Hornet Heats Up

HORNET HEATS UP

Finally, a big-bore Hornet! Shame is, it may be too little, too late, at least as far as American Honda is concerned. Powered by a fuel-injected version of the old-style CBR900RR’s 919cc inline-Four, the high-piped Hornet 900 is a dead-ringer for its smaller siblings, the home-market Hornet 250 and follow-up Hornet 600. Styling is conservative, at least compared to the class-clobbering Yamaha FZ1. Tougher yet, the FZ1 makes

125 horsepower at its rear wheel, while the previous-generation CBR couldn’t top 115 bhp. Spokesmen were tight-lipped when asked about Honda’s ’02 U.S. lineup, but product planners are likely quick to recall another Open-class super-standard, the mid-Nineties CB1000, which fared poorly and disappeared after only two selling seasons. Here’s hoping they’ve forgotten.

-Matthew Miles