CBR600 FS (2001 - 2003) review
Hmm... surely the CBR, in this, its sporty FS guise at least, should be more exciting? This, after all, is the version tweaked for more excitement. Damn it all, my rose-tinted memory is telling me that the standard F with plusher seat, centre-stand, slightly less poke and a few different engine internals felt better than this a few years ago. I know the rev-limiter kicked in at around 14,000rpm, as did a shift light, because together they woke me up. Okay, I'm joking, but welcome to CBR ownership: this bike doesn't shout about its talents.
Hmm... surely the CBR, in this, its sporty FS guise at least, should be more exciting? This, after all, is the version tweaked for more excitement. Damn it all, my rose-tinted memory is telling me that the standard F with plusher seat, centre-stand, slightly less poke and a few different engine internals felt better than this a few years ago. I know the rev-limiter kicked in at around 14,000rpm, as did a shift light, because together they woke me up. Okay, I'm joking, but welcome to CBR ownership: this bike doesn't shout about its talents. And that's the way it should be seen, because taken in isolation CBR600 is a corker and it will do anything you ask of it. This thing is an honest tool and, while it never feels completely involving or stimulating, it's still doing the job. And when we speed tested the bikes a day later we soon saw that there was a man of steel hidden under this mild-mannered exterior as the CBR wasn't the slowest bike out there.
I should have known better. You write off the CBR at your peril.
As we plough on through Leicestershire into Northamptonshire, other good points raise themselves. The brakes are another place where this bike takes top honours. Despite more than 10,000 miles under its belt, the pads bit hard into the twin front discs and hauled the bike up smartish, like.
Our first stop for pictures and Mossy, who's ridden many miles on all these bikes, can see I'm in a quandary with this machine. "This is a bloody good bike that can do everything really," he mused. "Well everything bar excite, that is. It's just a bit too adept to do that. A bit like Claudia Schiffer who's just a bit too nice to be sexy. Actually, that's a load of shite. I'd love her to... " Yes, thank you Mossy. We get the picture.
So let's get the quality issue out of the way now. Honda's CBRs have always been the best bolted-together bits of Jap metal this side of a Samurai's suit of armour. Daryll knows CBRs better than any of us; he used to sell 'em at his shop: "The best 600cc motorcycle I ever owned was probably a 1987 CBR600," he recalled wistfully. "It was much better than anything else on the market at the time. And if you bought one in '87 for £2699-ish you'd make a profit on it a couple of years later as they held their money so well." They last, too. This example was in absolutely immaculate condition and had 10,400 miles on the clock - that's much more than the Kwak and yet the CBR is the better finished motorcycle. Impressive. Time to swap bikes, then.
Read more: http://www.visordown.com/road-tests-used/used-review-sports-600s/4318.html#ixzz0xckEkNeL
Hmm... surely the CBR, in this, its sporty FS guise at least, should be more exciting? This, after all, is the version tweaked for more excitement. Damn it all, my rose-tinted memory is telling me that the standard F with plusher seat, centre-stand, slightly less poke and a few different engine internals felt better than this a few years ago. I know the rev-limiter kicked in at around 14,000rpm, as did a shift light, because together they woke me up. Okay, I'm joking, but welcome to CBR ownership: this bike doesn't shout about its talents. And that's the way it should be seen, because taken in isolation CBR600 is a corker and it will do anything you ask of it. This thing is an honest tool and, while it never feels completely involving or stimulating, it's still doing the job. And when we speed tested the bikes a day later we soon saw that there was a man of steel hidden under this mild-mannered exterior as the CBR wasn't the slowest bike out there.
I should have known better. You write off the CBR at your peril.
As we plough on through Leicestershire into Northamptonshire, other good points raise themselves. The brakes are another place where this bike takes top honours. Despite more than 10,000 miles under its belt, the pads bit hard into the twin front discs and hauled the bike up smartish, like.
Our first stop for pictures and Mossy, who's ridden many miles on all these bikes, can see I'm in a quandary with this machine. "This is a bloody good bike that can do everything really," he mused. "Well everything bar excite, that is. It's just a bit too adept to do that. A bit like Claudia Schiffer who's just a bit too nice to be sexy. Actually, that's a load of shite. I'd love her to... " Yes, thank you Mossy. We get the picture.
So let's get the quality issue out of the way now. Honda's CBRs have always been the best bolted-together bits of Jap metal this side of a Samurai's suit of armour. Daryll knows CBRs better than any of us; he used to sell 'em at his shop: "The best 600cc motorcycle I ever owned was probably a 1987 CBR600," he recalled wistfully. "It was much better than anything else on the market at the time. And if you bought one in '87 for £2699-ish you'd make a profit on it a couple of years later as they held their money so well." They last, too. This example was in absolutely immaculate condition and had 10,400 miles on the clock - that's much more than the Kwak and yet the CBR is the better finished motorcycle. Impressive. Time to swap bikes, then.
Read more: http://www.visordown.com/road-tests-used/used-review-sports-600s/4318.html#ixzz0xckEkNeL
