FIRST LOOK ยท 1999 Honda CBR600F4 and CBR1100XX
By Mark Hoyer
TORRANCE, CA, SEPT. 16
ong the model in the 600cc superspo rt class that bes t represent ed a
bal a nced a pp roa ch to building a
mot or cycl e wit h high track capa bility
th a t w a s s t ill e m ine n tly
streetab le, Hond a 's CBR600F
has seen its bala nce tip for the
1999
~
16
mod e I
y ea r. For
w h ile t he
bike reta ins
the "F" d esigna t io n
reserved for the
more stree t-oriented
models in Big Red 's sportbike
lineup, there is quite a lot about the new
CBR600F4 tha t take s it a lot closer to the
U en d of the spectrum than the old F3.
RU
Vi rt ua llv eve rv e le me nt of the
CBR600 - fr;' m the use of an aluminu m
frame (fina lly') to an agg ress ively ove rsqua re bor e and stro ke in th e all-new
pow erplan t - has been red es ign ed to
g ive th e b ik e a g rea te r o r ie n ta t io n
toward the sport end of the spe ctrum .
Howe ver, gre a t effo rt s were mad e to
keep th e b ike's s tr e e t / tra ck b a la n ce
in tact and, for instance, the F4' s rid ing
position is said to be virtually id en tical
to that of the F3. And w hile the power
cu rv e has been orien ted more towa rd
the upper rev ra nge in the interests of a
h ig her p e a k o u tp u t, th e trad e -off,
Hond a tells us, is small.
Sales nu mbe rs p rovid ed by Hond a
illustrate the reasons why the company
didn' t wa nt to ve nture too far from the
spirit of the old mod el: In recent times,
the model has accou nted lor 16 per cen t
of Honda's s t ree t- bike sa les ; in t he
Ho nd a lineup, it represents one of two
sportbikes sold; in the ge nera l market ,
the 600cc class accou nts for 42 percent
of spo rtbike sales, and nearl y one of
four 600s sold since '94 has bee n a
CBR600 . In
short, the CBR600 is Hond a's best-sell ing street mod el.
And while retain ing the sp irit of the
old b ike w a s i nd eed thoug h t to b e
important, the heat has been on in the
AMA 600cc Supersport series (a series in
which Honda has won 60 per cent of the
races and six of the I I cha m pio nships)
and Honda knew it had to up the capability. of the machine and exorcise a few
of th e demons to keep its impressive
Sty ling is new, but instant ly recogniza ble
as CBR600. The four-two-o ne exhaus t
sys tem features a pol ished sta inless-steel
silencer.
