Honda CBR600F - gain without the pain

The problem with the current crop of race-replica 600cc sports bikes is that they really are race bikes with lights, which is great for track days and Sunday-morning hooning but less so for everyday commuting.

They don't make meaningful power with less than five digits on the rev counter, their suspension is rock hard and the monkey-on-a-stick seating position only makes sense when you're out of the saddle, knee down in a corner.

The alternative is a budget streetbike with all the charisma - and the handling - of a rice pudding. They're great commuters, but that's all they do.

Anoraks will recall that the first Honda CBR600F was released in 1987 as a companion piece to the CBR1000 Hurricane, and started the Supersport arms race that has led to the current CBR600RR and the insanely high-revving Yamaha R6.

But now Honda, the company that created the all-rounder, has re-invented the CBR600F as a street bike with sports-bike looks, comfort and - to a point - performance, using some inspired parts-bin engineering and a big dollop of Latin styling flair.

It's based on the previous-generation (2007) CBR600RR engine, detuned from 88kW at 13 500rpm to 74kW at 12 000 and, more importantly, from 66Nm at 11 250rpm to a more accessible 64Nm at 10 500, mostly by reducing throttle-body diameter from the RR's 40mm to a more mid-range orientated 36mm.

The result is arguably the most user-friendly 600cc four on the market, with enough torque to thread its way through the gridlock anywhere above 4000rpm and no discernable powerband - although the delivery curve gets a lot steeper on the naughty side of 8000 and the last 4000 revs kick in with enough authority to catch you out, as the next corner arrives before you're ready for it!

Let's be honest; in the real world 75kW is still serious power, especially in a motorcycle that weighs only 206kg with a full tank of fuel. And these

75 kilowatts are not without character, as the engine talks to you through 'bars and 'pegs with a little vibration here, a secondary buzz there, reminding you that there are a lot of jewel-like components moving very fast down there.

The rest of the powertrain is standard Honda issue: a light, rather remote clutch with a pleasantly firm take-up and a positive gearshift, notchy at low speeds (particularly between first and second) but crisp as breaking glass at high revs, with or without the clutch.

An old Honda bugbear did raise its ugly head during the launch ride over the Cape's celebrated Four Passes route, with a false neutral on a downshift into a fast downhill corner when I really needed some engine braking for optimum stability but, to be honest, it was at least as much my fault as the bike's.

In the event, the chassis handled Amateur Hour with aplomb, as I used a lot of brakes to bleed off momentum before snicking the lever back up into gear and proceeding, suitably chastened, on my way down Franschhoek Pass.

Said chassis is, in fact, the same die-cast alloy, backbone frame as the CB600F Hornet streetfighter, with very competent 41mm Showa upside-downies in front and a straightforward monoshock set-up at the rear, adjustable at either end for preload and rebound damping.

Thanks to a very compact engine, wheelbase is a tight 1435mm but the steering-head angle a middle-of-the-road 25 degrees, lending the bike welcome straight-line and mid-corner stability with unexpectedly nimble response on turn-in. Your Sunday-morning riding buddies may turn inside you going in, but you'll still be right behind them coming out.

If you have enough revs on, that is. For all the engine's tractability, you need lots of revs for hard acceleration out of corners; this is, after all, still a 600cc four.

The suspension isn't race-track stuff but it's a superb set-up for the street; it handled everything we threw at the bikes - including a couple of 200km/h-plus straight-line blasts - with never a suspicion of a headshake, and settled into long corners with that “in the groove” feeling that breeds confidence.

The only place where Honda's corporate bean-counters have overruled the technical guys is in the braking department, where a pair of ridiculously 1970s twin-piston sliding callipers look totally out of place on the new-millenium Showa sliders.

In all fairness, they worked fine on the launch ride, with more than adequate power and feel, but I would have reservations about them on a hard ride with a pillion and they would definitely fade after a long track session.

The CBR600F is built in Italy and, apparently, styled in Rome. The design language shows a lot of VFR1200F influence, particularly around the single headlight and fairing lowers, but there's a Latin flair in the detail work that sets this bike above its competitors and, indeed, above most Hondas.

With one glaring exception.

The instrument panel is a single, very narrow, LCD display with a long bar-graph rev-counter arching across the top, a large speedometer in the middle and a wealth of smaller numerals on either side telling you such things as the time, temperature, fuel level, range to empty, fuel consumption, etc.

It's very Ducati-esque (and clearly derived from Bologna's World Superbike racing machinery) but, as with similar displays on Italian road bikes, the rev-counter display is narrow and indistinct, its numerals difficult to read and it takes too much of the rider's attention off the road for far too long.

It's also very prone to glare, and often just reading the speedometer meant I had to duck my head and focus on it - so throughout most of the launch ride I ignored the electronics and rode by the seat of my pants, a riding style to which the bike is eminently suited.

The power drops off before the 13 000rpm redline so I never hit the rev-limiter and I certainly didn't need the rev counter to tell me when the revs were too low; the bike just didn't go!

Strangely, it has nothing to do with budgetary constraints; it's a quality unit in a beautifully lined and superbly executed dashboard. It's a design faux pas by a creative in a perfectly-lit studio who's never ridden a sports bike through dappled sunlight along a twisty back road on a perfect Sunday morning.

Which is his loss, because that's what this bike does best. The screen is high enough to hide behind if you want to and it's as steady as rock from walking pace to nearly double the national speed limit, with precise steering and real suspension for real (read bumpy) roads.

For all the CBR600F's sporty styling its ergonomics are pleasantly relaxed.

The clip-ons are mounted above the upper triple clamp while the seat is deeply padded and comfortably dished to only 800mm off the tar.

The pillion footpegs are cantilevered off the rider's 'pegs rather than slung from the rear sub-frame so you don't have to be a pre-pubescent nymphette to fit on the generous rear seat.

Whether you're an upwardly mobile young rider looking to graduate from a CBR250R to a “big bike”, or an old fart who doesn't want to ride an old fart's bike, the CBR600F will take you to work or to the twisties in sports-bike style without the usual aching wrists and rear-seat bitching.

Unless you're lucky enough to have a second bike for weekdays, it's a far more practical real-world machine than its CBR600RR sibling and, at R84 999, nearly R30 000 more affordable. And it comes with a two-year, unlimited-distance warranty and Honda's now-standard 12 000knm service intervals.

SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 599cc liquid-cooled four.

Bore x stroke: 67 x 42.5mm.

Compression ratio: 12:1.

Valvegear: DOHC with four overhead valves per cylinder.

Power: 75kW at 12 000rpm.

Torque: 66Nm at 10 500rpm.

Induction: PGM-FI electronic fuel-injection with four 36mm throttle bodies.

Ignition: Computer-controlled digital transistorised with electronic advance.

Starting: Electric.

Clutch: Cable-operated multiplate wet clutch.

Transmission: Six-speed constant-mesh gearbox with final drive by chain.