First Ride: 2012 Honda CBR1000RR

If it ain't broke, don't fix. It's a saying you often hear when someone is trying to make something better and it all goes horribly wrong. In the highly competitive world of open-class sportbikes, this could mean the introduction of costly redesigns and useless new parts that make things more complicated and ultimately have an outcome of very little improvement. It appears the men at Honda had this in mind when they decided to leave good enough alone with its 2012 CBR1000RR.

Why completely change what already works when a few subtle upgrades will do the job just fine?

Honda has opted to build on the same basic platform that has taken Johnny Rea and his Ten Kate CBR1000RR to several victories in the World Superbike Championship. The same bike that Karl Muggeridge also achieved success on by claiming the 2011 German Superbike Championship aboard an ABS-equipped CBR.

For the compete test, see this week's issue of Cycle News at the following link:

http://cyclenews.coverleaf.com/cyclenews/20120110#pg55