Zealot
The Village Idiot
Had around 2 months now to ride around on my new to me CBR600F4i, a 2002 model with 49,000 km when I picked it up. Had to put in a fair bit of work, fixing the valves up, fixing the CCT, replacing 9/10ths of the hoses, doing a starter valve (TB) sync, and lowering the absurd amount of oil that was in the pan - coming up into the airbox even.
I had to get used to a different riding position, as it's a little more aggressive on this bike. Not nutso like on the Gixxers I so badly want, but a happy medium between sporty appeal and comfort. It was weird at first, and I found that I slid around in the seat a bit too much, but the addition of some tech spec tank grips alleviated that. This bike is very smooth as far as vibrations go for an inline 4, and the way that the fueling is handled is nothing short of fantastic - and it doesn't surprise me at how highly rated this bike was when it first came out. The on/off with the throttle is crisp and smooth, with very little in the way of jerkiness that I ever really notice. When you roll on, the power comes in spades and the bike revs quite quickly towards the 14,300 redline, and there is a lot of power. It's running, being the sport model in my case with slightly different sprockets for improved acceleration, and it certainly shows.
There's plenty of power down low in the rev range, from 4K up, where it really comes alive in the typical i4 fashion at 7000+. It's happy to trot along, but even in 6th gear on the highway I can tuck and crack open the throttle to be met with strong and eager acceleration. I'm talking that within the span of a second or two, I can go from 120 up to 150 and hardly know where the time went whilst passing a truck. The gearing is setup very nicely in that I can comfortably get around town in 3rd or 4th gear depending on the speed limit on a particular road, and the bike doesn't complain. It does seem to be a modicum faster than my FZ6, although there's a teensy bit less of that rabid top end thrill. It could be chocked up to the CBR having more low to mid range comparatively, and the difference in sprockets with my sport model - so I take that observation with a grain of salt, since paper specs are nearly identical between the two. The gearbox itself is nearly silent, and half the time I can barely tell that I slipped into the next gear. The super fast rev drop threw me off initially, but with a bit of saddle time I've come to love it for super responsive shifting, coupled with a short end of travel clutch bite and silky smooth throttle response. It's so fast, predictable, and a very light pull that makes the motions cake - that is, once I replaced the awful stock lever with some colour matched shorties from the2wheels to stop my hand from cramping.
My longest ride lasted about 3 hours, with a break around the 2 hour mark, and I was relatively comfortable. I was pushing the envelope a bit on familiar roads, but this bike was super happy to corner and for the first time in my life it felt like I was on a set of rails, carving a path through the apex. I'll need to get some track days under my belt to really see how she fares, but as far as being a road warrior is concerned - it's certainly a purebred sportbike at its core, and Honda did a marvelous job. My biggest complaint ought to be the lack of a fuel gauge, even though the dash supports it showing me 4 bars of reserve.
CBR:
+Better low/mid range
+Super smooth shifting
+Fueling is beautiful for being an early adoption of FI on a motorcycle
-Less comfortable seating, although it won't break an older rider like an RR would
-Slightly weaker top end
-No fuel gauge
-Less touring options, although this one would only bother people who run with panniers
FZ6:
+Better top end
+Better seating
+Better dash/functionality
+More comfortable by far for passengers with the grab rails
+Naked look makes me drool
Anyways, those are my thoughts after 2 months of riding, and it's a lovely machine I hope to get lots of time out of. Very refined and smooth, and it strikes an excellent balance as far as a sport bike goes between fun factor/performance and ease of use/ergonomics. Would highly recommend it to anybody if they get a chance to try one, just for fun.
I had to get used to a different riding position, as it's a little more aggressive on this bike. Not nutso like on the Gixxers I so badly want, but a happy medium between sporty appeal and comfort. It was weird at first, and I found that I slid around in the seat a bit too much, but the addition of some tech spec tank grips alleviated that. This bike is very smooth as far as vibrations go for an inline 4, and the way that the fueling is handled is nothing short of fantastic - and it doesn't surprise me at how highly rated this bike was when it first came out. The on/off with the throttle is crisp and smooth, with very little in the way of jerkiness that I ever really notice. When you roll on, the power comes in spades and the bike revs quite quickly towards the 14,300 redline, and there is a lot of power. It's running, being the sport model in my case with slightly different sprockets for improved acceleration, and it certainly shows.
There's plenty of power down low in the rev range, from 4K up, where it really comes alive in the typical i4 fashion at 7000+. It's happy to trot along, but even in 6th gear on the highway I can tuck and crack open the throttle to be met with strong and eager acceleration. I'm talking that within the span of a second or two, I can go from 120 up to 150 and hardly know where the time went whilst passing a truck. The gearing is setup very nicely in that I can comfortably get around town in 3rd or 4th gear depending on the speed limit on a particular road, and the bike doesn't complain. It does seem to be a modicum faster than my FZ6, although there's a teensy bit less of that rabid top end thrill. It could be chocked up to the CBR having more low to mid range comparatively, and the difference in sprockets with my sport model - so I take that observation with a grain of salt, since paper specs are nearly identical between the two. The gearbox itself is nearly silent, and half the time I can barely tell that I slipped into the next gear. The super fast rev drop threw me off initially, but with a bit of saddle time I've come to love it for super responsive shifting, coupled with a short end of travel clutch bite and silky smooth throttle response. It's so fast, predictable, and a very light pull that makes the motions cake - that is, once I replaced the awful stock lever with some colour matched shorties from the2wheels to stop my hand from cramping.
My longest ride lasted about 3 hours, with a break around the 2 hour mark, and I was relatively comfortable. I was pushing the envelope a bit on familiar roads, but this bike was super happy to corner and for the first time in my life it felt like I was on a set of rails, carving a path through the apex. I'll need to get some track days under my belt to really see how she fares, but as far as being a road warrior is concerned - it's certainly a purebred sportbike at its core, and Honda did a marvelous job. My biggest complaint ought to be the lack of a fuel gauge, even though the dash supports it showing me 4 bars of reserve.
CBR:
+Better low/mid range
+Super smooth shifting
+Fueling is beautiful for being an early adoption of FI on a motorcycle
-Less comfortable seating, although it won't break an older rider like an RR would
-Slightly weaker top end
-No fuel gauge
-Less touring options, although this one would only bother people who run with panniers
FZ6:
+Better top end
+Better seating
+Better dash/functionality
+More comfortable by far for passengers with the grab rails
+Naked look makes me drool
Anyways, those are my thoughts after 2 months of riding, and it's a lovely machine I hope to get lots of time out of. Very refined and smooth, and it strikes an excellent balance as far as a sport bike goes between fun factor/performance and ease of use/ergonomics. Would highly recommend it to anybody if they get a chance to try one, just for fun.
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