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Review: Honda CB 1000 R (Baujahr 2019)

Outdoor hard, inside soft

11.09.2019

The Honda CB 1000 R plus is a Power Naked Bike that puts on a very confident appearance even when standing. With the aluminium elements (which are actually made of aluminium) and the design line called "Neo Sport Café", it is a powerful eye-catcher. Does the bike with 145 hp also work like this?

Not quite serfie

The crisp rear of our machine is not as standard. The exhaust also comes from the accessories that the Kaltenkirchen dealer Motofun has converted to the new machine. But even in its original state, the rear in the streetfighter style, together with the high front, shows that the power of the in-line four-cylinder is not hidden here.

With the rear cover – which can be exchanged for a bench – the passenger test is no longer required. But otherwise everything is there. What looks like aluminium at Honda is not a cheaply painted plastic, which is usually taken, but actually aluminium. Its finish is as usual good like the paintwork or the entire workmanship of the Honda, everything else would have been surprising.

A "plus" of equipment

The plus behind the Honda CB 1000 R model designation sucks an additional 1,500 euros out of the cash register. For this purpose, there are optic goodies such as the fender with aluminium inserts, but also heating handles or the quick shifter. In total, the bill is 14,575 euros, which can be considered as standard in class, only the Suzuki GSX-S 1000 is 3,000 euros cheaper.

The Honda's engine comes from a previous Fireblade model, it is a proven 1000-engine four-cylinder engine with 145 hp. The maximum of 104 Nm torque is only 8,250 rpm, otherwise there is little surprising to discover.

Then let's go.

Precise gearbox

Yes, that's exactly how it has to be: what immediately stands out is how light and precise the gearbox works. The impeccably functioning Quickshifter will also show it: Building gearboxes, Honda can do that really well. Now the view falls on the chic and unfortunately only average readable display, all in the green area.

The accessory exhaust ensures an always present background noise. Actually, I'm not a big fan of retrospectively attached bags, which rarely sound good in my ears. But here it fits, just like the rear conversion.

Once in motion, it immediately catches the attention: With 145 hp, more should actually go. After the waiting phase, we try it above and see: From 8,000 revolutions the machine wakes up. She is more willing to turn in character than to move out of the basement. And yet: We definitely believe her the 145 hp. But the Honda stays away even at higher speeds, the spark jumps only slowly over.

It's not fitting that the CB 1000 chassis is lying to its macho look. It is designed comfortably as sporty, which is quite practical on long distances despite the lack of wind protection. Therefore, there is a difference between sporty optics, motor willing to rotate and the comfortable basic tuning.

Don't misunderstand: The Honda isn't even slow. The engine moves the ride fast, but it just appeals less to the senses than, for example, the Kawasaki Z 900 does. Not to mention the KTM Super Duke, of course.

So you drive through the area, enjoy the Honda-typical rational population of the motorcycle and don't work on something that the CB 1000 doesn't want to be.

This fits any

The question remains as to the target group of the bike. Of course, you have to be able to live with the advantages of the agile Naked Bikes, as well as with their disadvantages such as the non-existent windscreen. But apart from that, the Honda, like so many models from this manufacturer, suits virtually anyone – it's never a bad choice.

Only that with passion, the Japanese would have to do even better.

The test bike was provided to us by Motofun in Kaltenkirchen.

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