Honda CBR 600F3

THE WORLD loves CBRs. Always has done. Over 100,000 sold worldwide and six out of seven years as the UK's top 600 (the ZZ-R pipped it, just, in '91). Inevitable really. It's always been the best. The bike for all reasons: Super-sport 600 championships; Alps and apfelstrudel; easy and idiotproof; a £6000 bargain. Blown away by the new one.

The virtually unchanged styling is almost everything's new. Ten per cent misleading, a con, shame too. Far too better, new. The engine that before modest. Basic frame and layout aside, was all-round fast but a little peaky and bland now has ram-air charge and 2000 more usable rpm to play with at either end of the scale. Before it was 7-12,000rpm and a pretty much run of the mill mill. Now it's five to off-the-dial and wild. Lumme. The new CBR is easy, flexible (for a 600) and 160mph fast. And it's got the exhilarating ram-air induction howl of a ZXR too. Breathtaking. Blend that with a fully revised  gearbox (the old one was aways a bit notchy, especially for Honda) with new, more evenly spaced ratios to take advantage of the engine's better spread and you're talking major league improvement. It's more, much more than your wildest dreams.

This is biking to fit your mood. Either bimbling between four and eight thou, lazy short shifts and handy off-the throttle bounce where the old could bog. Or, at the other extreme, howling-mad blast where the revs just climb and climb and climb, driving forward into the red as if nothing can stop it. At the end of the day you could tell the old CBR was a 600 by the way it tailed off above 12. This new CBR, at the top, flies like a 750.

Oddly, it feels the same. The same intrinsic balance and togetherness. The same instant 'rightness when you slot on board. As it should. This new CBR is essentially the same machine. It has the same all-rounder-with-attitude riding position; its basic dimensions are unchanged. It's just that its abilities, from town to track, from friendly to fast are all ten per cent better. And in this class ten per cent is huge.

Ten per cent friendlier? New, neater, all-electronic console; that improved gearchange; a better headlight; a usefully bigger tank (by one litre); 5000 mile sensible but acceptably grippy new Michelin A90/M90 Macadams (which replace the old A89/M89s) and a redesigned left-hand side-panel to provide an easy securing point for a U-lock or chain. There's more. A neat, faired-in, colour-matched seat hump is also going to be available for the first time as an extra (Honda UK, as yet, doesn't know how much), the top of the fork sliders wear new stone chip guards to protect the stanchions and like all previous CBRs the new bike also has a mainstand, decent mirrors and a grab rail.

The fairing, though mimicking the old is new too: a touch slimmer and more aerodynamic, decent protection and quieter. Honda has cast a nod at racer needs by switching to stem-mounted (rather than fairing-mounted) front indicators (easier to remove). And it's also the main reason the new bike has a new, five-inch rear rim — so it can run wider 160 tyres in which there are more racing fitments.

It'll make an amazing SS600 race bike. It's the engine, mostly, that's having racers clamour at Honda's door. But the brakes and suspension have been significantly improved too. New, bigger, semi-floaters give much more bite and power. One finger, bags of feel, buried front-ends. The suspension -same forks with a new rebound adjuster; same rear shock but with a new linkage giving a broader rising rate — is road supple but track secure. The shock, pushed hard on stock settings could bottor out, but in the real world, not a problem. And the forks were simply delightful, ►

Engine

NOT RAM air, rather Honda's trick Direct Air Induction System.

It's a cleverly-designed two-stage system that works over all speeds rather than just very big ones. Solenoid-triggered valves re-balance air flow between vacuum ducts and float chambers above 20kph to equalize internal air pressure and maintain optimal fuel flow. On paper it looks pretty complicated. Forget all that, it just works.

Other changes are aimed primarily at improving midrange and throttle response: new pistons and reshaped combustion chambers boost compression from 11.6 to 12:1. New tapered-edge piston rings reduce friction; lighter rods and crank pins reduce internal inertia. Carbs are now 36mm flat-slide CVs (up from 34s) and the new pipe gets inked headers to balance exhaust pulses and a huge six-litre can (because of tightening Euro noise regs). Thanks to the induction roar, however, it sounds raucously splendid.

Cooling efficiency is boosted by a new curved ally rad, 200cc larger sump capacity and a bigger liquid-cooled oil-cooler. The gearchange gets a totally revised linkage (for smoothness) plus a modified selector drum, revised drum stopper, stronger return springs and new, more evenly-spaced gear ratios to exploit the broader spread of power. Very fast too.refusing to be ruffled by fast changes in the track or road surface, always feeling very secure and planted. Well, at least as much as the new road Michelin's would allow.

Honda makes the proud boast that the CBR is the most dynamic - and

Chassis/cycle parts

THE CHASSIS has been refined to offer better sports handling without compromising practicality. Equipment levels have also been improved.

The basic frame is unchanged but gets a new, stronger swing-arm spindle and fork yokes. New five-inch rear rim allows wider 160-sec-tion tyre (and bigger choice of sports or racing rubber). Stock tyre is now new A90/M90 Macadam, Miche-lin's replacement for the sports-touring A/M89s Daft name, impressive tyre.

by far the easiest to live with - mid-dlewight supersports 600. This time, albeit with Kawasaki's eagerly-anticipated ZX-6R just around the corner, it's absolutely right. On a perfect day: 160mph, Paris and back and pure motorcycling pleasure. Easy. The

Calipers are unchanged but front 276mm discs swapped for new semi-floating 296mm dinner plates. Forks

- conventional 41mm teles as before

- get more sophisticated rebound damping adjuster positioned further down the leg. As it's now submerged

in the oil reservoir it's less likely to be aerated and so be more consistent under hard use. Rear suspension retains

new Kawasaki will have to be bloody good to beat it.

You can choose between red, white and blue; black red and yellow or red, black and yellow. But all of them are pure gold.

old shock but features a revised rising rate linkage giving a more progressive rate.

Equipment largely unchanged but fairing is totally remodelled, there's a new console and headlight, revised gear linkage and larger fuel tank. Although weight has been shaved in many areas (headlight, engine etc) gains in other areas (silencer, brakes, wheels) leave overall dry weight unchanged at 185kg.

Source Bike Magazine of 1995