First Ride: Honda CB1300
Remember the Big One, the Honda CB1000? Well this is the Even Bigger One, a bike that, like its rider(!), combines massive muscle with definitive retro appeal
Click to read: Honda CB1300 owners reviews, Honda CB1300 specs and to see the Honda CB1300 image gallery.
The trip to Sicily to test Honda's new naked bikes had more than a tinge of deja vu about it. In fact I've actually been there before on a Honda launch - the Honda Dominator just er, fifteen years before (I'm not old, I have a Tardis). We rode up to the top of Mount Etna on that occasion - not advisable today as only three months ago, the bugger erupted like Bertie after a balti. This time we based ourselves in Palermo where curry houses and hot lava are thin on the ground.
It was also all very familiar as the CB1300's forefather, The Big One (CB1000), was launched on another island in the Med, Ibiza, ten years ago. I was on that one too. So I've been wallowing in waves of nostalgia. Nostalgia is an appropriate emotion here as, if you're greying at the temples like I appear to be, your youth would've been spent wankering after bikes like the CBX1000 or CB900F which were top shelf material for me as a skint college kid. 25 years later, me and my contemporaries are financially grown up enough to reach the top shelf and, deep joy, our dream bike appears to be there still.
It fits into the Honda naked bike range on the face of it, uncomfortably close to the Hornet 900, which is the FireBlade-powered version of the 600cc best-seller. But they're clearly defined and different motorcycles with clearly defined and different customers. Honda is aiming at the slightly more psychotic client with the Hornet: it's aggressive, light, frenetic, quick steering and dances around beneath you. The CB1300 is solid; it works at a different pace, promoting less impulsive riding and in many ways is more satisfying to ride.
In style and in performance, this bike talks directly to its customers: macho, powerful, mature. Ah, my kinda bike. And who could fault its looks? It impresses everyone. The motor looks stunning, the lines of the bike flow beautifully and the finish and detail are highly refined. It looks like a lot of bike for your money. Which it should as it's the most expensive in class by a couple of hundred quid.
The CB1300 may be 'seventies retro, but technologically it's 21st Century. It's fuel injected, has the brake calipers of a FireBlade, adjustable suspension front and rear and has a multi-faceted digital readout which even tells you what the weather's like.
