2026 Honda CB1000F Review | The Return of the UJM?

So in the world of motorcycling, very few manufacturers have the kind of history that Honda has. And right now, when some manufacturers are really drawing on their history to create their next version, their next motorcycle, Honda has a really easy time of looking back into their history to make the next model. And what you see behind me is the CB1000F. That bike behind me draws heavily from the 1981 and 1982 CB900F, and even before that, the CB750F. Both bikes were ridden to great success by none other than Freddie Spencer. And so, for this, the 2027 CB1000F, that storyline, that heritage, and that history arc is already baked into the CB1000F. and look at it it looks pretty darn good right and so what we have here with the CB1000F is a bike that harkens back to Honda's history but has completely modern underpinnings and so let's take a quick second actually let's take a long second to do a little walk around with the CB1000F and see what makes it a CB1000F. All right here it is the CB1000F from Honda why don't we take a second and just completely silence ourselves and stare at this thing for a hot sec and you can admire its looks. All right if that sort of moment of silence seems familiar it's because I did the same thing with the Kawasaki Z900RS SE. That bike is another bike that harkens back to history Kawasaki's own Z1. I really like that bike it sounds great it's really fun to ride and most importantly with these heritage bikes it looks killer. Now Honda here with its CB1000F same thing I mean I personally really dig this bike I think it looks just super cool. I don't know if this video does justice to the way it looks and the character it just oozes from its pores but I think it looks pretty darn cool. Let's take a closer look at it though front to back and see what makes it the CB1000F. The original CB900 did not have cast wheels like this, did not have radial brakes, did not have 310 millimeter discs, did not even have 17 inch wheels for that matter. But, you know, there are some things that have to lean towards modernity when you're talking about a 2027 model motorcycle. So here we go. The front of this bike, actually a lot of this bike, is modern stuff. Like I said, you've got the cast wheels, the 310mm discs, the Nissin 4-piston radial brakes. You'll see there's a rubber brake line there. Now, you know, rubber brake lines are nothing new, nothing special. Kind of odd that Honda didn't choose a steel brake line. But interestingly enough, when Honda was giving their presentation about this bike, an odd bullet point was that honda chose this rubber brake line that just that is different from the one on the cb1000 hornet sp the modern contemporary of this bike honda chose this rubber brake line because of its specific expansion properties uh suspension wise you have a 41 millimeter showa separate function big piston fork has full adjustability compression rebound preload all that lot and so there's that let's look at the front of the bike you have the round headlight LEDs with the headlight LEDs with the turn signals of course honda had to do a round headlight with this bike because the CB900 has a round headlight too but what's really cool is the dual horns it's kind of a cool throwback to the past as we zoom out a little bit here and look at other parts of the bike we can see the engine clearly is a modern engine as the name says it's a 1000 now this is originally the 1000 cc engine four-cylinder engine from the 2017 CBR1000RR sport bike now honda has taken this engine and completely retuned it it is not a super bike fire-breathing monster like the sport bike it originated from now we're talking about a bike that has really usable power that's a common term used a lot but it actually applies in this case different cams than the CB1000 Hornet different intake funnels an odd thing they did was offset the valve timing on this bike compared to the CB1000 Hornet because as a new motorcycle I guess they got this thing there where these new motorcycles are so neutered and so refined and so perfect I guess you could say that there's no character to them and so this uneven timing of the cam timing or cam intervals as they call it between the first and second cylinders and the third and fourth cylinders this was done to provide this unique noise this like intake noise to kind of sort of mimic well to kind of sort of mimic the CB900 to mimic old four-cylinder carbureted bikes of the early 80s and that distinctive sound they made when the carburetors would open and you would hear this distinct induction noise as the carbs sucked in the air Honda's trying to replicate that here with the different intake funnels and the slightly revised uneven valve timing with this engine. The frame is the same as the CB1000 Hornet, however the subframe back here is not the same. It is a beefier, stronger subframe because as you can see there's a pretty substantial passenger seat on it. So the subframe was designed to hold a person or to hold luggage and there are accessory luggage cases you can get for this bike from Honda. On the exhaust side of things you can see there's a very classically styled exhaust. Kind of interesting how the muffler itself leads to this outlet right there and the catalyzer is right there so theoretically a slip-on should be pretty easy to put in place of this guy. You've got the rear wheel. It's also a cast wheel, you know, similar or nothing earth shattering there. What is a little cool about this bike is the electronics. There's a six-axis IMU, which the Hornet 1000 SP does not have so this has corner sensitive ABS corner sensitive traction control it has different power modes engine brake modes TC levels like i said before all that modern stuff the shock it's nothing special you have you do have some adjustability rebound and preload definitely preload um but yeah the valve rate of the spring rates and the valving of the suspension on the CB1000 is a little bit different from the Hornet because of the kind of style of riding that they have in mind for this motorcycle a bit more slower pace more mellow it'll still rip but it's more of a more of a UJM kind of a do-it-all sort of machine whereas the Hornet's kind of meant to rip and go fast you have the same geometry in the front end as the Hornet rake and trail and the wheelbase but like just look at this styling you've got this long gas tank really reminiscent of the CB900 the very familiar paint job on it as well like I said before you do have the long seat and as we come over to the other side of the bike this side looks awfully sparse the foot pegs are borrowed from the CB1000GT that's a European model bike that we don't get here in the u.s you know passenger pegs a lot here you have the shifter and it's just a shifter there's no quick shifter there's no auto blipper this is very old school do it with the clutch lever and your foot and you can shift gears that way or you can blip your hand on the throttle and get a quick shift in that way as well so yeah the shifter is very old school just a shifter Kind of refreshing, especially since a lot of you comment that quickshifters really don't need to be on classic motorcycles. I disagree, but to each their own. So yeah, all of that's well and good until you get up here, the dash. There's a TFT dash on this motorcycle. That's all fine, but a couple things. One, you're talking there's an electric key. There's a keyless ignition, I should say. there is an actual physical key that stays in your pocket and this key is what starts the motorcycle up or turns on the ignition you need the physical key to open the fuel cap to put gas in the thing but then you get the TFT dash display which looks like this so as we take a little bit of a closer look at the CB1000 dash this bike follows the same sort of menu screen options as other Hondas and if i'm being honest i'm not a huge fan you do have to manipulate the controls via this switch on the left and really not so much here on the right but the switch grip on the left has you know this toggle for different menus and just i don't know i have never been able to really fully get comfortable with um sorry it's this toggle on the right and then the mode button just beside it there. I've never been super comfortable with Honda's dash and menu options display. There's a bit too many buttons to push and too many settings and not enough words on the screen to really accurately describe what we're being you know what we're what we're manipulating here what menus we're looking for you know we can get into here in the settings and then there's actual words but even then it's a little confusing sometimes like i don't know that's gas more gas oh fuel and range and trip meters okay um and the very top more trip meters it's a little confusing and then on the left you have a gear position indicator um the different the ride mode that we're in we're currently that's the sport that's rain user one user two which are both customizable settings then you've got the standard setting and then we're back into sport and uh that's all fine well good whatever but on a retro bike like this seeing this modern rectangular TFT dash kind of kills the vibe in my opinion i would have loved to seen two round dials just like they did in the olden days with speedo and tach you know which bike does have that Kawasaki's Z900RS SE that has the two round displays that look super super cool so that is the CB1000F in a nutshell really good looking bike if you ask me uh i really can't wait to ride it because yeah talking about the way a bike looks is one thing but actually getting to experience how it rides is a whole nother so what do you say we put on the helmet and we get to it let's go oh yeah here we go So, Honda CB1000F, really looking forward to this one. Super first impression, one, this seat is low. It's 31.3 inches off the ground, but it feels like I'm sitting like in the bike, not on top of the bike. I don't know, the brake feel seems fine. There's pretty good bite at the lever. Everything seems good to go there. Now, this is the point where I admit I have actually not ridden the CB1000 Hornet SP, so it'll be hard for me to draw comparisons and conclusions between the two because, well, I haven't ridden the other bikes. So, this will be a strictly CB1000F review that I'm talking about here, and so far, the cool factor is off the charts with the 1000F. the retro styling is super super cool oh i'm not sure if you can hear that it sounds like an inline four to me maybe once we get the more open roads and we let this thing breathe a little bit and scream a little bit my impressions will change but so far on these country roads city roads whatever we are whatever we're at uh that impression of a distinct engine sound just isn't there it does feel this tank blink here it does feel uh a little long from front to back here but that is kind of that old school style that comes through on this CB1000F here is that's just kind of how bikes were back in the days you had that long front to back fuel tank and uh if you wanted gas that's how you're gonna do it modern bikes are getting tricky with how they do fuel storage and there's like the tank goes underneath the seat sometimes and it's they've got clever ways of packaging that sort of thing um back then you want more fuel you get a bigger tank and it's all sitting right here in the center and that's pretty much the ethos of this bike here so if we look at that bike over there you can see that exhaust is really the opening of it is really small and clamped down let me run over these bumps in the road i mean i'm going 27 miles an hour so it's hard to really get a feel for how the suspension's working but yeah i mean i'm digging the style look at the back of that bike You got that brake light that's big and prominent, boxy style, just like the old CB900F used to be. The big back seat, which is, I'm glad there's big back seats coming back now. Because you could either put a person back there, or you could, like, put a milk crate and strap it down. I dig that. So, yeah, this is kind of a throwback. Not kind of, it is a throwback. but being a throwback you're reminded why such things as the universal japanese motorcycle was such a popular term because well as the saying or as the name implies they were universal if you wanted to go rip you could go rip if you wanted to go around town you could go around town if you want if you needed to carry some things you put a crate on the back and put your groceries in the back there and bump and you do that too and there's something kind of nice about that that you kind of don't have anymore with modern motorcycles at least not modern like naked bikes and sporty bikes if you if you want a bike to rip on then you get a bike to rip on if you want a bike to be more utilitarian then you'd get a more utilitarian motorcycle this kind of brings that UJM back into focus and i'm here for it all right red light cool so my turn's green try and give it some berries here so you can potentially hopefully hear the engine this bike has a little bit different purpose than the CB1000 Hornet this is a more relaxed ride and a more mellow ride compared to the Hornet. Honda also changed the gearing of this bike to accommodate that first and second gears are shorter and third through sixth gears are taller compared to the Hornet so that it favors more of the around town more relaxed type of riding and then the taller third through six gears give you a better cruising speed make the engine work less hard at cruising speeds flowing back roads like this is a nice place for the cbt kind of rolls along with curves interestingly enough this bike has a 180 55 rear tire a lot of thousand cc bikes these days have more of a at least a 190 so gives this bike quick tip in quick turn in and that rounder profile um yeah in addition to having helping the bike turn in quicker it flicks easier but that's not really what this bike's about plus you have these wide handlebars here so if you want to change direction. Yeah, you could go the smooth method of, you know, using your lower body to input some weight onto the pegs and change direction that way. But, you know, if you do want to manhandle things and just yank these bars side to side, you can do that too. So let's take a minute. I realize I haven't spoken too much yet about the brakes and the chassis of this bike. Well, the whole thing really. so let's get into the CB1000F a little bit more overall riding impressions pretty favorable i mean it looks cool but it's also a joy to ride it's a relaxed seating position the engine makes good power the fueling seems okay um let's see i'm in standard mode right now and the on off throttle isn't so bad getting on the throttle it's pretty smooth getting off the throttle it's pretty smooth i notice though when i'm riding in a sport mode the getting off the throttle back to zero throttle that's a little bit abrupt but again i'm splitting hairs as far as that goes um and yeah you can tell a difference in the pickup between standard mode and sport mode it's just a little bit more aggressive in sport mode and you expect that kind of thing of course uh what else do we have um chassis wise yeah the suspension is not bad the chassis is not bad uh it's definitely a chassis that favors more smooth and flowing kind of riding style versus uh you know getting super aggressive and Freddie Spencer up there was showing us just how quickly you can ride this thing with basically minimal hand inputs using his body and his feet to shift the weight around on the bike and and his body to get to initiate the lean angles and to the turn really and being Freddie Spencer you know he's not going slow on the brakes yeah they're not bad i mean yes obviously there are better brakes out there and more powerful systems but these work pretty good for the conditions these are a good set of brakes for the kind of bike this is meant to be the retro themed cruiser a standard bike that you can have a little bit of fun with you know this this whole idea of being smooth with your inputs also applies to the brakes and this braking system rewards that sort of riding style of smoothness. Apply the brakes early and progressively, and it'll reward you with a really refined chassis. It's not the kind of braking system that you want to really hammer down on. The braking power is decent. The initial bite is relatively soft, but it's good for this purpose. Ooh, this is a fun little turn. So there you have it. Honda is on a nostalgic kick with the CB1000F, and I am here for it. This bike is cool. I mean, in the presentation we were given by Honda earlier today, they said the connecting tissue between the CB750, the CB900 of 40-plus years ago, and then now with the CB1000 was this flowy line sort of design theme from front to back and back to front you look at bikes now especially naked bikes now and you've got these angles and these geometric shapes and like just this aggressive nature to them then you look at something like this and you're like that's the furthest thing from that everything flows everything's gentle everything looks timeless and classic if you will and there's this direct connection to the CB900 the CB750 from a visual standpoint i think this bike looks great from a riding standpoint you just heard me say all the things i think about it it's a fun bike it looks great it's a fun ride if you're looking for something to just be sort of aggressive on your ride but it could also chill if you want as well this is really if you never got to experience the universal japanese motorcycle this is a bike that's going back to those days just a bike that could do a little bit of everything this engine is a lot of fun i feel like if you put a pipe on it and reflash it you pretty much unlocked the perfect setup it feels a little corked it could use a little bit more refinement and i'm this is like the super nitpick of a nitpick because it's fueled really well as it is but I can't help but think there's some more just dying to come out but they can't because of EPA reasons carb reasons that sort of a thing but it's really close just a pipe and a flash away from pretty much being damn near perfect as far as a universal Japanese motorcycle goes some things I wasn't super happy about over time like like I said on the top of this video on the riding portion section you're really sitting in the bike with this seat you're not really sitting on top of it you're sitting in it and those pegs aren't really high by any means but over time because of how low this seat feels that that knee bend feels a little bit much over time and I'm only 5'8 with a 30 inch inseam if you're taller or longer legged the peg to seat ratio could be a problem for you but that's probably my biggest gripe as far as like the actual riding dynamics go other things i'm not a huge fan of i wish this bike had cruise control you've already got a ride by wire throttle a cruise control button right here would be a simple enough thing to add like i said before the menu options and the toggle on the thumb switch here a little confusing to figure out and manipulate i was trying to search different menus and i just couldn't get there in time. There's no quick shifter, auto blipper, downshift, quick shifter, upshift. There's none of that. That's available as an accessory. Kind of disappointing, but you know, a lot of you say in the comments that you don't like quick shifters anyway. So there you go. This bike doesn't have one. But other than that, sheesh. Oh, my one last gripe is the dash. This modern TFT looks great and all, but doesn't fit the design theme of this bike. Like I said before, the two round dials, old school style would be super super cool. And then speaking of style, one more thing I wish Honda would have done, which I suppose you could do if this bike were yours, rip off this plastic little cover here. It's only held on by one little tab and some velcro. Rip off this tab on both sides, shear away the mounting point for the grommet that keeps this in place, and you could see right through the engine bay, just like you could with the CB900, the CB750, and that would really complete that old school look, that classic look. Retain that seam on the fuel tank from here all the way down. I think that would look really, really cool. But yeah, as far as a ride dynamic goes, it's a really fun bike. You can really haul a butt if you want to on this thing. If you want to chill and play more mellow it'll do that too and then earlier in the video i mentioned the Kawasaki Z900RS SE, a natural competitor to this bike a bike I really really like, I didn't know what to expect from this one coming in and I just hopped off the Kawasaki, so the impressions are fresh in my mind and it's a really really close toss-up between the two, the Honda has more power You can feel it. It's a lot of fun to ride. The suspension is pretty well damped. The chassis takes care of the bumps really, really well. The Kawi, the rear shock is a bit of its weak point A little bit less power, but that's not a big deal. It sounds great. Brakes are pretty much on par with each other, despite the fact this one has rubber lines. So it's a really, really close toss-up. I think in the end, it would come down to just which one you think looks better, and uh because you're gonna be happy either way but yeah sticking back with the CB1000 here it's a cool bike, it's a cool cool bike, I'm glad I'm glad this bike exists, I'm glad Honda reached back into its history book and really dug in with the design and the execution of this bike honestly i might even pick this bike over the cb1000 hornet um that's a cool bike too but I just feel like this one would be more satisfying especially once I hopped off in my garage and looked back before I walked in my house every time so far today we finished a ride or finished a section of our ride and I got off the bike I would look back and be like this thing's cool so yeah there are my thoughts on the Honda CB1000F for the full written review be sure to go to motorcycle.com. I'll have pictures, I'll have some other things in there as well, maybe a full, more clear version of what you're just seeing now in written form on the pages of Mo. And yeah, that about does it from here in Birmingham, Alabama. Thanks everyone for watching. As always, like, subscribe, comment, all that good stuff. And as always, ride safe, and I'll see you later.