NOT RADIO - BIKE

HONDA CBR600F F6

A couple of years ago we thought we'd start a bit of a touring expedition - go visit the Isle Of Man, Ireland, Scotland, Holland, France, maybe even Spain. So we bought a big touring bike - the Yamaha FJR1300 complete with all the hard luggage. Personally, I've toured lots of times on a motorbike, but my wife hasn't, so she was looking forward to it.

But then we bought a static caravan! 😲

That purchase pretty much brought an end to the touring idea. We did the IOM, but then found ourselves staying at the caravan every weekend and the idea of us travelling many miles on a bike became less interesting. Plus Liana developed Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in both arms and really struggles to hold on to the grab rails under hard braking.

So the big tourer had to go. It weighed 600lbs and wasn't much fun if all you wanted to do was have a solo blast for a few hours at the weekend. I advertised it and very quickly got a buyer at (almost) the price I paid for it.

So then it was a case of finding me a nice little sports bike and a trip to Blackpool Honda to look at FireBlades. OMG they are £20,000!!! 

I then saw an article in a Bike Magazine which really made me question the logic of investing even £10,000 on a brand new bike when you can have all the same fun on a cheap used one? Liana really liked the new ones but I knew from past experience just how good some older models were, so I knew exactly what I was going to do.

The bike I was going to search out was the HONDA CBR600Fi. And I wanted one from the very last year of build - 2007. Local searches revealed one very close to my holiday home, so I went to see it and bartered like a pro! For a couple of grand, you can enjoy all the thrills of a new multi-thousand pound bike, if you play your cards right. It's also in the absolute best colour scheme - Italian Red and Black.

This will be my fourth CBR600F. Here's the previous three....

Being light as a feather and having 109BHP, the CBR can really move! The engine redlines at a touch over 14,000rpm and there's not a great deal of power below 6,000rpm, so you have to ride these bikes like a proper supersports - not like a v-twin Harley 😂. Coming from a big grunty bike, you have to retrain your brain to ride a CBR.

Needless to say, revvy, howling engines aren't everyone's cup of tea, but they are mine! And the great thing about a 600cc supersports is that you can have a lot of fun on UK roads at full-tilt. If you tried the same on a modern FireBlade, you'd probably be arrested or scraped up off the floor.

Let's face it, the CBR600's 0-60 of a whisker over 3 seconds and top speed of 15mph is surely fast enough for anyone.

Of course, buying a bike from the previous generation means that there's going to be a few features missing and in this case - no ABS, no Traction Control, no Engine Mapping, not even a Fuel Gauge! This thing is real old-school, back to basics and if you've spent years benefiting from these 'rider aids' then you're going to miss them initially - especially the ABS. Like I said earlier, you just have to retrain your brain and change the way you respond to certain events. Luckily, the CBR's brakes are quite smooth and progressive, so there's less chance of you locking up the front wheel during an emergency stop.

The handling of the bike is pretty darned good and made even better if you can be bothered upgrading the rear shock - but I can't - so it'll stay original. If I was doing Track Days every week, then yes, I might have considered it. My bike will live its life whazzing around the Lake District, North Yorkshire and North Wales. I'll probably keep it at the caravan throughout the spring and summer months - it's a fabulous launchpoint for some of the best rideouts in the UK (apart from the myriad average-speed-cameras). 

The CBR600F is a pretty comfortable bike and can easily be ridden all day. I've done 400 mile rideouts with ease on these bikes and never once had any issues. The only thing that's worrying me slightly is how my left shoulder will cope with the riding position on a long journey because of the Frozen Shoulder problem I had a few years ago - I certainly don't want to irritate my shoulder enough to bring that problem back!

 

Legroom is pretty good for a sports bike, but having said that, I've not got long legs. I can still get both feet down to the ground, so the 805mm seat height isn't too bad (especially compared to say an R6 for example). 

The seat is a one-piece affair which for me is very important, since my wife needs to (occasionally) ride pillion and I don't want her perched up high on a small pad - but for that, I would have bought the CBR600RR model instead of the F.

The standard exhaust sounds good especially when you've got the rev-counter spinning high, but because I'm keeping this machine for a few years, I'm going to change the whole system for an MTC Stainless Steel one.

The Honda downpipes are mild-steel and although they will last a very, very long time, they do rust and look unsightly. Yes, I know they're hidden behind the fairing, but I'd rather replace those too with stainless-steel pipes - it's booked in next week. The new system will sound absolutely awesome!!

The only other things that I'll be changing are clutch/brake levers, tank grips, number-plate, clear indicators, crash-bungs, etc. Oh, and I need to install my SatNav too.

The engine is as sweet as a nut! No surprise there - Honda know a thing or two about engines and this design was good right from the very start - it's virtually bullet-proof. Now bear in mind that many people buy these as their first "big bike" and so there's been a great deal of abuse over the years from inexperienced, twonks who don't know their arse from their elbow - and still, the engines and gearboxes have withstood the test of time.

The fit and finish on CBR's from this era is second to none and it's one of the reasons that people flock to these bikes. Unlike many modern Japanese bikes, these were built in Japan and to a high standard using good quality materials.

The only negatives about this bike IMHO is the effectiveness of the mirrors and the lack of midrange punch. The former can be sorted out with a pair of extenders and the latter can be sorted by - err - dropping a gear.

Other than that, what you get for a couple of grand is a bike that can provide mountains of fun on fast, twisty roads, high-speed shenanigans on big highways and even commute through the city every day. If you want to go to the Isle Of Man for the TT Races, slip over some soft panniers and away you go! This bike will do it all - just keep an eye out for the Fuel Warning light.

CLEAR INDICATOR LENSES

History of the CBR600

Tom McQ (M7MCQ)