R.
