Long-Term Test Update: 2008 Honda CBR1000RR

After introducing the CBR1000RR to our long-term fleet last December, we fitted the big Honda with a 25mm fork cartridge kit ($1760) and a TTX36 shock ($1399), both from Öhlins (ohlinsusa.com). We then headed to Utah's Miller Motorsports Park, mounted DOT-approved Pirelli Diablo Supercorsas ($728; us.pirellimoto.com) and lapped five seconds faster than we had during our "Turn & Burn" Open-class comparison (July, 2008). Impressive but costly.

Since then, we've also taken part in Hypercycle track days at Willow Springs, lapped with The Track Club at Laguna Seca and participated in a "Let's Ride" track day at Buttonwillow. We used Dunlop D211GPAs ($419; dunlopmotorcycle.com) for all three events.

A Hotbodies Racing Undertail ($220; hotbodiesracing.com) nicely matched the stock paint and relocated (illegally?) the license plate on the back of the battery box. We also fitted Hotbodies' Rear Tire Hugger ($180).

A slip in a muddy front yard broke the "ear" on the upper fairing ($265) and part of the rearview mirror/front turnsignal ($86). Labor for installation of those parts, on top of the scheduled 4000-mile service, set us back nearly $700 at Champion Motorcycles in Costa Mesa, California. Ouch!