All of these changes make for a very compact design and the overall appearance has very little resemblance to the previous generation CBR1000RR. Seeing pictures of the new CBR over the last few months I wasn't really sure what to think of the styling but it's a look that really grew on me throughout the day. The bike is very tidy looking, something we have come to expect from Honda. One look at the new CBR1000RR with it's stubby front end and miniscule tail section and it's no surprise the CBR1000RR's project leader was none other than Kyoichi Yoshii, the same person that was in charge of building Nicky Hayden's championship winning RC211V. With all of the emissions restrictions that current sportbikes have to pass there has been some less than appealing exhausts on many modern production motorcycles but I think Honda has done a good job with a clean and modern looking design on the CBR1000RR exhaust. I know there will be some people who disagree with me on this one but hey, it's the first thing everyone pulls off anyways.
Taking my first few laps on a cold morning at the Laguna circuit I was immediately surprised at how quick the new CBR turned in. It caught me off guard more than once in the early laps as I was trying to get the Dunlop Qualifiers fitted to the bike up to temperature. Going into turn two early in the session I decided to step up the pace slightly to get some more heat in the tires and promptly had a front end slide that seemed like slow motion and must have lasted a good 15 feet. Thanks to the great front end feel of the new CBR and of course my vast experience of riding CBR's around in the snow on the farm, a personal blunder was diverted. I decided that it might be best to quicken the pace in the afternoon sessions when we would have the bike fitted with Dunlop's new D211 race DOT tire and the temperature would be much warmer.
The CBR equipped with the new race oriented Dunlop tires was a much more confidence inspiring package. Now that I was able to push the pace harder the CBR really started to shine. The turn in on this bike is quick, effortless and precise, just pick a line and the CBR will put you exactly where you need to go. Many bikes with stock suspension ridden on the track seem to float a little on corner entry and seem unsettled but the CBR felt very settled allowing you to pitch it in at the very last moment.
Once through the corner the CBR was equally well-behaved on corner exit. The Honda was hooking up everywhere and pulling some monster wheelies exiting Laguna's turn 2. This soon became my favourite part of each lap seeing how long I could loft the front end before flicking it into turn 3. These are the types of things that make a literbike an absolute rush to ride. The ride on the Honda was just stiff enough to allow you to push hard without tying the bike into knots and the spring rates and damping seemed pretty spot on for my weight (160 pounds).
