So where did all that weight go? As usual, Honda reexamined every single piece of the old bike and redesigned each of those parts to be the aforementioned better, lighter and stronger. The rear swinger is nearly a pound lighter, the starter motor, lost a pound too. The header is Titanium, as is the muffler. The wheels are a tad different, and you guessed it, lighter (by six ounces apiece.) Crashing fools (like me) are catered for in grand style, as the foot brackets are also stronger and just to show off... lighter as well.

So where did the power come from? The new forged pistons are smaller and lighter. The bore is up 1mm as is compression. Oil is sprayed under the pistons to help with cooling. The fuel injection has been tweaked and the airbox features some flappers flapping to the tune of your right wrist. The result? 154bhp and 74.6 lbs of torque. By the way, you Californian guys only lose 1 horsepower on the CARB friendly machine too.  In fact, the bike is so environmentally friendly you could bury it in your back yard and it won't emit any harmful odors or hazardous waste. Don't tell anyone where you buried it though as it'll certainly be excavated and ridden away at high speed. (What?)

This bike stops rather well too. No, make that really, really rather well. The brakes have superb two-finger feel. The rotors are whopping 330mm floaters and the calipers have been modified to help with fade free stopping and a consistent feel, regardless of conditions. The brake pistons are covered in Nimflon, similar to Teflon but with a Nim. Good stuff it would seem, cause it worked, felt and stopped great. Any low points? No, not really. A minor gripe is even though the forks worked superbly; they now have the preload adjustment internal. What that means to us squids is there's no visual clue to the setting, as there are no preload lines showing us the way anymore. I'm told that it's for racetrack efficiency and if you set your bike up properly, the first time you get it, it should be a non-issue.

So, Baba San has done it again. The bike is radically different from the original RR but retains the same design parameters. A great trait of Honda is that they build bikes that are both sporting and practical. The new 954 is from that same vein. This latest open class contender changes from street-smart sport to hard-core sportbike and that transformation is with a seamless fluidity. You don't have to be a contortionist to enjoy this bike either so the inner city straights can be enjoyed in-between the twisties.

How will it stand with the Yamaha R1? Two years ago, I wrote that the CBR929RR felt like a softened up R1. This year the 954 has got the angrier attitude back that the original bike had in 1993. It has a midrange hit that could pull an extra gear on the track and the suspenders to tame that faster cornering speed and extra power. Overall, what you see is better and what you don't see is much better. I believe it's a real improvement over the 2001 R1.

Better than the 2002 R1?

We'll have to wait and see.

MikeE