Every year, Police Officers from all over Europe head to Belgium to compete in a grueling car & motorcycle rally. In its 55th year and more popular than ever, The 2010 Liege International Police Rally attracted a line up of 27 cars and 49 motorcycles. The Met Police Motor Club sent out a strong team of seasoned rally veterans and young hopefuls keen to bring the King of Belgium Trophy back to England after so many years in the hands of the French. The race changes every year but generally comprises of four laps of a 50 mile circuit with 3 or 4 special stages in each lap. This year was to be one of the toughest - almost 90 miles of of race-pace Special Stages with gravel covered hairpins, loose surfaced 80mph bends and barbed wire fences or trees to contend with if you get wrong. This was going to be a test like no other for the CB1000R streetbike.
To be honest, bringing a 1000cc Fireblade engined beast to Liege was a gamble that could go either way. Recent years have seen the previously dominant Supermotos and Enduros lose out to the bigger bore bikes making valuable seconds on the fast straights. So much so that a number of competitors took the same gamble this year and brought sportsbikes for the race. Unfortunately, when we were given the route three days beforehand, it became obvious that the dirtbikes would rule and we were going to struggle. So, this review is not about how the Honda won the rally, but more about how this powerful and aggressive streetbike coped impeccably with everything I threw at it, returning to England after 800 hard miles, completely unscathed.
I picked up the CB1000R from Hartgate Honda, Mitcham a couple of days prior to traveling out to Belgium. It took only 20 minutes to feel completely comfortable with the bike and my weekend to get used to the bike turned into a fantastic couple of days enjoying the brilliant sportsbike handling around the Kent countryside.
The bike feels short and stumpy, and the small seat keeps you right up to the tank with no stretch to the handlebars. The foot pegs are not uncomfortably high and ground clearance is ample. I loved all the sportsbike feel without the hunched over cramped sportsbike riding position.
The 1000cc four cylinder Fireblade engine is powerful and silky smooth. Revs still need to be over a few thousand rpm but decent power seems to kick in quite early and is then strong and linear to the top. A spirited twist of the throttle in first gear lifts the front wheel effortlessly and hard on the throttle in 2nd will do the same.
That is unless the road surface isn’t 100% and the back wheel spins up instead. The flat, wide(ish) handlebars make any grip indiscretions easily manageable and actually quite fun, as opposed to the the feeling you get when you’re holding sportsbike clip-ons and leaning over the front wheel when it goes...
Out in Belgium on the practice days, the Honda performed really well. The Special Stages were awful, with too much gravel and mud, but the Liaison sections in between were great fun. Lots of smooth twisting roads and barely any other traffic. Spending all day on a bike requires some comfort and the CB1000R is much more comfortable than it looks. The real test was going to be on Race day when we were expecting to spend 11 or 12 hours in the saddle.
Race day was tough. All brakes and throttle, rarely getting out of 2nd except for a few very fast straights. One such straight had a light (and invisible) dusting of gravel along its centre, causing my only real “moment” during the rally - 100mph, still hard on the throttle and the back wheel spun up, the bike is almost sideways and I’m convinced that had I been something else I would’ve been typing this report from a hospital bed. In fact, it was the same stretch that ended one of our guy’s race a short while later when he binned his gorgeous Triumph Speed Triple.
So, after an exhausting 11 hours the rally was over. The CB1000R had survived unscathed and I was elated. I knew I hadn’t performed that well, but just finishing felt incredible. The spectators had been fantastic all day, and I spent most of the last special stage pulling wheelies for them as they cheered me on. The Honda was still comfortable and I had none of the back and wrist ache I’ve gotten used to from other bikes.
After picking up a couple of trophies at the award ceremony we loaded up the vans and returned to England. The hardest thing was giving the Honda back to Hartgate. I had fallen in love with it. Its short, stumpy, agressive looks (a bit like me), and the improved road handling over a sportsbike make this the perfect alternative to a Fireblade or R1. It turned out to be the wrong bike for the Liege Rally, but I don’t care, I had a fantastic week on an awesome machine.