Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127968
By Mark Hoyer Photos by Kevin Wing ao 0\ 0\ ......, ...... ...... ~ (l) .c E (l) :> o Z 26 ver y manufacturer acknowled ges the significance of the 'L:...._-' 600cc class. They d o th is by racing. They do this by frequently escalating the specifica tio ns and capability of the bikes they produce, eve r sharpening th e foc us of th e ir p rem ier m id dl eweight sportbikes. They d o this by so mehow kee pi ng the prices fro m spiraling ou t of control, despite the esca lating specs . Bu t if ra cing and wi nni ng cha m pions hips is so important, then the natural qu estion to Mr. Horiike, Large Pro ject Leader for the complet ely redesig ne d CBR600F4, is: Why didn' t Hon da make a CBR600RR? "Th e CBR600 ha s a lon g h istory," Horiike-san sai d at the recent Las Vegas Motor Speedway press in tro ductio n . "Ma ny customers like and bu y the 600F, becau se it ca n do the s tree t, winding country roa ds - even w ith a passen ger, it is very comfortable. Bu t th e 600F can also race. It is a wide ran ge, and it is dif ficult to make a wi de ly capa ble bike." And whil e it is true th a t th e bike retain s its "F" moniker - denoti ng that it is, above all else, a street bike, and to be marketed as such - there is quite a lot ab ou t it that screams " R." There is the ' twi n -sp a r a lu mi nu m "Pr o- Fra me ." There is the ultra-short-stroke, high-output in-line fou r-cy linder en gine. The re are the four-piston front brakes, There is the sig ntfican tly.red u ceddry w eigh t. Andif.you have any do ubt that Horii~e san can build a race bik e, you should (Above) Lighter and stronger in almost every res pect ยท from the brakes to the frame to the swingarm the 1999 CBR600F4 costs only $100 more than the model it replaces. Though it's hard to tell in black and white the available colors are redlblack or yellowlblack. know he worked on the NSR500, the oval-piston N R500, the FWSI O and OO the RC45. If you have any dou bt that he can bu ild a stree t bike, he was the LPL for the VFR800 an d th e CBR-F3 - and now the F4. That's a resu me. The firs t time yo u tu rn a w heel in anger, the d ifferences from the p revio us version of the CBR600F are obv ious . But becau se there is no sing le huge leap in the performance of the bike - it is ra ther a m et h odical escalat ion of th e whole capability of the CBR - it makes it difficult to kn ow where to start. A few warmup la p s of Las Ve ga s Motor Speedway' s 2.5-mile infield-plusba nki ng layout begin to tell the sto ry . The first thing you notice is that while the riding position is remar kably similar to the old m od el ' s ni ce compromis e between race-tr ack agg ress ion and stree t comfort, the handl ebars feel slightly farther apart and set a t a differen t ang le. The ad justable br ake lever feels a littl e more positive in its feedback and more immediate in its respon se . In fact, every thing seems that w ay, fro m th e feel through the handlebars to the turn-in to (Left) Feedback from the new chassis is . outstanding, as is handling. (Below)The aluminum Pro-Frame is more rigid and considerably lighter than the steel unit It replaces.