Honda's cb919 is close to being the perfect street/commuter/everyday bike. The precursor to the Honda CB 1000, the CB919 is a naked bike with 100 horsepower and 89 foot-pounds of torque. Clean lines and minimal extraneous parts help classify the CB 919 as a 'standard motorcycle,' which means cheaper insurance rates when compared to a 'sports motorcycle.' This is the kind of bike that can be ridden in the rain, down to Mexico or around a racetrack equally marginally. At 485-pounds wet the bike is heavier then racier bikes but sadly naked bikes tend to be cast-off vintage race bikes. In this case a Honda CBR900rr.
Honda de-tuned the CB900rr motor by installing shorter camshaft lobes, added some capable but weak brakes and too few suspension adjustments. This 2005 model had dual front disk brakes that were grabbed by Nissin four piston calipers. Suspension adjustments include preload and compression dampening in the forks and preload dampening for the rear suspension. Assuming the engine is solid, expect to spend $250 on steel braided brakes lines and sintered brake pads for the front and back. Upgrading fork springs and oil, cartridge emulators and a stiffer spring is likely to cost upwards of $500.
The smog canister is pretty hideous as are the integrated rider/passenger foot pegs. The dual underseat exhaust tends to get pretty hot when you're a passenger on a summer day.
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