2026 Honda CB1000F & SE Retro Concepts: 9 Things You Need To Know!

This autumn, Honda are expected to announce their new CB1000F Retro Naked along with a half-fed SE version. And with these concept bikes recently shown at the Suzuka 8R Endurance event, well we've got a pretty good idea of what they'll look like and how they'll be specced. So in this video, we'll go through all of the details with the 9 key things that you need to know so far. Now the development of this particular bike can actually be traced back to 2020, where Honda announced a brand new concept called the CBF. It was originally planned to be shown at both the Tokyo and Osaka motorcycle shows, but with both being cancelled due to Covid, Honda held their own virtual motorcycle show. Still, this one didn't fly under the radar with plenty of bikers liking what they saw, with specifically the throwback tank and tail section really hitting the mark. Both pay homage to the iconic CB750F, with a paint job specifically reminiscent of the one made famous by Freddy Spencer in the AMA Superbike Championships. Thing is though, underpinning this CBF concept was something altogether more modern, with the engine and chassis largely lifted from their CB1000R Naked. That means a 998cc inline-four engine, derived from a previous gen of the Fireblade, with a handy peak power figure of 143 horses. You can also see the same single-sided swingarm, the same wheels, upside-down fork, radial four-pot brakes, and also similar side plates on the swingarm pivot. Thing is though, this new CB1000F Retro won't be based upon the CB1000R like that original concept, because unfortunately it's now been discontinued and has recently been effectively replaced by the CB1000 Hornet. Why? Well, the CB1000R in my opinion was a great bike, but also I think it kind of fell between two stools. It wasn't necessarily powerful enough to compete with the 200hp Super Naked, and so they couldn't charge Super Naked money for it, but it was also really well finished and had some standout features like the swingarm and wheels, and so they couldn't charge budget Naked money for it either. That's where the new Hornet came in, with a simpler build, a lower level of finish, but the same sort of engine and chassis which mean it's still a riot to ride. Plus the price point, owing to that more economical build, is exceptional now. At launch, the standard model came in at £8,999 here in the UK, and the SP version with the Ohlins shock, the Brembo brakes, a quickshifter thrown in, and an exhaust control valve for a touch more peak power, well that one cost just £9,999. I do believe the price has now snuck up by £100, as many manufacturers tend to a few months after launch, but still, at roughly £9,000 or £10,000 for a 150hp Naked, well there are very few other bikes on the market that can come close to competing in terms of bang for your buck. So now if you look at these most recent concepts for the CB1000F, the ones that were shown at Suzuka, you'll see a bike that's actually built upon the Hornet, and while it might not look quite as sexy, I think realistically it's a good thing. The single sided swingarm was never a feature on the CB750F anyway, and it realistically means the price of this new bike will be much more attainable, but we'll get onto that a bit later on. So what exactly do we know about the engine? Well I'd be very surprised at this price point if Honda did anything drastically different to the engine in the CB1000 Hornet, so I'd expect very much the same performance figures of 150hp at 11,000rpm and 104Nm of peak torque at 9,000rpm. The exhaust control valve I've mentioned on the SP version bumps peak power up to 155hp, but from what I can see in the pictures, the bespoke megaphone style silencer on this retro concept, well it doesn't appear to have one. Does that also mean the quick shifter will be omitted? Well perhaps as standard, but it can be fitted on the base Hornet as an accessory, and so I'd expect the same to be the case here. As for the chassis, well again it looks very much like the base Hornet, with the twin spar steel frame, the Showa upside down fork and Showa monoshock, the radial Nissin brakes on the 310mm discs, and the same cast aluminium wheels. Again, I wouldn't expect any specific adaptations to the geometry here either, and so handling will most likely be very similar, if not almost identical, to the CB1000 Hornet. The only thing that might change is with the extra bodywork including that filled out tail section. Well there could be a touch more weight, and so perhaps expect a couple of kilograms more than the 211kg curb weight of the Hornet. There is also an SE version of this CB1000F which gets a half fairing, maybe it'll get some other technical features thrown in like the quick shifter too, but again I'd expect the fairing to add another kilo, or two, or three. One area in which this bike does look like it'll differ quite a bit from the Hornet though, is with the ergonomics. Firstly with the seat, it looks to be a different subframe, as I've laid a side on picture against the same shot of the Hornet in Photoshop, and there's a huge difference in the angle of the tail section as I'm sure you can observe. The seat height itself though at the lowest point, well it looks to be about the same, so expect something in the region of 800-810mm, but it's certainly quite a bit longer and flatter, and so perhaps won't offer quite so much support from the rear for quicker riding. The pillion will also sit quite a bit lower, which could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your perspective so to speak, as it will be easier to climb on, but you might not see much if you're looking forward. Pegs for the rider are certainly further forward on the CB1000F, as you can see the hangers aren't quite so deep, and although they do appear to be a little bit higher if you flick between the two pictures, well I think that might actually be down to the slight difference in angle that the two photos were taken at. What is very pronounced though is how much higher and further back the handlebars sit. This of course will affect the feel of the ride a lot, and I'll have a lot more of your weight back on the saddle, as opposed to up over the bars. You'll be much more upright and comfy, but one could argue it's more appropriate for the gentler pace that this retro is realistically intended for. I guess though if you don't get on with it, you'd imagine it wouldn't be a huge job to switch back to the flatter bars of the Hornet, because while going up and back with the bars can be tricky as it means lengthening cables and hoses, well going down and forward is generally much more simple. One massive moan that I'm anticipating here though is the clocks. It'll get the same TFT dash as the Hornet, which is thoroughly modern and doesn't have even a sniff of CB750F about it. We know this as it's shown in some of the press shots of the concept bike, and they haven't even bothered to skin up the software in a sort of mock retro style. I'm pretty sure 99% of you would have preferred twin analog clocks on this one, as it's much more in keeping with the rest of the bike, but I guess with each specific adaptation they make for this particular model, well the price would presumably creep up a bit. Speaking of which, well roughly where do we expect this one to come in? As I say, the base Hornet with which it has most in common with is now £9,099 in the UK, and so usually when a manufacturer does a retro adaptation, well you're looking about a grand or two more. I'd hope they can hit the 10-ish grand mark, maybe 10 and a half, and for the SE version with the fairing, well maybe more like 11 grand, but it really depends if they bundle in some other extras. That though would give Honda a bit of a price advantage against some of the other sporty retros on the market, like the Kawasaki Z900RS, the Triumph Speed Twin 1200, the Yamaha XSR900, and the particularly spendy BMW R12 9T. Honda have really been knuckling down on the aggressive prices recently with the likes of the Hornet and the 750 version and the GB350, and so I'm pretty confident that they'll try to undercut absolutely all of the competition. As for colours, well they have shown off a few more variants than just the Freddy Spencer inspired silver and blue, with a more muted silver with grey accents and also a black with red accents. Whether all of them will be available for both the regular bike and the SE, that remains to be seen, but I reckon the silver and blue will be the hot seller anyway, and in my eyes rightly so. Will there also be an SP version like the Hornet with the Ohlins shock and the Brembo brakes? Well, there's no indication of it yet, but I guess you never know. The concepts at Suzuka look so close to production that I'm fully expecting these bikes to be announced at EICMA this year in November. We'll be there to capture all the best new bikes from all the biggest manufacturers, so do hit subscribe if you've not already to be part of the action. I'll leave our review of the CB1000 Hornet SP on the screen now in case you missed it, so you can get a rough idea of how this bike will ride, and all that's left to say is a massive thanks for watching today, and we'll hope to catch you in the next video.