I there is one thing that Honda is very lond 01 it's win,
ning - or is it that Honda really hates losing?Honda went
all-out when it designed the new CBR600RR in 2003.
The bike was advertised as a MotoGP bike lor the
stree t, stealing a couple 01 tricks from the RC21 1Vrace
bike. The bike had a motor that never stopped making
horsepower, putting out 104 hp at the rear wheel on the
White Brothe rs Racing ciyno, more than any 01 the other true
600cc bikes. The Unit Pro-link suspen sion helped put that
power to the ground more efficiently than ever, but it still
wasn't able to topple the competition Irom Suzuki, Kawasaki
and Yamaha. What went wrong?
Th e bottom line was that the bike was just too heavy
compared to the competition. The Honda weighed 22pounds more (w et) than last year's Cycle News
Middleweight Shootout-winni ng Suzuki GSX-R6oo, and 29
more than last year's Kawasaki ZX-6R. As a matter ol lact,
wit h the restr ictive rules in the AMA Supe rsport series, the
CBR600RR just was n't competitive and was only able to
secure a lourth in the championship, with Alex Gobert in
2003 , and Honda didn't eve n compete in the class in '04. In
Wo rld Supe rspo rt competition, the Ten Kate Honda team
won the title in 2003-04 , but the rules are less restrictive
than the AHA series'. Ame rican Honda decided for the 2004
seas on to race Formu la Extrem e, a class that allowed it to
modifythe bikes to reduce their we ight dram atically. Miguel
Duhamel and Jake Zemke completely domin ated the series,
and w ith the addition 01 Ben Bostrom 's w in at the Laguna
Seca round of the series, the CBR600RR never lost a race,
going I I lor I I.
For 2005, Honda decided that the CBR600RR needed to
be put on a seriou s diet in order to compe te with the new
Kawasaki ZX-6R and the revised Yamaha R6 in magazine
shootouts. Honda claims that the '05 CBR600 RR weighs a
claimed 9 pounds less than last year's model. Mission
accomplished. This could be exactly what the CBR600RR
needs to get back into the hunt.
Howeve r, there is a lot more to the new bike than just
weight savings. The chassis received major updates as we ll,
including a new frame, swingarm, rear shock , lork, brakes and
bociywork . Additionally the motor and exhaust systems have
,
been revised inan effort to improve midrange power delivery.
I
