Toothy grin by Mike Emery   ~   Glorious Technicolor by Kevin Wing

Honda CBR954RR

It's no secret Honda had the crap beaten out of them in Formula Xtreme last year. The Gixxer-one- thou' turned out to be the proverbial Daddy on the track. But what about the streets? That's where you and I live. Is there some respect to be given if we show up on the new Honda CBR954RR? We'll that is an unequivocal yes. But like any storyteller should, best I start from the beginning.

Tadao Baba is that beginning. I've always wanted to meet the man that was responsible for the original 900RR. I wanted to look into his eyes to see if his rabid enthusiasm for creating mad-hatter motorcycles could defeat the obvious language barrier. Baba San knows few English words, but confirmed a unison of that universal language when he zipped up his leathers and joined us out on the track.

The basic impetus for this redesign is the fact that Honda is experiencing the strongest growth curve for sportbikes in the last 10 years. This seems to be a rollover from the cruiser and standard buyer boom. Those moneyed people who came in through the sit up and beg seating position bikes, are finally crossing over to some sportier tackle.

So what's changed? Everything. Baba Sans redesign philosophy was simple: Bigger displacement, sharper handling and lighter weight. He and Honda have once again gone through the 954 precisely the way that they did for the 929. Sure the frame is pretty much the same, but the look and feel is different. Different is good. That precision extends across the bike, starting with a redesigned steering head. It now has thicker castings for increased torsional rigidity combined with tapered steering head bearings. They have also modified the rear swingarm. It's still has a pivotless design and echoes a HRC race bike look. Honda have persisted with the "tuned flex" theory, in order to maintain dependable chassis feel. It's a groovy shade of black too, so you fashion victims out there won't feel left out.

Both front and rear suspension have been further refined with the front forks receiving a workover and the rear spring has been subjected to the Jenny Craig treatment too. The resulting effect is a more precise and positive feel when changing direction.

Jeff Haney was at hand to show us the right way round though. Being cranked over on 110 mph plus corners and having Haney pinch your toes as he goes by, has to be experienced to be believed. This is Haney's house and he treated us to some lurid backing in maneuvers that would be the envy of even Nicky Hayden. The guy was an absolute genius laden menace on the track and certainly had the devil in him that day as he tormented us with his superior track skills.

The fairing offers the same aerodynamics as the 929, but is a little sharper all round. It's as though someone (Baba?) chiseled an F4i out of last years RR and this was the result. It's a fact that a typical middleweight 600 is easier to ride; they are not as intimidating as an open class machine. Because of the dimensions of this bike, I always felt like I was riding the bike, rather than the bike riding me. The CBR954RR really is a CBR600 F4i on steroids.

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

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