2025 Honda CB1000 Hornet and Hornet SP First Look

It hasn’t been announced for the US market yet, but Honda has finally released the full details of the CB1000 Hornet in Europe along with an uprated CB1000 Hornet SP that boasts Öhlins and Brembo bits plus a standard quickshifter. And from the spec sheet alone the competition needs to be worried because the bikes promise a combination of performance and price that’s unmatched in the market.

Honda’s original plan was to launch the CB1000 Hornet into the market in mid-2024—the bike was first shown a year ago, albeit accompanied by only the barest of technical details. That deadline might be long behind us—with the first machines not reaching customers until early 2025—but the wait looks to be worth it. The claimed power output for the least expensive version of the bike is 150 hp at 11,000 rpm and 77 lb.-ft. of peak torque at 9,000 rpm, while the SP model ups the ante to 155 hp and 79 lb.-ft. of torque. Those are combined with curb weights of 465 pounds and 467 pounds, respectively, including fuel, for a pair of bikes that are more powerful and lighter than the existing CB1000R, and also less expensive.

While it’s hard to make price comparisons between different markets thanks to vagaries of shipping costs and tax regimes, in the UK the CB1000 Hornet comes in at 8,999 pounds sterling and the SP model at 9,999 pounds. For comparison the existing CB1000R Black Edition costs 13,399 pounds in the UK market. Over here the same CB1000R Black Edition has a $12,999 MSRP, making the dollar-to-pound conversion close to 1:1 and suggesting that the two CB1000s—if they make it to the US market—could slide in under the $10K mark.

And it’s not as though the bikes are lacking kit or relying on age-old technology. The engine is based on the 2017-on version of the CBR1000RR’s motor, sharing the same bore and stroke but retuned with an emphasis on midrange rather than outright power. The compression ratio is lowered to 11.7:1 (from 13:1) and new cam profiles and timing mean you no longer need to take the motor to 13,000 rpm to find its power peak. On the SP version a bypass valve fitted inside the muffler opens at 5,700 rpm, increasing the volume and derestricting the gas flow to find its extra 5 hp over the base model’s peak. The engine drives through the same CBR1000RR-based transmission, albeit with new ratios, via an assist/slipper clutch, and the SP gets a quickshifter as standard.

Other powertrain tech includes the usual array of riding modes, including Rain, Standard, and Sport presets plus two rider-configurable settings. There are four traction-control modes, three power settings, three engine-braking settings, and wheelie control. All that’s lacking is the latest IMU-based lean-sensitive tech for those rider aids.

The engine is bolted into a steel diamond chassis with 70 percent more torsional rigidity than the CB1000R’s design, but otherwise shares similar dimensions including the same wheelbase and rake. Both versions use the same 41mm Showa SFF-BP fork that is fully adjustable for compression and rebound damping, and preload. At the rear the shocks are different: The standard model gets a rebound- and preload-adjustable Showa shock, the SP a fully adjustable Öhlins TTX 36. It’s a similar story with the brakes, as both have radial-mount four-piston calipers up front with 310mm discs, but the SP’s are Brembo Stylemas while the standard version has Nissin units. The other differentiator between the models is the colors, with the standard machine getting red, gray, or white options, at least in Europe, and the SP coming only in black with bronze wheels and fork.

It’s not unusual for the US market to lag slightly behind Europe when it comes to new models—it took a year for the Honda Transalp to make its way across the Atlantic, for example—so there may still be a wait before US riders get a chance to sample the CB1000 Hornet.