Innotech Crea Cbr900rr
INNOTECH CREA CBR900RR
Quick Ride
Iron Curtain kitbike
YOU MIGHT NOT RECOGNIZE it, but the motorcycle shown here is a Honda CBR900RR. What's more, its far-out bodywork was created not in Italy or California, but in the Czech Republic, where Innotech founder Zdenek Mrkvica intends to market his Crea kits for $4800.
Mrkvica, 38, is one of the new breed of Western-style entrepreneurs from the former Eastern Bloc. He plied his trade in California and North Carolina through the 1980s, and then returned to his homeland to form Innotech in 1992. Originally conceived as a kitcar company, Innotech expanded into the kitbike business three years ago when 19-yearold design student Vojtech Duris joined the staff.
Duris, now 22, had restyled a
Honda CBR600 as part of his course work, and although the Crea grew out of that project, Mrkvica realized that such a market could only exist at the top end of the superbike scale. "I chose the CBR900RR because it's the benchmark performance bike of its generation," he explains. "Also, the CBR is quite technically advanced, and
that connects well with the Crea's concept of future-oriented creativity, hence the name." Okay, so what does it take to create a Crea? Here's the recipe:
Supply one Honda CBR900R; add one Crea body kit including bracketry, twin headlights, tail light, wiring harness and a 4into-i exhaust system with single Termignoni silencer exiting under the seat; shake, stir.., and get ready for some se rious posing, because this is not a low-profile motorcycle! Most dreambikes are all show
and no go, but after spending a day riding a prototype around the Brno GP circuit and in the surrounding hill country, I'm pleased to report that the Crea is every bit as functional as a five-figure Bimota.
. Riding the bike is a thrill, the glorious exhaust note echoing off walls as you find yourself riding two gears lower than necessary just to hear the "music" play.
And combining the additional 4 horsepower that the freer-flowing exhaust delivers with the 20pound weight savings of the composite carbon-fiber/fiberglass body results in noticeably enhanced performance.
The Crea is much wider than an ordinary CBR, but the payback is a more comfortable riding position. The standard Honda instruments remain readable, and the body kit doesn't affect engine operating temperature. In fact, the prototype only displayed two flaws, both of which Mrkvica claims will be rectified before production beFirst, it's easy to trap your thumbs between the handlebars the bodywork at full lock; and second, it's difficult to find the switchgear, because it's hidden by a pair offaux air ducts house the fairing brackets. More than a mere kitbike, the Innotech Crea is a calling card for an Eastern European company with big ideas for the future. Here's betting this is one Czech that won't bounce.
