999cc Is More Than You’ll Ever Need from Honda

• The old adage of meeting the nicest people on a Honda continues through its modern mini-bikes, but that doesn't mean the company is lacking in performance.

• With the standard style 2023 CB1000R and legacy nameplate 2022 CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP still available, there is more than enough power and fancy electronics to go around.

• Honda is banking on unique, neo-retro styling and competitive performance to sell these bikes, but it's the comfort and approachability that makes both of these top-end motorcycles worthwhile.

Performance driving is no longer a simple matter of cumulative hours of stick and rudder practice, at least not these days. With driver aid systems sporting acronyms like PASM, PSM, and PTV Plus stepping in almost unnoticeably, making your way through a set of curves is no longer a solitary effort. Driver and machine now struggle together for the common goals of precision, traction, and speed.

Safety tech for two-wheels

This technology has carried over to the two-wheeled world, as MotoGP and MotoAmerica's SuperBike class use the latest and greatest in nine-level traction control, anti-wheelie, and engine braking maps.

Even comparatively lowly street bikes are more electronically advanced than your Harley-riding Uncle Brad remembers, with some boasting as much technology as Porsche's illustrious 911 GT3 RS.

This technology works really well, too, as exampled by our recent test of Honda's premier, be-all-end-all CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP and its more pedestrian but still naked CB1000R sibling.

Coming off of 30 years of CBR heritage, the 2022 CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP I rode was the 30 Anniversary Edition, with the Hiroaki Tsuku-designed graphics displaying this celebratory moment with pride.

And the 2023 edition CB1000R is a limited edition in its own right, at least according to Honda's model naming which calls it the CB1000R Black Edition. It's only color and variation of the standard, liter bike available, but it's nice to make everyone feel a bit special, right?

Just because these two bikes share a displacement designation doesn't mean they're all that similar, especially not on paper: $12,999 for the CB1000R versus $28,9000 for the Fireblade; a 998cc inline-four with 11:1 compression versus a 999cc inline with 13:1 compression, a user-friendly fuel gauge versus an 'oh shit I'm about to run out' fuel light. The list goes on.

Even so, it's worth examining these specimens together, and not just because I had the chance to ride them back to back. With so many 1000cc options on the market today, what exactly makes these two bikes special? Hint; it's come down to who makes them.

How do they ride?

Rolling through the low hills in Minnewaska State Park en route to Monticello Motor Club, an approaching squall line was noticed and adjusted for by paging through the riding mode menu and selecting rain on the fly.

According to the full-color, 5-inch TFT dash, engine braking was now set to maximum, and throttle response was chopped, though the Fireblade's 186 hp inline-four engine can move out at a moment's notice regardless of ride mode or gear position.

The instruments don't even display engine revolutions until 5000 rpm, meaning my rain-spitting cruise in 6th gear wasn't displayed at all, save for the slight whine emitting from the titanium Akrapovic muffler.

But you're not reading a motorcycle review to hear about its truly docile, comforting behavior on a freshly soaked road. No, you want to hear about my death-defying, speed-limit-disrespecting analysis of a world-class superbike, but I can provide only so much of that on the street.

Because of its racing heritage, the gearing of the Fireblade is, well, ridiculous. Honda says that first gear is good for 99 mph, a fact that I confirmed through a light-fisted, second gear pull to 10,000 rpm resulting in the fastest speed I've ever done on a motorcycle. And I was still 5000 rpm away from its 15,000 rpm redline.

Climbing above 5000 rpm is the sweet spot for both of the inline-fours fitted to these respective liter bikes, though doing so requires lots of open space.

From growl to wail

A guttural growl roars out if you twist up to 7500 rpm on the Fireblade (which shares the same bore and stroke as Honda's RC213V MotoGP race bike), as the exhaust valve opens up for everyone lucky enough to be in earshot.