Back at the beginning of January, we first learned that Canada would be getting three new Honda motorcycles that had previously been introduced in other international markets. Although the US has gotten the XL750 Transalp, so far we have yet to see its platform-sharing sibling, the CB750 Hornet.
The CB750, sans Hornet moniker, is one of the trio of new bikes officially announced for a 2025 Canadian market release, as is the CB1000SP (also known as the big Hornet in other markets; and no, we're not getting a non-SP version), as well as a non-police-specific version of the NT1100 (which shares an engine with the current Africa Twin).
Now, thanks to some top-drawer US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration VIN Decoder sleuthing by our colleague Dennis Chung at Motorcycle.com, we have good reason to believe that all three of these bikes will, in fact, be making it to the US market in the coming months. At the time of writing on February 20, 2025, though, I have to note that there have yet to be any official announcements.
It's good news, right? Not so fast.
No, literally. Because once again, it looks like the US versions will apparently be down on power from their international counterparts—at least, on two of the three models, anyway. Boo.
The NT1100 should seemingly have the same power for the US market as it does in Europe, but the CB750 and CB1000SP will each be missing at least a few ponies when they make the trek to our shores. In the case of the CB750, it's fewer than 10, but the math on the CB1000SP indicates that it'll be missing over 20.
To be more precise, the CB750 should be down by about 7.5 HP, while the CB1000SP will reportedly drop a full 26 ponies from its European counterpart. Ouch.
Is someone personally coming along and shoving each and every one of those ponies overboard as the new bikes make their perilous overseas journey? Not hardly; and it's also sadly not the first time that we've seen decontented (or at least, de-powered) versions of bikes come to the US.
As one recent (and painful) example, think of the Kawasaki ZX-4RR. In other markets, it makes a claimed 76 horsepower at 14,500 rpm and 27.5 pound-feet of torque at 12,500 rpm. But in the US, when Cycle World plopped the American version of the ZX-4RR on their dyno, they found the real-world numbers were 56.33 horsepower at 11,690 rpm and 25.81 pound-feet of torque at 11,290 rpm.
In other words, the US version of the ZX-4RR is about 20 horsepower down on the version offered in overseas markets. That doesn't make it a bad bike; just a less powerful and arguably less impressive one. I mean, there's a reason that a number of owners that are greater than zero have invested money in de-restricting the American version so they can unlock its full potential as the track weapon it was so clearly meant to be.
So here's the question I'll leave you with, RideApart readers. In your opinion, is it better to get some version of a long-lusted-after motorcycle in our market, or is it just a form of slow heartbreak when they get defanged? Share your thoughts in the comments, if you'd be so kind.
