HONDA: 2025 Hornet CB1000/SP

I know what you’re thinking – didn’t we do this already? 

Well, yes: Honda first showed the new Hornet 1000 off around this time last year, as a 2024 model. It’s kinda heartening to think that the enormous moto-industrial complex which is Honda is just like us: Project bikes taking much longer than you thought they would to finish off… 

The bike, now a 2025 model, is a fairly standard Honda take on the roadster theme: An old (2017) CBR1000RR Fireblade engine, suitably detuned from 190 to 150bhp with soft cams and less compression, bolted into a steel frame with cooking running gear and neat styling. It weighs 211kg wet, which isn’t amazing, but isn’t terrible, and you get a fairly unremarkable 2025-spec set of rider aids including wheelie and engine brake controls.

But the big H has made up for that 12-month delay in two ways: Firstly, it’s made the new bike a stone-cold bargain, with retail pricing that’s seemingly from the 1990s. And the engineers have also produced a cheeky SP version, that not only has Brembo Stylema brakes and an Öhlins TTX36 rear shock, but also has a unique new ‘Revolutionary Controlled’ (RC) valve in the end can, which closes at low revs then opens at 5700rpm for full-power breathing.

As we said though, the most amazing thing is the pricing. The stock bike is just £8999, which looks like you’d need to add VAT to it or something. The SP is a grand more, at £9999, also impressive. Both bikes will be on sale in January and we’ll be riding them very soon…