Honda CBR 600 F 2013 — Specifications

It’s the return of one of the most iconic sportbikes in 600 history. We tend to forget, but before being a full-fledged track machine, the CBR 600 was an F before it was an RR. The market wanted radical machines, which precipitated the end of the F series. Appearing in 1987, a category leader, repeatedly praised, it ended in 2006 in complete secrecy. 23,000 units sold in France were not enough to ensure its progeny. Until 2011, when the CBR 600 F made its grand renaissance.

Indeed, how many times have we said that a modern track bike is no longer suited to the road? Demanding, uncomfortable, specialized, expensive, exclusive, these models only thought about the circuit and the stopwatch, not your back. The CBR 600 F was something else. A sportbike you could use every day, capable of both road and sport, like the Yamaha 600 ThunderCats. But the public wants dreams, exceptionalism. So, we give it to them. Is that time now curving its spine? That would explain the reappearance of the CBR 600 F, which takes up the same ideas as before. And that’s a good thing. These values are reflected in the form of the bodywork, sporty but not overly so. The Honda Rome design studio was responsible for this silhouette, based on a multi-layered design. But I don’t find the CBR soul, that symbol of Honda’s sport style. I feel like it’s wearing a dress it wasn’t destined for. Isn’t this a CBR?

Its true name could have been CBR 600 Hornet… Murmurs in the audience. Calm down! And take a closer look, remove the fairing. Indeed, underneath, it’s a Hornet, with its aluminum Monobackbone frame (mer.., finished with the double-beam perimeter) and its tamed engine. Its mechanics are still of a fine pedigree. The 4-cylinder returns to its origins, as it’s a CBR 600 RR 2007 engine simply adapted for a roadster application. And 100 horsepower is more than enough to have fun on a 600 sportbike – there’s even a chance to scare yourself when you’re being silly. Above all, it gets your foot in the stirrup to discover sport. My favorite magazine when I was young implied that the CBR 600 was almost a sport-school motorcycle. Its specific mapping, far less exclusive than needed for a track bike, should offer it more smoothness and responsiveness. Those who are tired of living between 13,000 and 15,000 rpm are starting to perk up.

Taking the Hornet roadster as a base, the CBR 600 F opus 2011-2013 will therefore offer handling very close to that of the Hornet. Its backbone frame and less radical geometry will move you away from the stopwatch spirit for a more road-oriented driving style at high speed. The 41mm inverted fork will seem perfectly innocuous while the brake calipers will seem to have sprung from another era (not so old though). Two-piston calipers, and fixed axially. What? No radial? Are you sure that’s a sportbike, your CBR? Oh, guys!!! Forget that in only 10 years, not a single machine on the market had radial calipers; not even a R7 at 27,000 euros. And now we can have ABS-equipped sport machines. In this configuration, the calipers are no longer gold but painted black. 3 pistons instead of 2 are installed in the front calipers.

As a good everyday sportbike, the new CBR 600 F has raised half-handlebars to relieve pressure on the grips. The passenger seat is more welcoming and it’s even possible to fit a U-lock under the seat. It is equipped with a new fully digital dashboard, a HISS coded immobilizer, and softer suspensions than the CBR 600 RR (which is quite logical…). By the way, who said that history was an eternal recommencement?

M.B - Photos constructeur