Honda CB 1000 R+ Limited Edition 2019 — Specifications

Fifty years. That is how long it took Honda to transform a mechanical revolution into a myth, and then into a reason to celebrate. When the CB 750 arrived in 1969, it rewrote the rules of the game single-handedly, an inline four-cylinder screaming in the face of an industry that never saw it coming. To mark this half-century, Honda Motor Europe's engineers did not produce a poster or a commemorative brochure. They built 350 machines. Fifty of them made it to France. The Honda CB 1000 R Limited Edition earns its reputation on that number alone.

Unveiled at the 2019 Wheels&Waves festival alongside a dozen custom creations paying tribute to the same ancestor, this so-called "HRC-inspired" version was the only one intended for series production, however limited. Its tricolor livery and vintage emblem are not there to look good on a show stand — they carry an assumed lineage, free of maudlin nostalgia. The tank engraved with an individual serial number turns each unit into a collector's piece, and the carbon finish on the radiator scoops and airbox adds an aesthetic coherence that rushed special editions never achieve. The SC Project dual exhaust, developed exclusively for this machine, blends titanium and carbon with remarkable compactness around the single-sided swingarm. It is a world away from the generic silencers bolted on at the end of the line to look different.

Beneath the celebratory bodywork, the 2019 Honda CB 1000 R Limited Edition rests on foundations that fans of sporting roadsters know well. The 998 cc inline four-cylinder, derived from a previous generation CBR 1000 RR, produces 145 horsepower at 10,500 rpm and 104.9 Nm of torque available at 8,250 rpm — all within a cast aluminum mono-backbone frame that tips the scales at 212 kg fully fuelled, with a seat height of 830 mm and a 16.2-litre tank. The claimed top speed of 240 km/h should surprise no one in this category, where the Kawasaki Z1000 and the Yamaha MT-10 play on the same ground. The difference lies in the onboard electronics: four riding modes, three distinct adjustment levels for power, torque control and engine braking, ABS, and an assist-and-slipper clutch. The 41 mm Showa inverted front forks and the rear mono-shock are fully adjustable, leaving genuine room to tailor the machine to its use.

The + version adds to all of this a quickshifter, heated grips, a radiator guard, a mini flyscreen centred on the instrument cluster, and aluminium finishes on the mudguards. It is not the accessory catalogue of a grand tourer, but it sits coherently within Honda's claimed Neo Sports Café positioning: a demanding road motorcycle, built for an experienced rider who wants character without sacrificing urban comfort. At €15,990, the price is steep, but it accounts for the rarity, the specific equipment, and the serial number traceability. For the same budget, one could pick up a well-equipped MT-10 or an entry-level Z H2. The choice between these three machines says a great deal about what one expects from a roadster in 2019.

What remains difficult to quantify is the heritage value this limited series will carry over time. Collectors know how to recognise short runs produced with genuine intent. This CB undeniably is one. Riding such a machine on a daily basis is a separate debate entirely, but no one ever claimed that collector's pieces were made to stay in the garage.