The new breed of streetfighting bikes finds Honda up there with the leaders, says Tom Robert
YOU KNOW, my old Royal Enfield probably counts as a naked streetfighter. For a start, there's hardly anything to it: just two wheels, a noisy bit in the middle and a petrol tank and handlebars perched on top.
It's got everything, in fact, except the small matter of performance, since an Enfield's 0-60 time is measured with a calendar rather than a stopwatch, and its brakes are so ponderous that every bike comes supplied with a diary so that you can light a pipe of Old Throgmorton's Ready-Rubbed, settle back in your favourite armchair, take out a fountain pen and make entries in fine copperplate saying: "Wednesday: began braking. Saturday: hit sheep."
Compare then, if you will, a trend which probably began with the British cafe racers of the late 1950s and '60s, was refined by the Japanese marques in the 1970s and 1980s into the streetfighter cult, and entered the epoch of the super nakeds with the Ducati Monster at the start of the 1990s.
These are bikes which exist for no other purpose than to go out at weekends and blast the cobwebs out with a potent mixture of adrenaline, fear and sheer, unadultered fun, and having ridden examples such as the Triumph Speed Triple, KTM's 990 Super Duke, Kawasaki's Z1000 and BMW's splendidly unBeemerish K1200R, it was going to be interesting to see how Honda rose to the challenge of creating an aggressive motorbike with that potentially terrifying combination of light weight and loads of power.
After all, this is a company well known for producing machines which are fast, smooth, perfect and, er, dull. Well, the answer is that they've taken all the best bits out of the phenomenal Fireblade, like the engine, brakes and forks, nicked the tubular steel frame idea from the Hornet, thrown away everything they didn't need, and created something which will thrill but not kill you.
If it was a person, it would be half Samurai, half Buddhist monk: extreme violence with inner serenity. Typical Honda, in other words. Let's start with the engine, which has been lifted from the 2007 Fireblade and detuned for low-rev torque reducing horsepower by 47bhp to 123bhp.
And if you think that means a loss of performance, you can put those evil thoughts away right this minute. In fact, a combination of 478lbs or 217kg dry weight, power at low revs, flawless fuel mapping and a soaring, linear delivery of grunt means that in certain situations, like coming out of tight corners, the CB is unbeatable.
To find out just how good it was, I took it to my test curve, a tight righthander on which the most I'd ever managed was 50mph on the Suzuki GSXR-600. As I powered out of the turn, I glanced down to see 53 on the digital speedo. Result.
Honda has also done a perfect job of matching the Fireblade-based gearbox to the torque curve, and the combination of those steep forks and a firm but forgiving suspension creates a set-up which just urges you to attack sinuous country roads.
And last but not least, the look is great: muscular, minimalist and finished off beautifully right down to the details like the levers, the nickel-plated bolts on the engine, the inspired alloys and even the branding on the underside of the rear guard, obviously there to be admired by recumbent hedgehogs.
Faults? Only that you get blown about a bit at motorway speeds, and that the pillion resembles the gold medal entry in an origami competition.
But then what do you expect? This is a bike for taking out on your own at weekends and rediscovering that little word that we sometimes lose in the daily nine to five. I'll give you a clue. It begins with F and ends with un.
FACTFILE
Honda CB1000R
Engine:998cc, liquid-cooled four-cylinder DOHC four-stroke with 16 valves; 123bhp at 10,000rpm, 74lb ft of torque at 8,000rpm
Transmission:six-speed gearbox, chain final drive
Performance:top speed 140mph
Dimensions:Wheelbase 1445mm, seat height 825mm
Price:€11,999 ABS version only.
Test bike from Belfast costs £6,950 (£7,450 with ABS) from Honda