Sporty – Honda CBR1000RR 2012 test: the crisis of the twenties … – Fireblade: excellence as a heritage

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2012 Honda CBR1000RR Review: The Twenties Crisis…

Sportive - Honda CBR1000RR 2012 test: the crisis of the twenties ... - Fireblade: excellence as a heritage

Unchanged since 2008, the Honda CBR1000RR should have evolved significantly to meet the competition. Especially since 2012, the Fireblade saga celebrates its 20th anniversary! Unfortunately, the crisis requires, Honda renews its Hypersport almost as it is… Test.

Fireblade: excellence as a heritage

A slightly redesigned front end, a unique digital and configurable dashboard, refined injection, more rigid rims and new suspensions: here is, in short, the list of gifts offered by Honda to its CBR1000RR for its 20th anniversary. A bit stingy for such an iconic motorcycle, produced at some 445,280 units since 1992…

According to Hirofumi Fukunaga, development manager of this twelfth generation of Fireblade (photo opposite), these modest gifts would however be enough to strengthen the balance between high performance and ease of operation specific to all Honda sports cars: the famous Total Control (read in particular our).

Thus, no anti-skating or anti-wheeling on the CBR1000RR 2012. No more than an accelerator without cable type Ride-by-wire or choice of injection maps, even though these tools seem to serve the cause of "total control". Unlike a growing proportion of Hypersports (read in particular our), no "smart chip" is therefore inserted between the right handle and the 4-cylinder Honda 999.8 cc.

"No need", retort Fukunaga and his team, because"extreme homogeneity, operability and precision"of the CBR make the use of electronic assistance unnecessary. In short: everything is under control … To believe that on the Fireblades of World Superbike or the RCV of MotoGP, these" electronic crutches "would be there only to make pretty…

The more so as if the engine of the CBR1000RR 2012 does not receive any mechanical modification, it always develops the tidy power of 178 hp and the respectable torque of 112 Nm! Either values ​​largely sufficient to orbit following an approximate or optimistic management of the right handle.

To avoid this kind of "inconvenience", the injection has been recalibrated for more progressiveness on the first quarter of the throttle opening. Concretely, Honda has made every effort to smooth out the slightest peak of power of the "4-legged" for the benefit of its usability. Even if it means always smoothing out its character a little more … On the other hand, this modified diet would burn 10% less gasoline: at 1.50 euros per liter, it’s always good to take !

Aesthetically either, the new Honda CBR1000RR 2012 does not contrast with the model discovered in 2008. Still as small and compact (seen from the front or from the rear, it looks like a 600 cc), the Fireblade only evolves in terms of from its front part: the optics are smaller and stretched, the air intakes are more protruding and a spoiler responsible for reducing the aerodynamic pressure at high speed appears.

More conventional because less "sunken", the front gains in sportiness: the shapes and volumes are sharper, more "Japanese" in a way. The mirrors incorporating the indicators and the sidelights are renewed as is, like the rest of the trim.

Only the license plate holder and the rims – which go from three to twelve sticks for the benefit of rigidity – visually distinguish the new vintage. Unless you slip an eye behind the (small) bubble to discover the completely new 100% digital instrumentation, which offers a shift light and a gear indicator engaged.

Full of information (see technical sheet on the following pages), this instrument panel offers four distinct display modes: the engine speed can be entered in a classic way (increasing from 0 to 13,500 rpm), inverted (decreasing from 13,500 at 0 rpm) or in the form of a simple digital bar (almost unreadable while driving). Finally, the maximum speed reached with each acceleration can even be temporarily signaled via a segment: a trivial but fun gadget !

In use, this console is clear and arranged with method. On the other hand, controls on the handlebars would have significantly improved the practicality of the whole. In addition, a TFT active matrix color display (Thin Film Transistor) as on the BMW K1600 or the new Ducati 1199 Panigale would be more qualitative and pleasing to the eye. And above all more readable: with the sun in the back, for example it is very difficult to distinguish the five leds of the shift light…

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