2026 Honda CB1000GT Review: Has Honda Struck the Perfect Balance?

Honda says the CB1000GT should balance the power and handling of a naked sports bike with the comfort and carrying capacity of a tourer. It's a big promise, and the early reception has been loud enough that some riders have started calling it overhyped. This 2026 Honda CB1000GT review is Liam Simm's answer: Moto Planet's presenter took a dealer-loaned bike through town, along the dual carriageway and out onto the B-roads to find out whether it lives up to the noise.

What makes it worth the attention is the price. For £11,999 on the road you get a 1,000cc inline four that started life in the Fireblade, electronic suspension, a quickshifter, cruise control, heated grips and a pair of panniers. That's a lot of kit for the money in a class where the obvious alternatives cost more, so the question is less "is it good value?" and more "is it any good to ride?"

Summary

• Engine 1,000cc liquid-cooled DOHC inline four-cylinder
• Power 110.1kW at 11,000rpm
• Torque 102Nm at 8,750rpm
• Weight 229kg kerb (241.5kg with panniers)
• Fuel Capacity 21 litres
• Price £11,999 OTR

This review was produced in partnership with Smiths Honda, Chester.

Buying Advice: Who is this bike for? Who should skip it?

The CB1000GT suits the rider who wants one bike for the commute, the weekend blast and the summer tour, and doesn't want to pay extra for luggage and electronics they'd end up buying anyway. If you've been eyeing a Tracer 9 GT or a Ninja 1100SX but balking at the price once panniers are added, this is the bike to test ride first.

It also suits riders who are wary of a big touring bike's weight. At 229kg kerb it isn't light, but Liam found it easy to manage at walking pace and at a standstill. The seat is 825mm, and at 6ft with a 32-inch inseam he got the balls of both feet down at the lights with no bother.

Who should skip it? Anyone wanting an automatic, because there's no DCT (Honda's dual-clutch automatic gearbox) or E-Clutch option, just a six-speed manual with a quickshifter. A2 riders too: Honda UK doesn't list an A2 version or a restriction kit for it. And if you're after something that feels new, Liam's own verdict is that nothing on it is revolutionary. Its appeal is that it does what riders asked for, at a price that undercuts the bikes it competes with.

What do you get for £11,999?

The standard specification is the headline. Honda UK lists heated grips, cruise control, a 5-inch TFT dash, a six-axis IMU running cornering ABS, wheelie control and rear lift control, a quickshifter with autoblip, a centre stand and panniers. Honda's European launch material puts those panniers at 37 litres on the left and 28 litres on the right.

Then there's the electronic suspension, a Showa EERA semi-active set-up that adjusts damping as you ride. Liam called it the bike's biggest party trick, and more on that below.

Liam's test bike wasn't a base model. It carried the Comfort Pack, which Liam quotes at £870, bringing a comfort seat, a taller screen, small winglets beside the fairing to tidy the airflow, and fog lamps. It also wore the factory-optional Akrapovič slip-on, which Liam quotes at £950 and recommends you budget for. Keep that in mind when you read his impressions of wind protection and sound, because both were influenced by the extras.

One thing he couldn't test: the panniers weren't fitted on the day, so this review can't tell you how well they seal or how easily they come off.

The Fireblade-derived inline four: built for the road, not the track

Honda describes the engine as originally found in the CBR1000RR Fireblade, carried over via the CB1000 Hornet, which this bike is based on. In the GT it makes 110.1kW (around 148bhp) at 11,000rpm and 102Nm at 8,750rpm.

Liam's view is that the slight detune is the right call. On a sports tourer you don't want the top-end fury of a track-focused Fireblade; you want power you can actually use on the road. Pulling away in normal mode, he found no shortage of grunt at the bottom, with a smooth, steady throttle at walking pace.

Give it some revs and the character changes. A full-throttle run from 4,000rpm in second gear in sport mode had Liam laughing inside his helmet, and on the dual carriageway he noted that, being an inline four, it'll punch past whatever's in front if you wind the throttle on with the revs up.

What is the CB1000GT like through town?

This is where Honda's reputation for accessible, easy bikes shows. Liam rode through town at 2mph without putting a foot down, and found the steering super agile. The wide handlebars and upright riding position make slow turns effortless and give a commanding view of the traffic around you.

The weight barely registers once you're moving. Like most Hondas, the mass is carried low and the bike feels balanced, so the 229kg figure that might intimidate on paper didn't trouble him at all on the road. The clutch is neither heavy nor light, so stop-start traffic is no chore if you'd rather not use the quickshifter.

The two nitpicks: a lazy quickshifter and a rattling screen

Liam was clear that he was clutching at straws here, but two things niggled.

The quickshifter is excellent when the bike is under load on an A-road or B-road. Pottering through town with no load on, it can feel a little lazy, and when Liam tried to knock it down into first it found neutral instead. He ended up using the clutch anyway.

The screen adjustment is one of the neatest manual systems he's used on any bike. The catch is that, raised all the way, the screen doesn't have much support, so on bumpy roads at low speed you can hear it rattle. Liam found it irritating enough to lower it, which takes a pull of a lever and gives the screen a bit more support, and the rattle stopped. It's a minor fix, but worth knowing if you like riding with the screen fully up.

Dual carriageway comfort: screen, winglets and cruise control

Liam has always struggled with Honda screens at his height, finding them buffety around the top of the helmet even fully raised. The CB1000GT, with its Comfort Pack screen, was the exception. Fully up, it kept the wind off his shoulders and up to the top of his head, and any air coming over it was clean rather than chaotic. Lowered, it still kept a good portion of the wind off his chest. The winglets don't look like much, but he found they do a good job of moving air around your body.

Cruise control is standard, and Liam rates it on long dual carriageway stretches: set it, relax, and save some energy for the twisty roads. In sixth at 70mph the vibrations were next to nothing. Drop to fifth or fourth for more urgency and you'll feel a bit more buzz, which is the trade for the extra revs.

Showa electronic suspension: the party trick

This is the feature Liam kept coming back to. The semi-active suspension reads the road and adjusts as you go, and Honda quotes a response time of 15 milliseconds. On the dual carriageway it soaked up bumps at speed and made the ride feel more refined than a conventional set-up would. Rear preload is adjusted electronically; the front preload is manual.

Switch to sport mode and the change carries through to the suspension, which goes stiffer and reacts slightly quicker. On a bumpy B-road section Liam found it did a properly nice job, leaving the bike settled and easy to steer with barely any effort at the bars.

How does the CB1000GT handle on UK B-roads?

Town and dual carriageway were both pleasant, but the B-roads were where Liam wanted to push hard and find out how sporty this sports tourer really is. The answer: very.

He found it felt almost as playful as the CB750 Hornet he tested earlier in the year, and possibly slightly more so thanks to the inline four. The wide bars give it a big advantage in changes of direction, and the open, upright position gives plenty of visibility into bends.

The brakes were a highlight. They're strong without being overpowering, with no snatchiness and progressive feedback through the lever. On a hard stop from 60 to 20mph on a slightly damp patch, the front got a little squirmy, which Liam put down to the reduced grip on the wet surface rather than the bike, and it stayed composed. Overall he struggled to find anything the bike didn't deliver on a twisty road, and he had a lot of fun.

The Akrapovič exhaust: worth factoring into the budget?

Liam's test bike had the factory-optional Akrapovič slip-on, and he's firmly in favour. In second gear, wound out to 8,000 or 9,000rpm, he described the inline four through that pipe as a symphony. Rather than describe it, the video lets it speak for itself, and his summary afterwards was short.

Ownership, Running Costs & Reliability

Fuel economy and range. Honda quotes 6 litres per 100km (WMTC), which works out at about 47mpg. With a 21-litre tank, Honda's own launch material claims a range of over 340km, a little over 210 miles. Liam didn't record economy on his ride, so treat that as the manufacturer's figure rather than a tested one.

Warranty. Honda UK gives a two-year standard warranty, which can be extended in 12-month steps up to six years in total, with no mileage limit. The condition is that every service is done at an authorised Honda dealer and logged on the Digital Service Record. The details are on Honda UK's warranty page.

Servicing. UK press reports a service interval of every 8,000 miles or 12 months. We couldn't find that figure published by Honda UK, so confirm the schedule and costs with your dealer before you buy.

Reliability and resale. The CB1000GT is new for 2026, so it's too early to call long-term reliability or resale. What we can say is that the engine family has been around since the 2017 Fireblade and also powers the CB1000 Hornet, and Honda's reputation for reliability is about as strong as it gets.

Practicality. For touring, the standard panniers, heated grips, cruise control and centre stand cover most of what you'd otherwise add yourself. Liam stayed comfortable in the seat, back and hands throughout his ride, though he rode solo, so we can't comment on two-up comfort. If you want more luggage space than the standard panniers give you, browse our motorcycle panniers.

How the Honda CB1000GT compares to its rivals?

A note on prices before we start. Honda's £11,999 is an on-the-road price. The rival prices below come from UK press and dealers rather than the manufacturers, and not all of them say whether they include on-the-road costs, so check the final figure with your dealer.

Yamaha Tracer 9 GT. Liam has ridden it and rates its 890cc CP3 triple as one of the best middleweight engines around, with 87.5kW (119PS) and 93Nm. At 227kg wet for the manual it's close to the Honda's weight, and it also offers semi-active suspension and a Y-AMT automatic option. The difference is price: UK press lists it at around £14,354, which is roughly £2,000 more than the Honda. The Yamaha has the more characterful engine and an automatic option; the Honda has more power and the lower price.

Kawasaki Ninja 1100SX. The successor to the Ninja 1000SX uses a 1,099cc inline four making 100kW (136PS) and 113Nm, so it has more torque than the Honda but less peak power, and weighs 235kg kerb with a 19-litre tank. Prices vary by source and variant: UK press quotes £12,399 for the standard bike, and the higher-spec SE costs more. Panniers come with the Tourer Edition rather than as standard, and there's no electronic suspension anywhere in the range. It's a polished, long-standing sports tourer, but matching the Honda's standard kit costs more.

Suzuki GSX-S1000GT+. Suzuki's sports tourer also uses a 999cc inline four, with 112kW (152PS) and 106Nm, and a 19-litre tank. Dealers list the GT+ with luggage at around £11,999, which puts it head to head with the Honda on price. Where the Honda pulls ahead is the electronic suspension, which we couldn't confirm on the Suzuki, plus the larger 21-litre tank.

The CB1000GT doesn't win every row of the spec sheet, but none of its rivals bundle electronic suspension, panniers, heated grips, cruise control and a quickshifter at the same price. That's the case for it in one sentence.

Verdict

Liam's conclusion is that not one thing about the CB1000GT is revolutionary. Electronic suspension isn't new to the market, and the engine has been around for years. What's special is that Honda appears to have listened.

You get a 1,000cc inline four that packs a punch, without paying for an automatic gearbox you may never use, and a quickshifter that does the job well. It's easy through town, comfortable on the dual carriageway and genuinely playful on the B-roads. Honda set out to build a bike that balances sport and touring, and in Liam's view it has done exactly that.