Japanese Motorcycles World

Honda CBR600F - The Best Middleweight Sportbike in Motorcycle History

Honda’s CBR600F series, produced from 1987 to 2006, are recognized as the best all-around middleweight sportbikes in motorcycle history. In this article you will learn why and how this motorbike platform earned this title.

In 1987, the year the CBR600F was introduced to the market, the bike won each and every one of AMA 600 Supersport races. And from 1987 to 2000, CBR600F mounted riders won more than 50% of all major 600 cc Supersport races held around the World. This is a pretty impressive record that no other sportbike in the 600 cc category can match.

But Honda’s CBR600F success wasn’t only due to its victories in the race track, but also from offering to the public a bike with racetrack performance and power adapted to real world riding at an affordable price.

The sales of CBR600F models accounted for half of Honda’s sportbike sales during the 19 years this series was in production.

A little history of the CBR600F evolution

1987 – The first CBR600F was nick named Honda Hurricane and it was introduced to the market with a very smart and aggressive marketing campaign that aimed to dethrone its main competitors of that time: the Kawasaki Ninja and the Suzuki Katana. Due to the impressive capabilities of the motorcycle and the effectiveness of the marketing campaign, the Hurricane didn’t see almost any competition in its first three years of production. You can find the tech specs of the bike in this page.

1989 – The Honda Hurricane moniker was dropped and it became just the CBR600F.

1990 – The engine of the CBR600F was exhaustively reworked: the cylinder head porting was revised, it was fitted with higher compression pistons, the combustion chambers were reconfigured, the cam timing was altered and a new exhaust system was added. All this changes resulted basically in a new engine that could produce 10 hp more that its predecessor.

1991 – The bike suffered a complete redesign. The new model under the CBR600F platform was named the CBR600F2.

Major changes were:

• A stiffer frame
• A shorter wheelbase to quicken handling
• RC30 style wheels were fitted into the bike
• A better suspension for smoother riding
• A lighter and more compact in-line four engine
• The cylinders were given more oversquare dimensions
• Piston compression was also increased
• Bigger carburetors were added
• Internal frictions were reduced

All these changes resulted in an even better performing bike that could generate more than 100 hp, the first bike in the 600 cc to accomplish this.

The result: an instant success in the track (CBR600F2 riders won all AMA 600 Supersport races in 1991) and in the streets (even though Kawasaki and Suzuki competition was getting tougher, more CBR600F2’s were sold than Ninja’s and Katana’s together).

1995 – It was the turn for the CBR600F3. This bike is considered by many as the masterpiece of Masanori Aoki (one of the best engineers at Honda and Large Project Leader).

Some of the major changes were:

• The chassis was retuned
• The suspension was recalibrated
• Combustion chambers were reconfigured in order to provide a higher compression ratio.
• A new computer controlled ignition system was fitted into the engine
• A new dual-stage ram-air intake system was also installed in the bike

Thanks to the improvements made, this amazing sportbike could top over 150 mph.

This bike was once again a big success and CBR600F3 riders won each and every one of the eleven AMA 600 cc Superbike races that were disputed during 1995. This without mentioning, that sales to the general public were pretty good, too.

1999 – New improvements lead to the birth of the CBR600F4. Another hit for Honda as F4’s once again won the year’s championship.

The major improvements were:

• The bike was fitted with an aluminum frame (the Pro Frame). This new chassis was more rigid than the previous one made of steel and 15.4 pounds lighter.
• The new Honda Multi-Action Suspension (HMAS) made by Showa was installed on the new CBR600F4.
• The engine was renewed to attain a striking power of 110 hp.

2002 – More improvements were made to the bike and a new model was born. It was called the CBR600F4i.

Major changes were:

Once again, Honda was the leader in the 600 cc category with the CBR600F4i.

JapaneseMotorcyclesWorld.com - As everything has a beginning and an end, in JapaneseMotorcyclesWorld.com the CBR600F platform was replaced by the CBR600RR.

As you could read in the paragraphs above, CBR600F motorcycles have been one of Honda’s biggest successes in the track and in the street. Even thought they are no longer in production, you can expect to see them in the streets for many years to come, as its racetrack capabilities and street friendliness will long be appreciated by all middleweight sportbike riders.

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