2012 Honda CBR1000RR pics leaked

The 2012 Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade has been leaked courtesy of Honda's Hong Kong Facebook page (expect some anger in that office!), showing off new fairing designs and a few chassis tweaks, but seemingly no powertrain updates.

From what we can decipher, the updated CBR1000RR – which will replace the current four-year-old bike – now has the Showa Big Piston Fork (BPF), joining the likes of Kawasaki and Suzuki in adopting the technology. The BPF, now commonplace in MotoGP racing, works on the basis that the bigger piston runs directly against the slider's inner wall, eliminating the need for a cylinder and sub-piston found in a traditional cartridge fork.

The BPF is said to make use of the suspension's full stroke, provide better feedback, and offer better damping on the first portion of the suspension travel - i.e. the fork won't dive as much under brakes. And there are fewer internal parts too, which cuts down on unsprung weight.

The rear suspension has also been updated and it appears as though new wheels – undoubtedly lighter to again lower unsprung weight – have been fitted as well.

The chassis updates can be expected to tighten up the Fireblade's handling, which was never a point of contention to start with – probably why the current model was named International Bike of the Year in 2008.

In terms of design, the first thing that caught our attention was the updated front cowl, which now sees a much sharper design, boasting a pair of 'fangs' that draw the eye to the air intakes.

New headlights have been fashioned to fit into the new front cowl, but the rear of the bike appears to be unchanged.

Electronic riding aids, such as those found on the BMW S 1000 RR and Kawasaki ZX-10R, don’t appear to have been included in the suite of updates, and we’ll probably have to wait another couple of years for those when the CBR1000RR is totally revamped.

Hopefully we’ll be riding the updated CBR1000RR before too long, perhaps even later this year. And Phillip Island would be lovely, thank you very much.

With the updated CBR1000RR on the way, will Honda follow suit with a similar rework on its CBR600RR supersport machine, which has remained relatively unchanged for five years? Watch this space.