Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

r - - - - - - - - - -- -- - - Honda CBR 7000RR ing Bostrom and Co . a distinct advantage over the ir Suzuki-mo unted rivals. T he back straight at Arizo na Motors ports Park provides the on ly real to p-s peed run at the track . and even that only gave an indicated 150 mph (one of the few times I had the nerve to look) before I had to get hard on the brakes for a tight right-hande r. Although we didn't get to expe rience the full breadth of its power (a claimed 172 horsepower at the cra nk). wha t we did sample on the CBR is. if noth ing e lse, smooth . You feed it on and the power is there. and there's plenty of it. But the power is as inviting as grandma's hot choco- (Below) The headlights and rom-air system make up the front of the bike. (Right) Honda chose to use rodia l-mou nted, four piston Tokicos on the front. The brokes provide solid stop ping pow er and also have a nice feel through the lever. Arizon a Moto rsports Park is billiard- tab le smooth. its tarnnac new and still mostly unmolested by car-racing tra ffic. The track has several technical corners with tight entrances. wh ich measure up when it goes mana a mana with the returning GSX-RI000 . the uprated RI and the all-new ZX- I OR? My guess is that Honda won't necessarily be losing sleep at night worrying about the outcome. The CBRIOOORR will contend. Witho ut a doubt. eN place a premium on corner- entry stab ility under bra king. and wide exits w here you can really put the power down and le t t he bike run. On the CBRIOOORR. the track is navigated in second through fourth gear. with second and th ird ge tting the most use . Ifyou tru ly wa nted to get the most out of th e bike at AMP or Anytrack U.S.A . changing the inte rnal gea r ratios woul d be a nice op tion. O n most sportbikes. that's not a choice you have . On the SPECIFICATIONS new Honda. how eve r. it is. The bike's cassett e-type . six-speed transmission is easily accessible and can be changed at the track (the clutch assembly. shift forks and dr um can be re moved as an e ntire assembly). giv- Honda reps do n't talk for long about the new CBRIOOORR without mentioning the Honda RC21IV MotoGP bike. They tend to do this over and over, but for good reason . T he CBR gets a lo t of its trickery from the RC211Y. One of the thingsthis CBR gets from its MotoGP sibling is the Un it Pro-Link rear suspension system . And it's worth taking a closer look at . The UnitPro-Unk design, the top of the shock mounts d irect ly to the top of the swingarm instea d of attaching to a rear frame crossmember mounted up high. When the rear wheel travels through its are , the linkage system compresses the shock from be low, and this kee ps the frame isolated from rear suspension loads. According to Honda. that allows it to configure the central frame for other uses - like housing most of the fuel load down low for more consistent handling. Although the rea r suspension on t he 1000 is similar to the one used on the CBR600RR, it has specific har dware that's unique to the big bike , Ho nda says. The swingarm and damper are different in appearance, and the IOOORR has a rear-facing shock reservoir to allow for easy access. The shock features adjustable spring preload plus rebound and compression damping adjustabi lity. In all, the shock provides 5.3 inches o f rearw hee l travel . 44 for our day at the tra ck. though some units will be sold with Pire llis. The Bridgestones we used were the new Battlax BT-O14 radials (the new tires will be available in March or April) and they - like the CBRIOOORR were impressive. In the afternoon sess ions, our Hondas were fitted with the sticky. race -compound BT-002s and they (combined w ith different suspension settings brou ght on by the extra tr actio n) natu rally made for a big differenc e in lap time s. If there's any part of you that still thinks motajourna lists aren't spoiled rotten, consider th is: In our 140 miles on the racetrack, we were given four se ts of tire s. That's right - four sets . Not to mention that Honda also had tire warmers on our bikes when we we re n't riding them. As is always the case . you never know what bike will emerge from a co mparison test as the best w hen measure d head-to head against the competition . After all. it's easy to fall in love with a mo torcycle when you're riding it by itself on a wo nderfu l litt le racetrack that you're shar ing with just three others . with brand -new tires being passed arou nd like daiquiris at a Jimmy Buffet co ncert. But how will that same CBRI OOORR JANUAR 14, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS Y lat e. never giving you the feeling that it's bullying you arou nd. And that's the case eve n w he n the new dual-stage ram air system (the main ram-air ducts are loc ated below the tr iple clamp wit h t he subd ucts sitting on both sides of the main duct) sta rts sucking at its max at high speed . Again, the fact that the power is manageab le all points back to the geometry of the bike and wha t Honda calls "the roll polar momen t inte rt ia." Th e brakes on the CBR are fo ur-piston To kicos (a change from the Nissins that norma lly com e on Ho ndas) . Those brakes are also radial mou nte d. as is the cur re nt rage on new sportbikes, and t hey reac h o ut and grasp 3 10mm rotors. T he system w orks. providi ng not only awesome stopping power. but a nice . po sit ive fe el th ro ugh the lever. Stability is a key word when describing a day at the racetrack on the CBR. The bike has 105mm of tra il (Smm more tha n the 9S4) and a w hee lbase of 141Smm (5S.7 inches) - w ith the swingarm measur ing in at a whopping SBSmm (that' s 43 perc ent of the e ntire w hee lbase). All that re nde rs to nary a w iggle - wh ether you 're putt ing the hammer down or checking up w ith a big squeeze on those Tokicos. Good stuff. Our CBRs were fitt ed w ith Bridgeston es 40th Anniversa ry 2004 HONDA CBR I OOORR LIST PRICE DISPLACEMENT ENGINE TYPE TBA 998

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