VOL. 53 ISSUE 34 AUGUST 30, 2016 P85
get plenty of warning before it's
decided you've had too much
fun and catapults you into next
week.
The 1000RR has barely
changed since that 2008 de-
but. In 2012 it got Showa's Big
Piston Fork and a Balance-Free
shock, new engine mapping, a
digital dash that looks like it was
swiped from the first-generation
Nintendo Gameboy and a face-
lift with different headlights and
colors, but it was essentially the
same bike.
And nothing has changed
since.
In that time, we've had a new
BMW S 1000 RR, Kawasaki ZX-
10R, Ducati Panigale, MV Agus-
ta F4, Aprilia RSV4, and the
one that changed everything,
much like that 2008 1000RR,
the 2015 Yamaha YZF-R1.
I've been a critic of the
1000RR of late in that it does
WALK DOWN
MEMORY LANE
It's hard to believe Honda's big-
bore CBR is 24 years old, and
it's easy to forget the impact the
original versions had on the world
of motorcycling. Honda didn't just
bring out a bike everybody wanted,
it created a whole new segment
and made us rethink how we view
sport bikes and racing. It would
still be another decade after the
1992 900RR was released before
Superbike officially became a 1000cc
class, but that may never have
happened had Tadao Baba not put
pen to paper to create a legend that
continues to this day.
1992
Honda debuts the 900RR. Originally
slated as a 750, Honda upped the
capacity to 893cc, making the CBR
stand alone as a big-bore super
streetbike (not superbike) that had
the weight of a 600 but the power
to match the company's delectable
RVF750 - a bike no one could buy.
The Yamaha FZR1000, Kawasaki ZX-
11 and Suzuki GSX-R1100 competition
were rendered also-rans overnight.
Oddly, the CBR ran a 16-inch front
wheel Baba-san said was required
to get the engine in the position and
geometry way he wanted. American
Honda imports the game-changing
machine one year later, in 1993.
Please note, we have not quoted
power or weight figures in any
of the bikes here as we couldn't
get verified, actual numbers from
American Honda.
