Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127655
Honda CB1000 By Kit Palmer oi The CB1000 has a simp listic and clean loo k that maJca Its conventiona l atyllng very appealing . . hen a small group of designers a nd engin eers at Honda ap p roache d the company' s upper management w ith the idea of developing a brand-new streetbike - a "standard," no-fairing type sportbike the top brass thought about it, weighed the options and , surprisingly, decided to give them the green light. But there was one small stipu lation: if they wanted to build this bike, they would have to do ' it on their own time - off the clock , so to W speak. You see, Honda wasn't exactly sold on the idea of adding a standard street bike to its line-up, especially after having seen what ha ppened to Kawasaki, .who tried marketing standard bikes a few years ago with its Zephyr mod els. Although they were good motorcycles, the conventi onal look of the Zephyrs d idn't result in big sales. Needless to say, the Zephyrs are now history. Des p ite the seemingly unacceptable provision given this small-but-very-determined group of engineers and designers (n ot to mention hard -core motorcycl e enthusiasts), they went ahead with their p lan, burned the midnight oil, an d built their dream bik e - a bike which th ey thou gh t wou ld n icel y fill a hole in Honda's stree t line up. What the y came up with is the CBl000, a standard "muscle " bike that to ok over two yea rs to d evelop . The top brass was q u ite impressed with the creation, and immediately ord ered the CBl 000 into production. It wa s introduced in the middle of last year as a 1994 model. The CBl000 features a combination of "old " and new. Many of the parts come from other Honda models: the 99&c, 16valve, liquid-cooled , in-line, four-cylinder motor is basically the same mill that powers the CBRIOOOF; the 43mm "righ t-sideup" fork is borrowed from the RC30; the four se mi-fla tslide CV 34mm carbs are nearly identical to those of the CBR600F2; and the dual, opposed four-piston-caliper front d isc brake comes from the CBR900RR. The rest of the bike is original CBl000. As com pared to the CBRl000F's po werplan t, th e CBI000' s en gi ne features some sign ifican t d ifferen ces. First of all, the six -sp eed transmission of the CBR has been reduced to a five-speed gearbox in the C BI OOO, a n d th e h eart of th e engine h as b een tuned for more midrange p unch ra th er than top -end speed. Despite the fact that the CB ha s been "mellowed out," it is still a downright fast mo torcycle. There isn't much bottom-end to speak of, but it doesn't really matter because the transition from low- to mid-range is gradual and the mea t of the powerband starts early. Pulling away from an intersection requires some clutch slipping, but wi thin a few feet the power starts building progressive ly and then the CB really starts to accelerate, at around 3000 rpm. From then on, the CB pulls hard, very hard, until top gear has been reached . After cruising speed has been attained, . the CB motors along effortlessly and comfortably at 65 mph, with the tacho meter needle hovering around the 4000 mark. Vibrati on is nearly non-existent, especially while motoring along at h ighway speeds. The motor is simply impressive but, unfortunately, not perfect. There's a very noticeable and annoying lash in the transmission when the throttle is initially twist-