Honda CBR1000RR

The Honda CBR1000RR has worked an all-new design for this latest iteration, and with this, it resembles the closest with its MotoGP sibling, the RC 213V. This time around, Honda has sourced a lot of design inspiration from the RC 213V, which is quite evident from the way the Honda CBR1000RR looks – sharp, aggressive, and racy even in standstill.

Gone is the bulbous and rounded design of the front fairing of the previous generation models of the Fireblade, and in-comes a sleeker and comparatively more compact front fairing. This fairing here gets a rakish front look, which ends up with a pair of sleek and small trapezoidal dual LED headlamps positioned in an inclined manner, with a large vertically aligned trapezoidal air vent in the middle of them. The entire design of this front fascia is shaped like a downward arrow.

The side fairing panels of the Honda CBR1000RR, while partially hiding the black-themed engine, comes integrated with vertically aligned fins in order to enhance the overall aerodynamics of the motorcycle. The panel of the fairing below the engine is quite large this time and also integrates the engine cowl ahead. From the sides, the only component which enhances the visual mass of the motorcycle apart from the fairing is the curvaceous fuel tank. The rest of the side profile gets a minimalist-looking design, with a partially exposed frame and a very sleek tail piece towards the rear.

Talking about the rear profile of the Honda CBR1000RR, the tailpiece here is now much more compact and ends up sharply at the back while integrating an angular clear lens LED tail lamp beneath it. The long 4-into-1 exhaust pipe could have looked a bit smaller, as it looks a bit oversized here. 

Even the rider’s cockpit of the Honda CBR1000RR has been completely revamped with a funky looking all-digital TFT instrument console, in keeping with the current trends. The unit looks cool with its colored layout and dials for the speedometer, tachometer, fuel gauge, temperature gauge, odometer, trip meters, gear indicator, MID, clock, and selected mode for the traction control.

It’s not only the design of the Honda CBR1000RR which is inspired by the RC 213V MotoGP machine. Even the rest of the mechanical setup of the motorcycle sources a lot of inspiration from the track-spec bike. The Honda CBR1000RR gets a suspension setup of inverted hydraulic telescopic forks at the front and a pro-link mono-shock setup, both of which have been sourced from Ohlins. The 330mm dual disc brakes at the front and a single 230mm disc brake at the rear are sharp and give the perfect bite on application.

Onboard the Honda CBR1000RR is a mighty four-stroke, inline-four, liquid-cooled, fuel-injected, 1000cc engine. With a maximum power output of 218 PS and a peak torque output of 113 Nm, it is the most powerful and biggest engine the flagship Fireblade has ever got in its entire history. The engine gets paired to a 6-speed gearbox and promises a fuel efficiency of 16 kmpl.

This is the most tech-packed version of the Honda CBR1000RR ever made in its entire history. The motorcycle comes with top-spec electronics like a 6-axis IMU, dual-channel ABS, selective traction control with multiple ride modes, selectable torque control, selectable engine brake, quick-shifter, and power selector.

The Honda CBR1000RR now matches tip-to-tip with all the other modern-day liter-class supersport motorcycles, and in some areas, even trumps them with its whole lot of inspiration from the very successful RC 213V MotoGP machine. All the glorious history and achievements of the Honda RC 213V are very well induced in the new Honda CBR1000RR when you experience its design, performance, and handling.