Honda have long ruled supreme in the 600cc sports bike game. The worst complaint against the CBR600 that it's a touch on the bland side; its major upside a universality of purpose that no-one else can quite match, though the latest 600 Kawa is moving in for the kill. The CBR might not quite be king of the racetrack but in the normal mixed riding on the street it can't be beaten. The year 2001 bike has a sportier edge but maintains most of the previous bike's functionality, even if the figures suggest, disappointingly, that it's not actually any faster.
Not that the old CBR could ever be considered slow - even at half throttle it'd cause serious burn to driving licenses, not to mention bank accounts. Comparative (short-term) comfort from a relatively relaxed riding position in addition to protection from the airflow makes a highly illegal 120-130mph joy ride a minimal effort affair. An impression that is somewhat misguided as closure distances at such velocities take some getting used to (for relative novices) and it's dead easy to mess up the timing of other traffic even when the Honda's handling and braking are never anything other than excellent. The same could, of course, be said of the other hot 600's but none of them quite has the ease of highway speeding of the CBR.
No doubt, race track hoodlums will find lots of faults with the suspension, tires and brakes but as I think full leathers should be confined to indoor activities it's not something I'm ever likely to experience. I've ridden bikes that could adequately be described, these wise days, as rolling deathtraps that felt less secure than the Honda at half the speed.
Even with 150mph on the clock, over slightly disingenuous back road surfaces, the CBR felt supremely well placed on the tarmac. I wouldn't say that it was a good starter bike, though, the laws of physics quite simply mean that inappropriate use of the throttle in the gears in corners can cause some madness but that has nothing to do with the bike's dynamics merely rider stupidity. Put it this way, if you do something stupid the Honda has a commendable tendency towards springing back to the straight and narrow rather than throwing you in the nearest ditch. The CBR will wheelie wildly but neither the chassis nor transmission ever seemed very happy, or perhaps it was just my ancient bones complaining about such juvenile delinquency.
As someone who can remember (ouch!) real clip-ons, the slightly more sporty stance of the latest CBR wasn't really off-putting, though a certain amount of wrist malaise developed after an hour's hurly-burly in dense town traffic. I guess something has to give, with muscles tired by a day's riding I could even go so far as describe the Honda's town handling as a touch cumbersome.
The major upgrade to this years CBR's the fuel injection system, which didn't seem all that clean running just off idle and didn't deliver a decent amount of frugality in relatively slow urban riding (figure 35-40mpg). The best it turned in, 55mpg at a constant 60mph drone when some cop decided to follow me for the best part of 40 miles. Expect as little as 20mpg if all the performance is employed all the time... I averaged out at 35mpg.
Throw in tires that didn't really want to do much more than 3000 miles, though in the interest of research I braved riding with just 1mm of tread on the back tire - a good sign, the chassis maintained its edge except over damp roads when I felt like I was pushing my luck and had to play softly-softly on the throttle. All par for the course, these days. Also not unusual, minimal mudguarding that ensured both bike and rider were covered in an unseemly amount of crud. Thanks, Mr. H.
Comfort was pretty much what I expected, a mere 200 miles of riding summoned pains in various bits of my body but nothing a good night's sleep couldn't cure. On the other hand, 500 miles in a day, with a few stops for fuel and food, was quite close to hell on earth, sporty minimalism taken a bit too far in the saddle area; an opinion shared by my novice pillion who had to be helped off the machine and had trouble walking. She also had the burden of carrying our haversack full of clothing, which probably didn't help the amount of weight she was putting on her rather cute butt, as there was sod all space for attaching serious luggage. Take some oil for a massage if you want to stay in the other half's good books.
The bike was more urgent at the top end of the rev range, something like 15k to play with - fun! - but the low end and mid-range seemed a touch sheepish compared to last year's model but the bottom line on this is that any machine that weighs less than 400lbs and does 100 horses is never, ever, going to be classed as in anyway near boring. Rumour going around, aftermarket pipes liberate a decent extra wedge of power. By the way, Honda seem to finally have cured the CBR's somewhat temperamental gearbox though I would still not class it as quite as slick as Suzuki's best efforts - and would like to try the new model with 15000 miles on the clock before confirming that, Honda gearboxes but rarely wearing well.
All things considered, if I owned a well looked after year 2000 or even year 1999 bike then I probably wouldn't bother upgrading to the latest spec machine unless I was thinking about a sojourn on the race track when open pipes make the fuel injected bike fly that little bit harder; if I was into long distance touring then I just wouldn't bother with this bike at all! If I was looking for a new 600 sportster then the CBR would still be at the top of my list - and it might even come down to colour or styling or price when compared to the rival Kawasaki; if push came to shove I could always fit a proper saddle! The latest model is a touch too close to the CBR900 in ethos, most people into such outlandishness would anyway just buy the 900 and be done with it!
Mark Thompson
Not that the old CBR could ever be considered slow - even at half throttle it'd cause serious burn to driving licenses, not to mention bank accounts. Comparative (short-term) comfort from a relatively relaxed riding position in addition to protection from the airflow makes a highly illegal 120-130mph joy ride a minimal effort affair. An impression that is somewhat misguided as closure distances at such velocities take some getting used to (for relative novices) and it's dead easy to mess up the timing of other traffic even when the Honda's handling and braking are never anything other than excellent. The same could, of course, be said of the other hot 600's but none of them quite has the ease of highway speeding of the CBR.
No doubt, race track hoodlums will find lots of faults with the suspension, tires and brakes but as I think full leathers should be confined to indoor activities it's not something I'm ever likely to experience. I've ridden bikes that could adequately be described, these wise days, as rolling deathtraps that felt less secure than the Honda at half the speed.
Even with 150mph on the clock, over slightly disingenuous back road surfaces, the CBR felt supremely well placed on the tarmac. I wouldn't say that it was a good starter bike, though, the laws of physics quite simply mean that inappropriate use of the throttle in the gears in corners can cause some madness but that has nothing to do with the bike's dynamics merely rider stupidity. Put it this way, if you do something stupid the Honda has a commendable tendency towards springing back to the straight and narrow rather than throwing you in the nearest ditch. The CBR will wheelie wildly but neither the chassis nor transmission ever seemed very happy, or perhaps it was just my ancient bones complaining about such juvenile delinquency.
As someone who can remember (ouch!) real clip-ons, the slightly more sporty stance of the latest CBR wasn't really off-putting, though a certain amount of wrist malaise developed after an hour's hurly-burly in dense town traffic. I guess something has to give, with muscles tired by a day's riding I could even go so far as describe the Honda's town handling as a touch cumbersome.
The major upgrade to this years CBR's the fuel injection system, which didn't seem all that clean running just off idle and didn't deliver a decent amount of frugality in relatively slow urban riding (figure 35-40mpg). The best it turned in, 55mpg at a constant 60mph drone when some cop decided to follow me for the best part of 40 miles. Expect as little as 20mpg if all the performance is employed all the time... I averaged out at 35mpg.
Throw in tires that didn't really want to do much more than 3000 miles, though in the interest of research I braved riding with just 1mm of tread on the back tire - a good sign, the chassis maintained its edge except over damp roads when I felt like I was pushing my luck and had to play softly-softly on the throttle. All par for the course, these days. Also not unusual, minimal mudguarding that ensured both bike and rider were covered in an unseemly amount of crud. Thanks, Mr. H.
Comfort was pretty much what I expected, a mere 200 miles of riding summoned pains in various bits of my body but nothing a good night's sleep couldn't cure. On the other hand, 500 miles in a day, with a few stops for fuel and food, was quite close to hell on earth, sporty minimalism taken a bit too far in the saddle area; an opinion shared by my novice pillion who had to be helped off the machine and had trouble walking. She also had the burden of carrying our haversack full of clothing, which probably didn't help the amount of weight she was putting on her rather cute butt, as there was sod all space for attaching serious luggage. Take some oil for a massage if you want to stay in the other half's good books.
The bike was more urgent at the top end of the rev range, something like 15k to play with - fun! - but the low end and mid-range seemed a touch sheepish compared to last year's model but the bottom line on this is that any machine that weighs less than 400lbs and does 100 horses is never, ever, going to be classed as in anyway near boring. Rumour going around, aftermarket pipes liberate a decent extra wedge of power. By the way, Honda seem to finally have cured the CBR's somewhat temperamental gearbox though I would still not class it as quite as slick as Suzuki's best efforts - and would like to try the new model with 15000 miles on the clock before confirming that, Honda gearboxes but rarely wearing well.
All things considered, if I owned a well looked after year 2000 or even year 1999 bike then I probably wouldn't bother upgrading to the latest spec machine unless I was thinking about a sojourn on the race track when open pipes make the fuel injected bike fly that little bit harder; if I was into long distance touring then I just wouldn't bother with this bike at all! If I was looking for a new 600 sportster then the CBR would still be at the top of my list - and it might even come down to colour or styling or price when compared to the rival Kawasaki; if push came to shove I could always fit a proper saddle! The latest model is a touch too close to the CBR900 in ethos, most people into such outlandishness would anyway just buy the 900 and be done with it!
Mark Thompson