There has been much speculation into what the new CBR1000RR was going to be about. Will it be a V-4 a V-5 a mind-bending In-Line? Well, it's still an In-Line Four and despite early summer rumors of a bike looking like an RCV211 MotoGP replica - as you can see, that isn't the case at all. This bike has an identity all its own.
Honda is always trying to find the right balance between outright track performance and real world street-ability. It's worked on occasion in the past and Honda faithful are hoping this new 1000RR will provide that delicate balance after coming oh so close with the previous generation machine.
At the heart of the CBR is an all-new 999cc engine, up one tiny cc from the '07 model. Honda has reverted to a more oversquare bore/stroke combo with the new engine now utilizing 76mm x 55.1mm bore/stroke versus last year's 75mm x 56.5mm arrangement. It sports eight new lightweight 30.5mm titanium intake valves and a slightly higher 12.3:1 compression. In the past the knock on the CBR was that it didn't have the bite to back up the bark. Then a funny thing happened, the competition sacrificed a bit of streetability for a top-end heavy, track-focused approach and suddenly the Honda had closed the gap. I guess the 2007 CBR1000RR just aged well. Now the question is: Has Honda followed the top-end biased trend or its own recipe for success that delivered us the 'do-it-all good' approach of the 2007 CBR600RR? In three months, we'll all know.
Comparing the rake and trail figures of the new open classer with last year's inspirational 600RR and we get our next clue to where the engineers are going with this design
Rake & Trail
07 600RR: 23.7 x 96.3mm
08 1000RR: 23.3 x 96.2mm
07 1000RR: 23.45 x 100mm
Hopping aboard the new bike reveals a much more compact, slimmer feeling CBR. Seat height seemed to be lower even though the specs still say 32.3 inches. Whether it's a narrow seat/tank junction or what facilitates this exactly, but it felt like more like the rider is a part of the machine somehow. The new bike feels slimmer between the legs and when rocked from side-to-side, it felt as if the weight has been lowered too. Reach to the bars seemed to be a little closer than last year's model and bar height seemed to be a little bit higher-which is a may be a happy medium for track and street use.
Fit and finish seemed to be typical Honda with all of the pieces fitting together making the bike look virtually seamless as if it was carved from one solid piece. The 2008 CBR1000RR will be offered in four colors: Red/Black, Black/Metallic Silver, Pearl Yellow/Black, Candy Dark Red/Metallic Silver and one stunning, limited edition Black/Metallic Grey version in which only 500 units will be available for sale. Weight and performance figures are all hush-hush right now but we should have our hands on the machine in late January next year so we'll be able to provide you will all the figures at that time.
The new CBR1000RR will find its way into your local dealer by late-March 2008 and will have a price of $11,599 - yes, that's just $100 more than this year's model.
The 2008 CBR1000RR cockpit features a tiny multi-function dash with a large analog tach and a small LCD display for speedo and other vital data.
This new GP-style exhaust may or may not be your cup of tea, but it is environmentally friendly and keeps the weight low in the design.
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