The Honda CBR1100XX Super Blackbird (model code SC35) is a

sport bike A sports motorcycle, sports bike, or sport bike is a motorcycle designed and optimized for speed, acceleration, braking, and cornering on asphalt concrete race tracks and roads. They are mainly designed for performance at the expense of comfort, ...

, part of the CBR series made by

Honda commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...

from 1996 to 2007. The bike was developed to challenge the

Kawasaki Ninja ZX-11 The ZZ-R1100 or ZX-11 is a sport bike in Kawasaki's Ninja series made from 1989 to 2001, as the successor to the 1988–1990 Tomcat ZX-10. With a top speed of , it was the fastest production motorcycle from its introduction until 1996, surpasse ...

as the world's fastest production motorcycle, and Honda succeeded with a top speed of . Two years later the title passed to the

Suzuki Hayabusa The Suzuki GSX1300R Hayabusa is a sports motorcycle made by Suzuki since 1999. It immediately won acclaim as the world's fastest production motorcycle, with a top speed of . In 1999, fears of a European regulatory backlash or import ban led to ...

, which reached . The Blackbird is named after the

Lockheed SR-71 The Lockheed SR-71 "Blackbird" is a retired long-range, high-altitude, Mach 3+ strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed and manufactured by the American aerospace company Lockheed Corporation. Its nicknames include " Blackbird" and " ...

, also a speed record holder. It has the largest-displacement engine in Honda's CBR range of motorcycles.

Development

In the mid-1990s, Honda was determined to produce the world's fastest production motorcycle and to take over the associated bragging rights and marketing impact, at the time held by Kawasaki's Ninja ZX11. This led to the creation of the CBR1100XX Super Blackbird. The Blackbird name is a nod to the Lockheed SR-71 aircraft, the world's fastest production aircraft. In the February 1997 issue of ''Sport Rider'' magazine, the CBR1100XX was tested at a top speed of , compared with for the ZX-11. Its supremacy over the ZX-11 was confirmed in April 2007 by ''

Motorcycle Consumer News ''Motorcycle Consumer News'' (MCN) was a monthly motorcycling magazine that reviewed motorcycles and accessories, and covered motorcycle safety, training and industry news. Unlike most publications, it was wholly subscriber-supported and did ...

'', although the speeds achieved were slightly lower and the margin was narrower. In 1999, the Suzuki Hayabusa overtook the CBR1100XX. It was listed in the 2000 Millennium Edition of ''

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...

'' as the world's fastest production bike with a top speed of Hayabusa is the Japanese term for the Peregrine Falcon, a species of raptor which preys on blackbirds.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Honda Cbr1100xx CBR1100XX Sport bikes Motorcycles introduced in 1996