Think back, if you will, to March 2020. It was an uncertain time, as the first waves of a global pandemic kept a tight lid on large gatherings. That's why Honda, among other motorcycle OEMs, chose to harness the international power of the Internet and go virtual with its motorcycle reveals that year.
One that grabbed a lot of attention at the time was the CB-F. And truly, it wasn't only Honda's choice to share images in black and white that made it clear the brand was going full retro here. That slab-sided tank, particularly when taken with the carefully sculpted outline provided by the four-into-two exhaust wrapping around the belly and the blocky, angular tailpiece were clear callbacks to Honda's 1980s design language.
The headlight is round, not square; but both it and the wheels are the three roundest things on display here. Everything else? Blocky, slabby, and adorned in those lovely retro stripes that Honda's done well since the beginning. Fast forward just five years, and Honda's taken that concept seemingly several steps further with the introduction of a new iteration: the CB1000F Concept.
