Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ RIDING IMPRESSION 1991 Honda CRR600F2 ! It's fast, but can you rve with itt ,.....; the single rear Showa shock do an admirable job of soaking up the bumps and pot holes. The rear shock is quite soft at the initial pan of the travel . but stiffens up rather quickly, giving the rear suspension an overall stiff. but not harsh. feeling. The rear suspension is fully adjustable with external 7-way spring-preload and rebound damping adjustments. The fork. on the other hand. is a" little on the soft side. but the spring preload can be easil y adjusted to suit every rider's needs . Both front and rear brakes are extremely stro ng. One finger on the front brake lever is more than enough to acti vate the twin-piston caliper. dual disc front brakes. Combine" that with a powerful single disc rear brake (also with a twin-piston caliper) and the CBR slows down from top speed • in a hurry. Both brakes are also very ,predictable and aren 't prone to locking up. As far as rid er comfort. the CBR should keep most riders happy on short or long rides. even riders pushing six feet in height. Un like many midsize sport bik es we've ridden in the past , the CBR is actually roomy, despite its low 30.7-inch seat height and o vera ll sma ll size. T he handlebars are po siDespite its overall small size. the CBR600 is rather roomy and comfortable. By Kit Palmer nyo ne who th inks tha t a 600cc sport bike can 't be fast eno ug h, obvio us ly hasn 't ridden Honda 's latest CBR600F2 . We'll tell yo u right now - this motorcycle is fast! Period. And if you don 't believe us, th en check o u t the results of the 600cc Su pers port race at Daytona and you 'll see that' eigh t (including the winner) of the first 10 riders were perched on the new F2. If you still don't believe us, then you probably believe that th ere really is an Easter Bunny. Obviously, the CBR can perform o n the track, but can it perform off the track, as well? Is this a motorcycle you can live with? Is it too trick for its own good , or yours? Read on. A ***** 6 When you first hit th e sta rte r button, you' ll quickly learn that the CBR is an extre mely quiet motorcycle, espe cia lly at idle. In fact, it is so quiet th at man y tim es while waitin g at inte rsection s, we th ought that the eng ine had qu it. Even with th e throttle wid e o pen, the CBR is respectfull y quiet. Unlike man y middleweight spo rt bikes we've ridden, the F2's 599cc, liquid-cool ed , DOHC, four-cyl inder, lfi-valve eng ine develops decent' power off the bottom , but as soon as th e tachometer needle indicates 6500 rpm , th in gs really begin to happen , and quickl y. The F2 is a rocketship abov e 6500 rpm, and the front end can get extremely light as the throttle is twist ed o pen , especially while cresting small rises. Lu ckil y, though , sin ce the CBR mak es good pow er off the bottom, the transiti on from bottom-end to midran ge to top-end is quite smooth and predi ctabl e for a midsiz e sport bik e, so when the motor reaches the meat of the pow erb and, you don 't get top surprised when tht pow er really hits. The CBR ' s tor q uey -fo r-a -600cc motor makes it very acceptab le for city, stop-and-go, ridi ng , but its real forte is on th e open road , prefera bly o ne with lots of turns, rises and some long stra ig hts. Throttle resp ons e is crisp and clean, but disrupting the eng ine 's sna ppy engine response to the throttle is a mild case of drive-lash. As soo n as the throttle is even barel y twisted from the closed position - and vice versa - there's a noticeable jolt. The CBR's six-speed close-ratio transmission isn't as smooth as we would 've liked, either. Changing gear s is very notchy, plus, every now and then the transmission would sli p out of gear. You can ' t get slop py while shifti ng th e CBR , you have to stay o n top of things and think wh en you sh ift it, making sure th e tranny locks into the next gear before you let o ut th e clutch lever; you can 't just tap the lever and forget about it. However, we had no comp laints whatsoever with the gear ratios. The m otor a nd tr an smission wor k in harmon y on a wide var iety of roa ds. Even cruis ing on the highway in sixth gea r, you' ll find tha t you wo n't be consta nt ly looking for another gear. Instead , you' ll be conte nt motoring alo ng at 65 mph with the tach reading ju st over 5000 rpm. Clutch actio n is smoo th. From a dead sto p, there's very little " lurchi ng " as the clutch lever is let o u t a nd the throttle gr adually open ed. A far as vibration, th ere isn't a whole lot to speak of. Most of it, how ever, is felt through the foot pegs and very littl e is transmitted throu gh th e handlebars. The CBR handles like. a dr eam. It slices through' th e corne rs extremely well and predictably. At slo wer speeds , though, the front end tends to feel a tad heavy and is a little relu ctant to lean over, but wh en you' re o n the gas , th e F2 flo ws through the esses effort1essly. It 's light weight makes it easy to flick the CBR from turn to tu rn . Sus p ensio n -wise , th e 4 1mm conventiona l-design Sho wa fork and • (Above) T he F2 inspires confidence in the turns. (Right) Instrumentation is simple. yet modern-looking. (Below) T he fuel tank's 4.2 gallons of gas (including reserve) provides . approximately 205 miles of travel.

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