Traditionally, Honda products don’t send me into a frenzy. Honda motorcycles are just like Honda cars: They are well-made, compliant, quiet, reliable as hell and completely lack any sort of soul. Operating a Honda is so noneventful that it is essentially forgettable. Perfect for your mom driving her Accord over to Walgreens; really bad in the motorcycle market. People ride motorcycles for the experience. They want to hear the bike, feel the wind and smell those unburned hydrocarbons. A motorcycle that leaves you with virtually no impression defeats the purpose of riding one.

Someone at Honda must have pointed out this paradox during the development of the all-new 1000RR, because no one is going to forget a ride on this thing. From the second you sling your leg over the seat, the bike feels tightly packed and potent. All gauges are digital and well-organized, and controls are exactly where they should be. The electronic fuel injection means you turn the key and hit the starter. No choke, no priming – it just fires up.

Yanking open the throttle in the first three gears will send the front wheel airborne so fast that Evil Knievel would cry, “Uncle!” But as long as you don’t get happy with the gas, the engine is smooth, delivering its 174 horsepower in a frantic, yet linear manner. The 998cc four-cylinder redlines at 11,750 rpm – about a grand after you hit the power band, so be ready to shift when it takes off. This gem of a power plant mated to a slick six-speed sequential transmission makes for a really fast ride.

Just how fast is the 1000RR? Well, I’m glad you asked.

The 1000RR is faster than any car ever produced and sold in North America. Under a trained wrist, it will snap off a quarter mile in the low ten-second range. For those of you not impressed by that figure, just picture it. If you were sitting at the stoplight on First and Green and cracked open the throttle, you’d be going around 135 mph by the time you passed Third Street. But then again, shortly thereafter, you’d probably be crushed into paste by a bus in front of Niro’s … but that’s beside the point.

While there are several other motorcycle manufacturers that offer bikes with comparable power output, it’s the pedigree and refinement of this motorcycle that makes it truly unique. All the way up to its 174 mph top speed, the bike is as solid as it looks, tracking like a freight train. The fully adjustable suspension, while tight, does a good job of soaking up high-speed bumps.

On the stopping side is a set of brakes bigger than that found on a Dodge Viper. The leverage to the dual front discs is so good that the bike can easily be stopped with only one finger. The 396-pound 1000RR was modeled directly after their world famous omnipotent RC211V MotoGP racing bike. So it’s kind of like the motorcycle equivalent of being able to buy Michael Schumacher’s Formula 1 Ferrari. What’s not to love?

Well, the seat sucks. All of Honda’s sport motorcycle seats are like the chairs in Lincoln hall – cheap and old. They’ve been that way for years and everyone hates them. The only thing I can figure is that Honda’s engineers are sadomasochists getting off by watching the rest of the world suffer. Fortunately, after-market seats are relatively cheap. Trust me, your ass will thank you.

Otherwise, this is a near-perfect motorcycle and Sportland of Urbana has two of these shiny new beasts. If you’ve got 11 grand sitting around, it’s a hell of a deal, and I’m sure sales manager, John, would be happy to help you out. I, on the other hand, am off to rob a bank.