BIKETEST HONDA CBR600RR:THE IRISH League for the Preservation of Letters warned last night of an impending crisis.
Not the credit crunch, global warming or reality TV, but the real possibility that we will run out of the letter R by 2016.
“It’s all Honda’s fault,” said ILPL spokesman Roger Witherspoon, a retired librarian from Mullingar.
“In 2003 they introduced the CBR600RR, and it was so good that everyone started making Race Replicas, resulting in a ten-fold increase in the global consumption of Rs.
“This may not matter to people like Jonathan Ross who don’t know their Rs from their elbows, but what about the rest of us? Even worse, Honda have gone and done it again.”
Roger’s right, but he should have been warned. Ever since Honda launched the CBR600RR and made it the weapon of choice for a legion of 600 supersports fans, they’ve been hauling it back for regular tweaks, like upside-down forks, a new swingarm and bodywork in 2005, and a completely new second generation model in 2007.
Unsurprisingly, the RC211V race version has won every world supersports title in its class since 2003.
And now, as Witherspoon said, they’ve gone and done it again, with a new exhaust, cylinder head and pistons to smooth out power delivery and provide bags of mid-range torque between 6,000 and 10,000rpm, the range most bikers will use on the road, although Rossi wannabees will be pleased to hear they can happily push on to the bike’s mildly mindboggling 15,000 redline, accompanied by a howl like a convocation of banshees heading for a Kerry wake.
To be honest, Honda didn’t need to do too much to the engine, but the latest tweak has made it even smoother, particularly allied with that trademark Honda featherlight clutch and the fact that, at 194kg, it remains the lightest 600 on the market.
In fact, the only fault is that the increased torque doesn’t extend to pulling away from the lights uphill in third. Result: one stalled bike, one red face. Still, at least I gave the Volvo driver behind me the satisfaction of knowing bikers are the plonkers he had always suspected.
The big development for the 2009 version, though, is stopping, with the optional Combined ABS system, a first for a supersports bike, neatly concealed above a new belly pan.
As you’d expect from the company that came up with the remarkable technology of the automatic DN-01 I rode a while back, the C-ABS is a clever piece of kit, using a computer control unit to ensure the correct balance of front and rear brake use and designed to be as unobtrusive as possible by delaying the engagement of the ABS until the last possible moment when it realises you’re not fit to be let out on your own and eases in to keep you out of the hedge.
So purists needn’t worry about it getting in the way of life on the edge, and the rest of us, especially if unsure about shelling out, need not worry either, since like all Hondas, this bike is quick but safe and civilised and – unless you’re entirely hapless – won’t bite you in the way a ZX-10 Ninja would.
I speak with some authority as the man who was riding the non-ABS version, quite happily daydreaming of a Dutch ex-girlfriend’s bottom, when he suddenly noticed the white van in front growing larger by the minute, having decided to turn left without risking wearing out his indicators by using them.
This same man then applied the front brake so hard that he locked the wheel but, rather than fling him over the handlebars, the bike proceeded in a straight line, tutting gently to itself and wondering what it had done to deserve such treatment.
Not only that, but for such a light bike, it’s incredibly stable on uneven road conditions.
Faults? Only the aggressive riding position which, along with the braced swingarm and central exhaust system, is a legacy of the RR’s race antecedents and will have you massaging your wrists after an hour.
That, and a rather interesting buzzing sensation in my nether regions at around 6,000rpm which may have reduced my chances of ever having children.
But then, this is a bike that will only see 6,000rpm as the tacho passes through on its way to the redline. And if the world’s going to end in 2016 due to a shortage of Rs, leaving only Jonathan Ross alive, who’d inflict that on the next generation anyway?
Factfile Honda CBR600RR
Engine: 599cc 16-valve in-line four-cylinder with 107bhp @ 13,500rpm, 44.6ft lb @ 11,250rpm
Top speed: 165mph
Frame: aluminium twin-spar
Suspension: front and rear fully adjustable.
Brakes: front two x 310mm discs, rear 220mm disc
Tyres: front 120/70 17”, rear 180/55 17”
Weight: 194kgs
Seat height: 820mm
Fuel capacity: 18 litres
Average fuel consumption: 32mpg
Price: €10,199 for standard version, €11,199 for ABS.
Test bike £7,753 from Belfast Honda, 028-9079 6878, see belfasthonda.com)