Road-testing the Honda CBR 600 RR5When it comes to sports bikes Honda has produced a succession of cutting edge machines which, most often, have defined the formula for the rest to follow. Now and again a competitor might have stolen a short-lived edge, but never for long. Now with the appearance of the CBR 600 RR5 another standard has been set.
It looks as if it has come straight off the track. That is intentional, the Honda CBR 600 RR5 is largely based on the Honda RC211V racing machine, a familiar sight in Superbike and MotoGP events.
Given that ancestry, do not expect that this would be the ideal commuter machine. Nor should one expect to ride it for an hour without recourse to Panadol. This is all about sheer, stunning, cutting-edge performance first and last. It is cruelty to confine this machine to the cut and thrust of everyday road traffic.
Its rightful element is the track. If you want something rather more comfortable and practical, there are plenty of alternatives. If you want sheer two-wheeled exuberant fun and performance the CBR 600 RR5 just has to be a prime contender. It is the yardstick for the highly competitive 600cc supersports class.
First impression astride the bike is its small size. This class of machine seems to be getting smaller with the passing of each year. Anyone around the 6ft mark really ought to have a trial fitting before proceeding further. You are also sat much further forward, or so it seems, than you ever have been on any other sports bike. This forward weighting does, amongst other things, help keep the front wheel on the ground.
The fairing gives the bike a really sporty look but, as a means of protecting the rider from wind and weather, it is pretty useless, dumping bales of wind blast on the rider's upper torso, throat and helmet. But then the marketing boffins knew that there was a significant demand for a lightweight machine, with a "racing image", and one that offered "excitement".
And this is the result. Enormous recreational fun, blistering performance and, as one expert put it "a mad animal". Which is exactly what some demand their machine should be. Indeed the PR blurb cheerfully admits to "a form geared much more to the needs of the circuit than to the comforts of the street".The 599cc, 4-cylinder, 16-valve engine can rev up to 15,000rpm and at 13,000rom is churning out 117bhp. It is smooth, responsive and quite tractable. With "only" a 600cc capacity, one needs to use the six-speed gearbox rather a lot when in pursuit of performance. It likes to run at 10,000rpm plus, which makes adherence to any semblance of "legal" speed a near impossibility.
It handles very well indeed on good roads and, invariably, you find you are cornering faster than you realised. On poor surfaces, even when the tyres are well warmed, the bike will skip around a bit. The radial calliper brakes, the same as on the Fireblade and VTR1000 are faultless.
Somewhat surprising on a no compromise performance machine are the mirrors, which are well placed and by sports machine standard give a reasonably good rearwards view. The instruments are clear and easy to read, though the rider is sat so far forward that they end up hidden underneath the chin.
Perhaps also the marketing gurus need some token pillion passenger provision to assist sales? This can be the only explanation for the precarious pillion provision. It is plainly ridiculous to think in terms of a pillion passenger with a machine of this type. No one who seriously appreciates this machine's race and track-bred virtues would regard it as other than a very solo machine.It would make a lot more sense for this to be a "monoposto" machine, in which case it could well qualify for substantially lower insurance.
Typically of Honda, the build quality and standard of finish is of a very high order indeed. Everything looks right, feels right and once you have ridden it you know it is right. In terms of "bang for your buck", €12,299 gets you an exhilarating, uncompromising missile with the power output equivalent of 718bhp per tonne. That is a lot of power on tap. It is a machine which demands a level of skill and respect not every rider possesses.
TECH SPEC
ENGINE Liquid-cooled, 4-stroke, 16-valve, DOHC inline 4. 599cc, 12:1 compression. 86kW @ 13,000rpm, 66Nm @ 11,000rpm. 40mm fuel injection. Wet multiplate clutch, 6 gears, chain drive.
CHASSIS: Diamond fine die-cast aluminium frame. Suspension â€" front: 41mm fully adjustable HMAS cartridge-type fork, 120mm travel, rear Unit Pro-Link with gas-charged remote reservoir damper, adjustable spring preload and compression and rebound damping, 130mm travel. Wheels: hollow-section triple-spoke cast aluminium. Brakes: front 310 dual disk, 4-piston, floating rotors, sintered pads. Rear single 220mm disc, single-piston, sintered pads.
DIMENSIONS: Wheelbase 13,395mm. Seat height: 820mm, Dry weight: 163kg. Tank capacity: 18 litres.
PERFORMANCE: Top speed 235km/h. 0-60mph in 3.90secs.
PRICE: €12,299 Warranty, 2 years unlimited mileage.