Honda CB1000R

Honda CB1000R - When we arranged our trip to Europe to try Honda’s sporty naked bake, we weren’t sure if big red’s American arm was even thingking about bringing the CB1000R stateside. But the thought had crossed their minds. Turns out, there was even a black non ABS model being run around SoCal for evaluation purposes. And the bike has won some fans at the fate of this 998cc machine for us Over here is from decided.

Price is one of the big problems, says Ray Blank, VP at American Honda, pictured here astride the CB1000R an Angeles Crest Highway. It was conceived by Europe for Europe and is made by Honda Italy. This means we have to buy it in euros, and that makes the pricing an issue in the U.S.
Blank spoke frankly about how the bike compares to some past products from Honda in the same category. We tend sometimes to make an engine too electric he admits. The torque curve on the CB-R is strong on the bottom and linear, but the engine still has character. The whole bike has character, and that is going to become more important in the market during coming years.

Blank was enthused to use the 1000R for yhe interview-op Sunday morning ride and even gave me another go. He remarked that I fit the expected demographic; that is sporting riders between 40 and 60 years old, who don’t necessarily want to live every day hunched over on a superport bike out still want powerful performance.

A lot of people thought cruisers were going to get buyers who wanted totransition away from full-on sportbikes, but that’s not happening and I think this is a product they would like, he says.The challenge is whether we can sell enough units to make is worthwhile to do all the things we have to do if we import it: build the parts and service infrastructure to support the bike, promote it, do the DOT/EPA certification. On the plus side, we’d save some money because we don’t have to pay for development.
One of the biggest issues at yhe moment, though is the state of the economy and the huge sales drops that all the major manufacturers are reporting, which makes the gamble that much riskier (Mark Hoyer)