Test ride : Honda CB1000R. 2021 model.

[weeksy]

it makes me smile each and every time i ride it...

1. How much would the Honda have to change (if even reasonable to do) to achieve that?
2. Is it worth the aggro?

It'd need a different engine ideally lol

[the_priest]

K1200R is smooth from low down and has bags of torque... it also goes like a scalded cat at high reves.

[Horse]

it makes me smile each and every time i ride it...

1. How much would the Honda have to change (if even reasonable to do) to achieve that?
2. Is it worth the aggro?

It'd need a different engine ideally lol

There's your answer, then

[Couchy]

It’s weird, we know you like the feel of the triple but at all revs the Cb has more power and torque at the rear wheel. At 4K and 6k revs it has 20hp more than the xsr. Same with the torque so not sure why it didn’t feel quicker unless you weren’t opening the throttle enough ? Maybe the xsr has more power on a part throttle although I can’t see it. Like I say weird but even so you’ll never make an Il4 feel like a triple so it’s not gonna happen for you. Shame as it seemed like you loved it

[weeksy]

It’s weird, we know you like the feel of the triple but at all revs the Cb has more power and torque at the rear wheel. At 4K and 6k revs it has 20hp more than the xsr. Same with the torque so not sure why it didn’t feel quicker unless you weren’t opening the throttle enough ? Maybe the xsr has more power on a part throttle although I can’t see it. Like I say weird but even so you’ll never make an Il4 feel like a triple so it’s not gonna happen for you. Shame as it seemed like you loved it

I did. But I'm not an IL4 kind of guy and the engine just didn't excite me. With 145bhp it can't have been slow of course.

[Yorick]

It’s weird, we know you like the feel of the triple but at all revs the Cb has more power and torque at the rear wheel. At 4K and 6k revs it has 20hp more than the xsr. Same with the torque so not sure why it didn’t feel quicker unless you weren’t opening the throttle enough ? Maybe the xsr has more power on a part throttle although I can’t see it. Like I say weird but even so you’ll never make an Il4 feel like a triple so it’s not gonna happen for you. Shame as it seemed like you loved it

I did. But I'm not an IL4 kind of guy and the engine just didn't excite me. With 145bhp it can't have been slow of course.

I know a nice blue bike that'd make you giggle

[weeksy]

It’s weird, we know you like the feel of the triple but at all revs the Cb has more power and torque at the rear wheel. At 4K and 6k revs it has 20hp more than the xsr. Same with the torque so not sure why it didn’t feel quicker unless you weren’t opening the throttle enough ? Maybe the xsr has more power on a part throttle although I can’t see it. Like I say weird but even so you’ll never make an Il4 feel like a triple so it’s not gonna happen for you. Shame as it seemed like you loved it

I did. But I'm not an IL4 kind of guy and the engine just didn't excite me. With 145bhp it can't have been slow of course.

I know a nice blue bike that'd make you giggle

I honestly don't think it would, you can't grasp how little I like riding sportsbikes these days, I just can't get on with them and make them go round a bend

[Horse]

But I'm not an IL4 kind of guy and the engine just didn't excite me. With 145bhp it can't have been slow of course.

I had a BMW K75 for a while, between K100s. All RTs, so near identical weight.

Slower, less power - nothing much below 4k revs, unlike the 100s which had a torque curve the shape of a housebrick and power curve that felt the same.

Compared to the 100, it had to be 1 gear lower to perform the same.

But. At that 4k it sounded like a jet engine and was more (in relative terms) fun to ride.

[Mr. Dazzle]

It’s weird, we know you like the feel of the triple but at all revs the Cb has more power and torque at the rear wheel. At 4K and 6k revs it has 20hp more than the xsr. Same with the torque so not sure why it didn’t feel quicker unless you weren’t opening the throttle enough ? Maybe the xsr has more power on a part throttle although I can’t see it. Like I say weird but even so you’ll never make an Il4 feel like a triple so it’s not gonna happen for you. Shame as it seemed like you loved it

That's kinda what I meant when I said "feels fast" is as important as "is fast" on the road. Presumably the CB would oull away from the XSR at any speed if your numbers are accurate but maybe it doesn't feel that way, and since weeksy isn't riding against the clock....

[Yorick]

I did. But I'm not an IL4 kind of guy and the engine just didn't excite me. With 145bhp it can't have been slow of course.

I know a nice blue bike that'd make you giggle

I honestly don't think it would, you can't grasp how little I like riding sportsbikes these days, I just can't get on with them and make them go round a bend

I just meant the engine for a few seconds when it hits the sweet spot.

[weeksy]

I know a nice blue bike that'd make you giggle

I honestly don't think it would, you can't grasp how little I like riding sportsbikes these days, I just can't get on with them and make them go round a bend

I just meant the engine for a few seconds when it hits the sweet spot.

I think you have more belief in my ability than I do

[Yorick]

I honestly don't think it would, you can't grasp how little I like riding sportsbikes these days, I just can't get on with them and make them go round a bend

I just meant the engine for a few seconds when it hits the sweet spot.

I think you have more belief in my ability than I do

If the CB1000 had my engine in, you'd have bought it

[Potter]

I tend to prefer the feel of instant response and high torque, my twins/single motorcycles feel better than most IL4s I've had - they're not actually better on paper, they just feel that way. The one thing that IL4s have is a lot of flexibility, they feel fairly flat lower down (even if they're not on paper) and then if you really want to shift you can put them higher in the rev range.

IMHO though because most people spend most of their time (on the road) in the lower ends of the rev range, they just end up feeling a bit flat.

[Dodgy69]

It seems to me, the later models with the newer headlight has a more retro thing going on. Looking on ebay at MY 15 and imo a much better looking bike, gas mask headlight.

I was at j and s Northwich ish a few years ago, talking to a lad who had one. At the time I thought it looked great and he absolutely loved it.

The update was 2018.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Looking on ebay at MY 15 and imo a much better looking bike, gas mask headlight.

Whereas I think exactly the opposite!

The old one did come in the HRC blue/white/red colurs with gold wheels though, I wish they'd do some variation of that for the latest version.

[Dodgy69]

2 o'clock photos always look best, ☝ thats 10 o'clock.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Can't see the SSSA properly but also can't see the dustbin exhaust. 50 50

[The Spin Doctor]

The main issue with the xsr and the mt it’s based on is the long forks and high front end. This made a bit worse as the xsr also has higher bars. Lower bars on the xsr would give more front end feel and the suspension would also help but you’ll never overcome the high front end. The CB is lower at the front but the main benefit is it’s a Honda and they always make very user friendly bikes, more so than any other maker. I really like that about them. Still I must try the CB and compare it to the Tuono

Funnily enough, I rode one in NZ and felt the front end was a problem. I seemed to be perched right over it and didn't really gel. I wonder if moving the rider back a few cms would make a difference.

[ajlog]

I tend to prefer the feel of instant response and high torque, my twins/single motorcycles feel better than most IL4s I've had - they're not actually better on paper, they just feel that way. The one thing that IL4s have is a lot of flexibility, they feel fairly flat lower down (even if they're not on paper) and then if you really want to shift you can put them higher in the rev range.

IMHO though because most people spend most of their time (on the road) in the lower ends of the rev range, they just end up feeling a bit flat.

I have been thinking about this lately and was reminded that back in the 80’s, 90’s when John Robinson wrote for PB he would often chart the thrust curves for bikes on test.
The thrust curve is a product of the combination of the power, revs, gearing that most closely represents the ‘feel’ of a bikes drive system.

Just doing a bit of a thinking about why some engine configurations feel more ‘torquey’ it could be down to the fact that typically an IL4 tuned for high HP figures makes a majority of the HP at high rpm.
Add tall gearing into the mix, and a bike that makes peak power at say 10,000rpm and redlines at 80mph in first at 12,000rpm can only access its full power at near max legal speeds.

While it may make 2x the power it needs revs to get there and at real world speeds in most gears the rider will only be able to access a fraction of that.
Whereas a ‘torquey’ twin will only have 1/2 the power but due to gearing and where in the rev range the power exists that bike will actually be a more ‘powerful’ one for speeds up to a certain point.

These PB thrust curves could show that as they charted the rear wheel thrust in each gear vs speed, they looked like this, often with the drag curve combined to show the theoretical top speed, he was a clever fellow was John Robinson.

[Yorick]

When I was leading the sighting laps, I often left it in top the whole lap.
Took all the hairpins no probs and then stomped away