Project Honda CBR1000F Part 1 - Saints Be Praised!

A 21-year-old range-topping sports-tourer for little more than a bag of sand? Heavens above!

- Dave Brooking

It’s not the most normal ‘extra’ given away free with a bike, but Dave Brooking took it anyways.

Y’see, he bought this rather tidy 1997 Honda CBR1000F from a man of the cloth, and – rather than nab any spares or end cans or the like, Dave received something a little bit more spiritual, rather than ‘actual’. But let’s start at the very beginning…

Dave has been in CMM a few times. He’s a former racer (tricked-up Yamaha TRX850 in Sound of Thunder in the 1990s) he’s (still) got a GSX1100 EFE in bits that he (still) doesn’t quite know what to do with. He also bought a lovely, cheap-as-chips Kawasaki ZX-10 a few years back and – in the pages of the magazine – took it on an Irish tour with his son Niall on the back. Dave’s got some Irish roots, you see?

He’s still got the 10, but wants something newer for another trip he’s got lined up later this year: to the Manx Grand Prix. He says: “Initially I was looking for another ZX-10 for some reason and I’d seen one on eBay, but it looked a little ropey and a mate put me off it. Then I saw this – and yes I hasten to add there were a couple of pints of Guinness involved. With the prospect of a big road trip to the Isle of Man looming, I wanted something big and comfy and this 1997 CBR1000F R-plater fitted the bill. It had not much more than 13,000 on the clock and this all checked out on the MoT database and the mileage was confirmed.”