RIDDEN: Honda Hornet CB1000 | MoreBikes

John McAvoy tells us what we have to know…

The bare bike sector is molten sizzling proper now and to make sure Honda’s on the forefront of individuals’s minds, it’s simply unleashed its newest iteration Hornet. With spectacular tech, nice efficiency and a price-tag to make its rivals weep, you might be positive a good few of those are set to promote quick  

With the large ticket ‘Supernaked’ class nicely and really occupied by 200bhp totally loaded KTMs, Ducatis, Kawasakis and Aprilias, the development in the direction of extra inexpensive, less complicated bare bikes with sufficient energy to entertain is in full swing. Yamaha, Triumph, Ducati, BMW and Kawasaki have been proper within the thick of the motion, and whereas Honda have had the CB1000 of their vary, it’s by no means actually ticked the ‘Thrilling’ field, however now they’ve solely gone and given the CB1000 a ‘Hornet’ badge, which ought to imply a complete completely different proposition.

The 2025 CB1000 Hornet, similar to the Hornet 900, will get its engine from a discontinued Fireblade, however this time not from one which’s already outdated. This one comes from the 2017-2019 Fireblade which has been barely detuned to 154bhp within the SP model, and 148bhp within the base model. Each figures are bang on the cash for the place Honda are pitching this bike at £9999 for the SP and £8999 for the bottom. 

Business rumours counsel that Honda initially needed to make use of the 2008 Fireblade engine as per the CB1000, however suggestions from European sellers was lukewarm to say the least. Honda listened and turned to the following technology Fireblade engine from the 2017 bike, therefore the large delay between when Honda first mooted the Hornet and it truly showing. That engine had fairly modest energy figures by superbike requirements on the time, however at 189bhp it’s comfortably within the ballpark for an inexpensive bare bike in 2025, particularly when getting it from its Euro 4 spec to as we speak’s Euro 5+ spec would additionally conveniently simply occur to take it right down to the 154bhp quoted for the Hornet, which is a lot. 

This was carried out courtesy of narrower throttle our bodies, decrease cam elevate and conservative cam timing with a tweak to the ignition timing, a brand new ride-by-wire arrange, too, plus clipping 2000rpm off the revs has all helped the Fireblade engine make the bounce when it comes to emissions and due to this fact match for modern-day function fairly simple whereas additionally touchdown on simply the correct quantity of energy and torque. Different key adjustments to the engine embody solid pistons as a substitute of solid ones to maintain the fee down, shorter gear ratios from 1st to 4th, and an up-and-down quickshifter which, curiously, has adjustable lower time for each upshifts and down shifts individually, which I feel is likely to be a primary on any manufacturing bike.

Each bikes get an all-new metal twin beam body, which is bespoke for the Hornet and which has fairly aggressive geometry. In case there was any doubt as to what the intention is with the Hornet’s chassis, it’s rake and path is identical as a Triumph Avenue Triple 765RS and its wheelbase is 21mm shorter than the KTM 990 Duke, and it has a 180-section rear tyre – the identical as a Yamaha MT-09. Key variations between the SP and the bottom mannequin are in addition to getting the additional energy, the SP additionally will get Brembo Stylema brake calipers as a substitute of Nissins, and an Ohlins TTX36 rear shock over the bottom spec which will get Showa package which solely has adjustment for preload within the rear shock.

Then there’s the worth, which at lower than £10k for a motorbike with Ohlins suspension, Brembo Stylema brakes and over 150bhp is solely wonderful for the SP, and just below £9000 for the bottom bike causes an actual headache for the competitors. For reference, a Yamaha MT-10 is available in at £14,000, the Ohlins-shod model is £16,000 – granted it has a bit of bit extra energy, much more tech and the Ohlins is digital. The 2025 Ducati Streetfighter V2S with Ohlins and Stylemas is £16,000, the Suzuki GSX-S1000 which has no bling in any way and about the identical energy and is due to this fact akin to the bottom Hornet is £2,000-£3000 extra! The 2025 Kawasaki Z900 has no worth launched on the time of writing, however the earlier SE mannequin – which has the bling however not fairly as a lot energy because the Hornet – is/was simply over £11,000.

This might be Honda’s best hour, and on paper this might be the worthiest Honda since 1969 to put on the ‘CB’ badge, not to mention the ‘Hornet’ badge. If there’s one factor that historical past tells us about Honda, it’s that once they resolve to go massive and go arduous, they’ve a behavior of doing so with such success that they make everybody else look a bit daft. I’m pondering RC30, Fireblade, NR750, RCV213V-S, VFR750 and sure, the CB750 are just a few examples of when Honda go massive. 

It’s been some time – to place it mildly – since Honda have produced a game-changer, and with the Hornet’s spec sheet promising a colossal quantity for the worth, I spent a great deal of time on the journey to the press launch questioning what the catch was. Then we arrived in Benidorm…

Who knew that Benidorm and Honda may ship such surprising surprises? Within the case of Benidorm, in the event you head into the encompassing hills as a substitute of the seafront, not solely will you be rewarded with higher views, however additionally, you will discover essentially the most spectacular using roads, the likes of which I can truthfully say hand on coronary heart are amongst the perfect I’ve ever ridden on anyplace on the earth. Billiard desk clean, just about visitors free, largely second and third gear corners linked by straight bits of Tarmac hardly ever various hundred metres lengthy for the entire 150Kkm we spent using. It was motorcycling nirvana.

As for the Honda, the very first thing, and I imply the very very first thing, you discover in regards to the Hornet, earlier than you even get out of the automobile park of the lodge, is simply how mild it feels at very low pace, far lighter than a 212kg bike has any proper to really feel. At 212kg totally fuelled, the Hornet is identical because the MT-10 however feels extra like a Avenue Triple at low pace. Straight away, it turns into apparent that the Hornet isn’t like every Honda that’s been made for a very long time. 

Whenever you put a Fireblade into gear and draw back, you realize immediately that you simply’re on one thing very severe and really succesful, and the message is obvious – ‘You had higher have introduced your A-Sport’. The message that the Hornet screams loud and clear is, ‘You and me are going to have lots of enjoyable as we speak’, which, coming from a Honda, is a bit like a librarian egging you on to do pictures of absinth with them – it’s simply not the form of messaging you’re used to getting from a Honda.  And boy oh boy, the Hornet completely delivers on its promise and first impression.

When you get dialled into the Hornet’s outrageous agility, and prompt playfulness, extra great things retains leaping out at you, with the following star of the present being the engine. It’s merely sensible. The mixture of the supply of energy and torque with the shorter gears signifies that it punches arduous at low rpm however doesn’t tail off because the revs climb. The result’s an engine that’s extremely versatile as a result of you may dangle on to decrease gears between corners and rev it arduous, or in the event you want to, you may brief shift and canopy the bottom simply as fast.

Leaving it in a decrease gear and utilizing the higher third of the rev vary isn’t usually one thing I’d do for lengthy durations on the highway as a result of sometimes the upper up the revs, the extra delicate the throttle turns into, which might be tough, however the way in which Honda have arrange the gas injection is so good that even at these excessive revs, the throttle feels actually clean and straightforward to regulate the off/on transition. It by no means even occurred to me to strive any of the opposite rider modes – the Hornet comes with Rain, Normal and Sport modes, plus a few programable Consumer modes – which is one thing often you’ll do in the hunt for a smoother throttle.

I did, nonetheless, use one of many ‘Consumer’ modes to have the traction management switched off in, however alas not like just about each different bike producer, each time you turn the Hornet off, the traction management is reinstated even within the programable ‘Consumer’ mode. Which means that you need to entry the settings for the mode and swap the traction management off each time you come again to the bike, which earns the Hornet certainly one of only a few small marks towards it. 

Switching the traction management off is one thing actually value doing for a number of causes, not least as a result of there’s loads of grip from the Bridgestone S22s, but in addition within the occasion of a wheelie taking place, the system doesn’t have an IMU to measure what’s happening with the precise place of the bike’s chassis. As a substitute, it makes use of the identical primary set of the very early traction management programs by measuring entrance and rear wheel speeds, so that you initially get plenty of elevate, then a sudden lower in energy that solely restores when the wheel is again on the bottom, and also you’ve utterly shut the throttle. It’s actually not nice, and it’s much better to simply have it switched off. With an IMU the method could be a lot smoother, and it might even be attainable to separate traction management from anti-wheelie.

On the one hand, I may say that the dearth of IMU and/or the power to completely swap the traction management off by way of a programable ‘Consumer’ mode is comprehensible while you have a look at the worth of the Hornet, and it’s. Nonetheless, on reflection it happens to me that Honda may most likely do these two issues actually simply and it might most likely solely add just a few hundred quid to the worth of every bike, on condition that they have already got the expertise on different fashions of their vary. Anyway, it’s what it’s, a primary set of rider aids, which execute their duties in a primary method, and it takes about 5 seconds to deactivate the traction management, so within the grand scheme of issues it’s no massive deal particularly when the remainder of the bike is so sensible. A BMW-style ‘enjoyable’ button on the switchgear you can press and maintain to modify the traction management off with out having to navigate via menus could be good.

One piece of tech on the Hornet that I actually did like once I finally discovered it – the interface with all of the tech isn’t particularly intuitive – is the power to regulate the quickshifter’s lower time independently for up shifts and down shifts. It’s very intelligent, and because it seems very helpful, and it positively falls underneath the heading of stuff you by no means knew could be useful till you truly had the possibility to make use of it. There’s a collection of display screen layouts you can select from for the brand new 5” color TFT, all of that are superb – producers often provide only one or two respectable ones and a load of choices which can be simply there for the sake of it and so the producer can declare an enormous variety of choices. Not so on the Hornet, there’s only a handful, however they’re all spot on.

Again on the highway, and the degrees of composure that the Hornet delivers concurrently its agility is one other a kind of traits that solely comes from a mix of simply the correct quantity of weight in simply the proper place, supported by suspension that’s arrange simply so, and geometry that holds all of it collectively. It’s the hallmark of a motorbike that has been completely examined and developed proper right down to part stage. The suspension has been developed bespoke for the Hornet, and the results of all of that’s that the Hornet has a really feel and stage of composure in all situations whether or not or not it’s loading up underneath excessive cornering forces and adjustments of route or disregarding bumps with a stage of management and damping that makes many bikes twice the Hornet’s worth really feel low-cost and missing in suspension management.   

Whereas the Hornet does experience and really feel like one thing far dearer, there are little clues round it that do counsel how Honda have managed to supply the bike for what they’ve. Whereas the brake system does have Brembo Stylema calipers, there’s a lack of really feel on the lever which might be right down to both a less expensive grasp cylinder, or extra seemingly a primary ABS pumping system is what I’d put my cash on. It’s okay, and I’m not mentioning it as a criticism of the bike or its braking system, it’s actually only a level to notice. Elsewhere, a few of the elements such because the levers, rearsets, and a few of the welding on the exhaust are from the decrease finish of the standard scale, however in no way low-cost.

As a rule of thumb, I attempt to keep away from the subjective subject of appears to be like, and whether or not a motorbike appears to be like good or not – that’s as much as you. Nonetheless, what I do need to decide to print is that for a corporation which were producing very secure/conservative/boring trying bikes, the Hornet is a breath of recent air. It’s edgy, distinct, unashamedly Japanese, and even parked up on its sidestand it appears to be like prefer it means enterprise, which could be very not like Honda to be so in your face. There’ve been just a few feedback on the color of the SP being a bit boring, however within the flesh it appears to be like nice, and the gold wheels actually do work with the gunmetal gray paint. It’s additionally good to see a complete lack of wings or any effort in any way in the direction of the topic of aerodynamics.   

So, the Hornet is correctly quick, handles like a dream, has an honest stage of end, appears to be like the half, sounds the half, and prices a snip of what its competitors does. What’s the catch? Properly, if there’s one, I can’t discover it, and I actually, actually regarded. It’s an indisputable fact that I laughed my head off extra in 150kms on the Hornet than I’ve carried out on any Honda, most likely any motorcycle, for a really very long time. At its core is a motorbike that’s enjoyable, and it’s enjoyable as a result of it’s really easy to get on with. A complete novice may simply benefit from the Hornet each bit as a lot as a seasoned hack like me, and all this stuff are qualities which don’t have anything to do with the worth in any way, however we should speak in regards to the worth, nearly reluctantly as a result of there’s a danger that the Hornet turns into outlined by its price ticket, which, whereas it completely deserves to be, appears a bit of unfair, as a result of it’s a correctly sensible bike no matter its price-tag.

Due to its ludicrous worth, whichever nook of the motorcycling world you have a look at for a comparability to the Hornet 1000, the reply all the time appears to be the identical: there isn’t one. There actually isn’t a motorbike, bare or in any other case, that provides a lot for therefore little, and that places me into uncomfortable territory with regards to committing profound phrases to print for worry of overstating simply how vital a motorbike the Hornet 1000 is. I’ve wracked my brains to think about any bike that comes even near the identical postcode because the Hornet for worth AND potential, and I’ve bought nothing. 

I actually do assume the Hornet 1000 goes to supply an entire reset to definitely the entire bare bike sector in the identical method that the Fireblade did to the superbike sector again in 1992. Each different producer of bare bikes now has a severe headache to cope with, as a result of except you actually don’t just like the appears to be like or color scheme, there’s actually no cause to not purchase the Hornet 1000… aside from the truth that Honda UK could nicely promote out of them; they’re solely bringing 1000 into the UK in 2025, and my guess is that they’ll all be offered earlier than they even arrive. The Hornet not solely has the potential to reset the brand new bare bike sector, however as a result of it represents such astonishing worth for cash, I feel it additionally has potential to trigger an issue within the used bike market, too. Sellers are going to need to re-evaluate the worth of lots of their used bike inventory, too, or sit tight till the Hornet sells out.

So, there it’s, I actually didn’t see that coming. By pure probability, this was my first-ever Honda press launch after 17 years of writing for magazines, and I’ll be completely sincere, by no means in my wildest goals did I count on my first Honda launch to be such a big one. I’ll confess to anticipating one other respectable, useable bare bike, and we might all be capable of have fun the enlargement of the sector. I didn’t count on to be writing a few generational game-changer, however that’s precisely what I’ve ended up doing.

Simply wow!

The Hornet’s highway to redemption…

For some folks of a sure age, the identify ‘Hornet’ conjures up reminiscences and ideas of a motorbike that when it got here alongside was proper within the thick of the 90s growth in bike gross sales and might be credited with offering actually hundreds of individuals their first tase of what a ‘correct’ bike was. Hornets had been cool, enjoyable and versatile, and had been equally competent within the fingers of a novice as they had been an skilled rider. Utilizing the engine from their spectacularly widespread CBR600F introduced supersport efficiency to a unique package deal that was widespread with headbangers and newbies alike.

For different folks of an excellent older sure age, the ‘CB’ identify represents one thing much more vital. The Honda CB750 from 1969 is regarded by many to be THE unique superbike by advantage of the truth that its elementary structure remains to be to this present day the start line for a lot of, if not all, bike designers. It was the primary mass-produced four-cylinder bike, the primary with an electrical starter, the primary with disc brakes, and it killed off what was left of the British bike trade at a stroke. It additionally prompted Kawasaki to cease their very own superbike undertaking that they had been engaged on and return to their drafting board to begin once more on what would later be their Z1. In case you weren’t already conscious, hopefully you see now that any bike which carries the ‘CB’ and/or ‘Hornet’ badges, has lots to reside as much as. 

The 600 Hornet debuted in 1998, bought a hefty replace in 2007 with a CBR 600RR engine changing the previous ‘Steelie’ CBR 600F engine. Then once more in 2011 it bought one other replace, however this one was a lot much less thrilling, with one other new engine, once more from the modern-day CBR600F, which, being blunt, was nothing like nearly as good as the unique CBR600F and never even in the identical postcode because the CBR600RR. Some may say – me included – that when the ultimate model of the Hornet 600 was discontinued in 2013, it was candy mercy, as a result of it simply wasn’t lower from the identical material because the earlier two variations. The Hornet had misplaced its sting, and was buying and selling solely on its identify, which you’ll solely do for therefore lengthy…

Clearly, in 2023 Honda reintroduced the Hornet identify and CB by-product, this time on a motorbike with a 755cc parallel twin engine and Transalp body, so whereas in no way following the identical formulation as the unique Hornet, based on Bruce the Hornet 750 is a enjoyable, versatile bike that may be made to go very quick if desired or is simply as completely satisfied pootling round, and so very a lot worthy of the identify. So, it was with an enormous sigh of aid that when Honda introduced the brand new CB1000 Hornet for 2025, they confirmed that it might have a Fireblade engine at its coronary heart similar to the unique, larger Hornet. 

You see, whereas the Hornet 600 was being lapped up within the showrooms within the late 90s, by 2002 Honda figured that with the Fireblade additionally flying out showroom doorways, absolutely they might apply the Hornet formulation to it, too, and so the Hornet 900 was created. It used an older 919cc Fireblade engine which had been round between 1996 and 1999, so arguably they resurrected an engine from a Fireblade which by advantage of being discontinued for a number of years, was a mistake. The Hornet 900 by no means actually lit up the gross sales charts like its 600cc stablemate did, and the Hornet 900 was discontinued simply 5 years later, having by no means actually bothered the gross sales charts.

Possibly the truth that the 600 Hornet used the identical engine from a sportsbike on the identical time whereas the larger Hornet used an older, detuned model of the larger sportsbike engine is likely to be why the 900 by no means caught the creativeness of the shopping for public just like the 600 did. Possibly the market and shopping for habits had moved on by the point the 900 got here out. In any case, by 2007 when the Hornet 900 bought the chop, the KTM SuperDuke 990 was already getting its first replace. The Hornet 900 with its engine from 1996 was already outdated by the point it was launched.

Specs: 

Honda CB1000 Hornet SP

Engine: 

Sort: 1000cc, liquid-cooled, 4-cyl

Bore x Stroke:  76mm x 55.1mm

Compression: 11.7:1

Fuelling: PGM FI 

Claimed Energy: 155bhp @11,000rpm

Claimed Torque: 107Nm @ 9000rpm

Chassis

Body: Twin spar metal

F Suspension: Showa 41mm SFF-BPP upside-down forks, totally adjustable 

R suspension: Ohlins TTX36 Monoshock, totally adjustable

Entrance brakes: Brembo Stylema monobloc calipers

Rear brake: Single-piston caliper, 245mm disc

Electronics

Driving Modes: Sure

Traction Management: Sure

ABS: Sure

Quickshifter/Autoblipper: Sure

Wheelie Management: No

Launch Management:  No

Dimensions:

Wheelbase: 1455mm

Seat Top: 809mm

Moist Weight: 212kg 

Gas Capability: 17 litres

Data:

Worth: £9999From: www.honda.co.uk