BIKES: 2010 Honda CBR1000RR - The Art Of Deception

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BIKES: 2010 Honda CBR1000RR - The Art Of Deception

Neale Bayly tests the 2010 Honda CBR1000RR.

Neale Bayly | Posted February 16, 2011 Charlotte, NC

Neale Bayly testing the Honda CBR1000RR

CLICK HERE to view the 2010 Honda CBR1000RR Feature Page.

Firing the 2010 Honda CBR1000RR to life for the first time, slipping into gear and easing out onto the road next to my home, I’m amazed by the lack of drama. Slotting into traffic, picking up the Interstate and dialing the big, four cylinders on 75 mph, it’s the calm that’s most apparent. Effortlessly rolling along at law-abiding speeds, I can barely hear any engine noise or sound from the exhaust. Surely this can’t be a fire-breathing Superbike making close to 160 horsepower through the meaty 190 series tire. This is a machine that is capable of hitting around 180 mph in the right environment and shredding a quarter mile in 10 seconds or less? Surely I’ve got a restricted model here.

Exiting turn 8 with the throttle pinned in third gear, the big CBR just manages to hit the red line before it’s time to ease out of the throttle for the kink that leads down to turn 10. On the tight, technical Beaver Run racetrack, it’s taken me a few sessions to find the spuds to hold the throttle open here, as behind the Honda handlebars I feel like I’ve been strapped to a rocket the bike feels so ballistically fast.

As the last of the current crop of liter bikes I’ve tested, the Honda CBR1000RR is unequivocally, without a shadow of doubt, the most deceptive. Like all Honda sport bikes I’ve ridden, quiet, reasonably comfortable on the highway and highly civilized, it reminds me of it’s smaller brother the CBR600RR when I tested it with the other 600cc machines in the class some years ago. The Honda was the “Plain Jane” of the bunch in terms of noise and flash, but the one I recorded my fastest lap times on. And reading how the CBR1000RR has been winning multi-bike shootouts over the last couple of years, confirms my feelings it is just the same as its smaller sibling.

Spending some time with the CBR on the road before we took it to the track actually changed one of my bigger prejudices that it’s pointless to ride a liter bike on the road. The riding position is not going to fold you up like some Yoga instructor in a weird pose, and it doesn’t get brutally hot when you are sitting at traffic lights or stop signs thanks to the low exit MotoGP inspired exhaust system. The clutch is light and smooth and shifting is as slick and effortless as any motorcycle produced. Brakes are nice and sensitive to road inputs, and the throttle not so sensitive that small inadvertent moves will have you hurtling forward by mistake. Mirrors do a reasonable job of letting you know what’s trying to keep up, and the gauges are easy to read, keeping you fully up to date on how close to being broke you are if you get pulled over by the law.

I’m not so impressed with the passenger carrying capabilities. My usual passenger is five foot two and weighs around 110 pounds, and it was still difficult. The higher seat put her too far away and feeling disconnected. With the extra weight up so high, it also compromised the bike’s handling on the technical roads around my home. Not to mention you really need to be extremely careful if you use any of the power. Also, the pegs are so close to the small, plank like seat that it wasn’t really that comfortable. So unless you regular passenger is a featherweight gymnast with buns of steel, this bike is better ridden solo.

One feature of the new CBR1000RR that I really like on the road is the new anti lock brake system, called “C-ABS” in Honda speak. Coming as a missive from Honda’s CEO and President, Takeo Fukui, a few years back that by 2010 all bigger Honda motorcycles will have ABS, it’s the first time I’ve used it on a sport bike, other than the new system on BMW’s S1000RR. Adding around 20 pounds of additional weight, it allows the brake system to operate like a conventional set up until used aggressively. At this point, the C-ABS electronics detects a sudden large increase in fluid pressure, and combined with readings from the wheel sensors, modulates the fluid pressure to prevent the wheels from locking. A high speed servo and a device called a “stroke simulator” remove any pulsing at the lever that previous systems have always exhibited, and apart from a slightly vague feeling at the lever when it’s doing it’s job, it’s as normal feeling as you can want. The brakes are also linked, and a little rear brake is added when you apply the front. This keeps the bike settled entering turns from high speed on the racetrack, and I’m not going to complain about having additional stopping power with no risk. This rear brake set up is a 220mm rotor with a twin piston caliper, while 320mm rotors get four piston Brembo calipers up front.

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