Honda CB 1000 SF T2

Two colourschemes were available for the CB1000: red and white or black and grey. In Japan, the red/white scheme proved much more popular, partly because the colours are the same as the Hino-maru, the national flag. But Honda wanted to balance sales between the two choices and so made available a yellow and black option at the Tokyo Show last year. That show bike was also displayed with a tiny bikini fairing so we knew Honda was interested in fitting a fairing to the CB. But it was a complete surprise when they launched the totally black T2. (The name stands for Type Two, but there is obviously another hidden meaning - the movie Terminator 2 with Arnold Schwartzenegger, giving a strong image to the bike.)

The T2 is very beautiful. The whole bike, even the engine, wheels, fork sliders, exhaust and pillion pegs, is black. In the cockpit, even the handlebars and instrument console are black. As is the swing-arm and radiator side plates.

Where the HT leads on the orig-inial CB were yellow, on the T2 they are now spicy red as are the side panel logos and the rear shock springs.

When a bikini or headlamp fairing

The whole bike, even the handlebars and instrument console, is black is fitted to a bike the handling changes. Usually the steering becomes vaguer and blunter with the added weight on the headstock and greater wind resistance at speed. When I tested the T2, the handling was slighdy heavier than the standard CB but it was not as bad as I had feared. The CB's light and sporty handling isn't spoiled. According to Honda's test rider, Mr Kikuchi, this is because they found that putting holes in the fairing on both sides of the headlight reduced the wind resistance.

Wind protection offered by the fairing is superb. The fairing might look tiny, but at cruising speeds on the motorway the wind blast is dramatically decreased.

You may be thinking that you fancy a T2 fairing on your standard CB. Unfortunately it won't fit without also changing the headlight mounting. Also, some might be thinking about fitting a red and white fairing onto their red and white CB. Unfortunately, again, Honda say the T2 is a special limited edition in black only. However, Honda admits there have been so many requests for a red and white T2 it may yet change its mind. Personally I hope so. The T2 may look absolutely beautiful but I still prefer the red and white colourscheme.

Honda also used the launch of the T2 to announce several changes to the standard CB1000 model. Riding the new CB I noticed the bike's handling and performance had been improved a lot over the original model. Although we didn't have the chance to test the bike on the open road it was still obvious that acceleration had been improved. Now the PGM-IG, the bike's electronically-controlled ignition system, senses the speed of throttle movement as well as the degree of throttle opening and the speed of the engine. The bike's jetting has also been updated to boost torque and bottom end pull. What's more, Honda has lowered overall gearing by swapping the 42-tooth rear sprocket for a 43-tooth one. Around town the bike is much improved.

Using higher revs the previous CB was very good at sweeping around the mountain roads. But at lower revs the bike wasn't so impressive and noticeably weaker than rivals such as Kawasaki's 1100 Zephyr. But the new CB is certainly different. Low down response is far better and luckily the changes haven't spoilt the bike's top-end performance. The transverse four engine, derived from the CBR1000, pulls very smoothly from as low as lOOOrpm all the way to the redline.

Other changes make the T2 easier to handle around town too. I found the original CB one of the most difficult of all bikes to U-turn on the sort of steep and narrow roads very common in Japan. But with the T2 I could easily make full-lock turns. The new CB employs fully-adjustable, piggy-back remote reservoir shocks which can be adjusted very easily. The dial for compression damping adjustment is on the piggy back reservoir with that ' for rebound just below the springs. Both are four-way adjustable. No plans

The front brakes are also new with the 310mm discs now held by 12 floating pins instead of ten to improve heat dissipation.