We usually start a road test of new motorcycle with a summary of its exciting technical updates and innovations, but the standout revelation for the all-new Honda CB1000 Hornet SP is not its stunning, sweetly retuned 2017 Fireblade engine or its sumptuous TTX 36 Öhlins shock or even is its Brembo Stylema stoppers. No, it’s its price.

Somehow Honda has brought a show-stopping, 155 hp naked to town for under 10,000 pounds sterling in the UK. And if that figure isn’t impressive enough for you, there is a non-SP CB1000 Hornet that starts at under 9,000 pounds. We can almost hear Honda dealers celebrating across Europe while riders in the US wait impatiently for an announcement of the Hornet’s arrival stateside.Honda reintroduced the Hornet brand outside of the US back in 2023 with the CB750 parallel twin, which was competitively priced and went on to become Europe’s bestselling naked middleweight that year. With the introduction of the CB500 Hornet last year, the all-new 1000 now completes the Hornets’ nest.

As noted, Honda offers two variants: the base bike and the eye-catching SP. Both share the same twin-spar frame, Showa 41mm USD fully adjustable forks, wheels and rubber (Bridgestone S22 or Dunlop Sportmax Roadsport 2), rider aids, dash, and electronics. The SP gains that Öhlins TTX shock and Brembos along with an up-and-down quickshifter and is only available in black. Both bikes share the same Fireblade-derived motor, but the SP gains a neat little exhaust valve which pushes peak power to 155 hp compared to 150 hp of the standard bike.Honda invited Cycle World to southern Spain for a day of test riding the new SP version. We went in search of how the red brand has managed to produce so much bike for so little cash.

Not Your Dad’s HornetI’m old enough to remember the original Hornets: the CBR600-based 600 and the Fireblade-based 900. Both were fun and functional, and hugely popular bikes, though neither was likely to overly stir the emotions.Not so with this, the 2025 CB1000 SP. Its rich black paint, contrasting gold wheels, and Öhlins shock tweak the sporting glands just so. Its shape follows the Hornet tradition: fat at the front, thin in the middle, and fat at the rear, profiling a hornet when viewed from above. There’s a pleasant whiff of old school going on, the color combinations are a throwback to an era when black and gold stood for luxury speed. You note the odd cost saving trick such as a non-detachable subframe here and there, but there’s an undeniable top-end look and feel to this sub-10,000-pound-sterling machine.

Once settled into a relatively low 809mm/31.9-inch seat, you face a clean and understated cockpit featuring uncomplicated switch gear and, by 2025 standards, a smallish and unshowy 5-inch color TFT dash, complete with Honda’s RoadSync connectivity. The tank flares at the front in the Hornet tradition but is nicely waisted at the knees, the one-piece bars drop you into a comfortable but poised stance, Showa fork-top adjusters add an air of quality. It all checks out.

The Hornet has comparatively basic rider aids and riding modes—there’s certainly no launch control here. Three riding modes (Standard, Sport, and Rain) do the heavy lifting while two user modes are available for personalization. There are three engine power and engine-braking modes, and three levels of switchable HSTC traction control. The ABS can’t be adjusted and, like the traction control, isn’t lean-sensitive as there’s no IMU on board.

Riding ImpressionStarting in Sport mode, the throttle response is a little snappy. Is it because the fueling is indeed slightly choppy, or because the Hornet simply delivers so much low-rpm torque that it is a tad too sharp? Either way, the softer Standard mode is preferable around town.The SP’s curb weight is a claimed 467 pounds but it moves much lighter than that and makes for an agile ride in traffic. The steering is delightfully light for a 155 hp bruiser, while that narrow seat and tank mean, as a short rider, I could get two feet securely to the ground without problem.

Once away from the traffic on the fringes of Benidorm, we could start to make more use of that old-school Fireblade motor. Predictably, the 999cc inline-four has been retuned to match the needs of a naked streetfighter (and cleaned up to meet Euro 5+) and now delivers a claimed 155 hp at 11,000 rpm and 76.7 lb.-ft. at 9,000 rpm. In terms of peak power that is somewhat down on the 2017 Blade’s 189 bhp but peak power and torque arrive much lower in the rpm, making it much more usable on the road than the pure sportbike.You immediately feel this torque and drive lower in the rpm. The midrange drive is also strong and urgent. It wants to go, is eager to have fun, and in a rather un-Honda way, sounds raucous for a standard bike. That said, the 2017 Fireblade (and later models) sounded great and was too loud for the noise meters at some UK trackdays, but I wasn’t expecting the naked Hornet to be this sonorous.

Using the ‘Blade engine was a no-brainer for Honda, but this much aggression when the throttle is opened was not expected. It’s hard to overstate the grunt that its torque-focused tune delivers. With the revs hovering mid-tach it punches ferociously hard out of turns, pipe wailing, before shutting off for the next set of mountain esses. There’s genuine character here too—proper attitude—and any admirer of Honda’s big inline-four will love this kind of real-world performance.The mountain passes so often utilized for these new-model launch tests are typically low on traffic and, more importantly, virtually free of police, which allowed the Hornet SP to shine. That easy drive and quick, accurate steering which we encountered around town translates perfectly to the endless switchbacks in the sierras. Direction changes are rapid, the chassis composed and planted—those 467 pounds so well disguised that the big Hornet is as flickable as many a sporting middleweight. Meanwhile, the Bridgestone S22 tires warm up quickly and offer enough grip and confidence to achieve deep levels of lean. Ground clearance is ample, and I reckon the pegs would only start to tickle the deck on a racetrack.Such is the quality of the SP’s chassis and suspension that it’s as happy carrying corner speed and sportbike angles of lean. Just squeeze the strong Brembo stoppers, drop down a couple of ratios on the smooth quickshifter, turn hard to square off the corner, and gun out again.

There’s only one downside to the fun: the overactive traction control, which can’t be deactivated on the move and, annoyingly for 2025, defaults to a saved standard setting whenever the ignition is switched off and on again. When the TC intervenes (the front goes light over a crest, for example) it’s about as subtle as a sledgehammer, and the reintroduction of the power is a fraction too slow. It certainly works and will be reassuring for newer riders, but the system is nowhere near as sophisticated as you find on, say, a (much more expensive) Yamaha MT-10.With the TC deactivated, the Hornet SP offers up plenty of immature antics. Wheelies are not legal, but the big naked performs the act so effortlessly maybe they should be. The slightly snatchy throttle previously mentioned at slow speeds isn’t an issue once it is beyond 10% open and can be easily finessed.Even when ridden hard it remains stable and unflappable, despite its sharp steering. The Brembo Stylema calipers and 310mm discs upfront are strong and progressive but at high speed, when shaving mph rather than stopping hard, there needs to be more bite from a premier setup. There are dozens of similar bikes—usually Italian—with Brembo Stylema callipers, and they perform better than these.

Too Bare Bones?The absence of cornering ABS wasn’t an issue on the test but we had perfectly dry conditions. Would potential owners miss lean-sensitive ABS and other rider aids come winter at home? It’s almost impossible to answer given that each rider and situation is different. Frankly, there’s so much fun to be had, you forget about the relatively basic rider aids and just immerse yourself in the bike’s performance, sound, and handling. In fact, there’s an attractiveness to the stripped-back nature of the new Hornet: bags of torque, uncomplicated rider aids, and good handling. Just jump on and have a blast.Of course, the CB1000 Hornet SP isn’t just about chasing up mountain passes on a cloudless day, because it will work well in the everyday world of clouds and slimy surfaces too. The riding position is roomy, engine vibes are minimal at high revs, and heated grips and limited luggage are optional extras. Forced to be critical, the mirrors are a fraction smaller than expected and the dash lacks the bling to some of the more expensive competition.

As mentioned, it’s hard to see where Honda has saved on costs. The finish is good, with the extra-large silencer the only visual blemish on a handsome machine. Pillions are going to be brave or small but—despite the obvious lack of bodywork—there’s no reason why you couldn’t rack up some miles on the Hornet all year around.Above and beyond all this excellence, is that price. The new Hornet floats and stings in a class of its own. Is it more comparable to Yamaha’s MT-09 or MT-10? Would you consider a Kawasaki Z900 over the Hornet given that the former is heavier, less powerful, and more expensive? Or is the real competition Triumph’s Street Triple 1200? Or BMW’s F 900 R (105 hp) or S 1000 R (165 hp). The problem for the competition is that anyone in the market for any of those nakeds will now feel compelled to take a serious look at the Honda CB1000 Hornet SP as there is nothing even close to delivering such 155 bhp thrills at this price.Is the Honda CB1000 Hornet SP Worth Waiting For?Sometimes verdicts take hours or even days of deliberation, but not this time. The 155 bhp Hornet SP offers exceptional value for money. When you look across the market, nothing comes close. Even if Honda added a couple of thousand to the price tag it would still be a great bike.Retuning the ride-by-wire 2017 ‘Blade engine gives the Hornet exceptional real-world performance, a wicked midrange, and more than enough top-end power for some real excitement; plus it sounds great. Handling is excellent with light but predictable steering matched to a stable and planted chassis—a hard act to pull off. Yes, the rider aids are not as sophisticated as the competition, the Brembo Stylema brakes are not as good as they could—or should—be, and the throttle is a tad snappy in Sport mode.

Honda has been accused in the recent past of being a little conservative when it comes to producing streetfighter nakeds, of leaving the party early before it gets out of hand and the fun truly begins. But the new Hornet wants to stay until dawn. It also has bags of character, it looks good and has, without doubt, a wow factor. The real question is do you have the patience for it to come to the US?2025 Honda Hornet CB1000 SP Specs