For this review I was able to ride a Honda Hornet CB600F, this is the latest style that was first available from 2007. As the name suggests it is a 600cc engine and in this bike is provides 102bhp in this 6 speed Honda. The first difference for me was the sitting position as my main bike is a sports bike. I found the sitting position on this bike very comfortable and nicely padded seat, it was the first time i had had this sitting position since learning to ride on an er5. I was expecting no great things from this bike expecting it to be a nice bike for commuting but probably dull for any other rides. I WAS WRONG!
The acceleration of the CB600F is rather impressive, now whilst it may not pull off like a sports bike it is not at all far away from it all which was a lovely surprise on this bike whilst commuting to work. The range of the engine is well balanced and pulls through most of the rev range, but this also moves us into another of the bikes strong points which is the gear box. The box on this bike is so smooth that you can slip through the gears at great speed and keep the revs going well, the gear box also allows a very simple slip down in gears and is such a light gear change that the whole process is extremely smooth and you would think you were on a sports bike!
When a bike has a strength such as the smooth acceleration and gears that this bike does you (sadly though) expect that other parts of the bike will have suffered as a result and the thought was that it would be the handling that would suffer but this is very much not the case! The handling again on this bike is really light, with a turning circle that makes the slow movement in towns a doddle and it is nice and light, but once you are out of the town this bikes LOVES BENDS, you feel like you have miles of grip off the bike tyre and as it feels so light it will lean in and seems to just keep going. When braking is required there is also some greats brakes, not forgettting the ABS as well meaning that you are confident enough to be able to brake smoothly when you need to pull in between cars.
The sitting position on the bike has the advantage of making it more comfortable for the commute but I found that you do not need to be going too fast to find yourself having the fight the wind coming over the front of the bike and so the benfit of the sitting position becomes a negative of the force that is then being put on your lower back as you fight to stay sitting up in the right position. I did also find with the seat though that there was a pretty constant fight with my bottom sliding forwards and having to shuffle, personally I wanted my bottom to be located just where the crease for the pillions seat was, this I think will be a problem for any other taller riders out there!
The stock exhaust on this bike sounds quite nice as well with a bit of a throaty roar BUT as it has one of the modern style short triangle style exhaust I personally do not like them at all. I would imagine I am in the monority otherwise they would not keep making them.
As a taller rider the only other thing I founf awkward was that as my sitting position was slightly more forward then I would have liked this also meant that my left foot getting under the gear lever was awkward, this would be rather annoying when trying to smoothly pull away and I would have to move my foot back on the peg to be able to get my toe under the lever.
The displays on the CB600F are offered as a digital speedometer and then a standard dial style revometer. The benefit of this was a smooth sign of the revs as you accelerator and then with having the digital main display this meant that you have a number of stats on display all the time which include the time, engine tempreture, trip meter, digital petrol gauge and more. The petrol tank on the Hornet holds 19 litres of petrol that includes a 4 litre reserve that has a LCD indicator so that you should not need to switch to reserves or run out of fuel again.
The price for this bike new from Honda currently stands at £6,255 which we think is a great price for a new bike although I have also seen a new one for sale for £5,000 from other sellers. For those looking for a second hand bike you are able to get a 2007 version of this bike second hand for monies from of £3,400 with under 10k on the clock. For more information on the bike have a look at http://www.hondahornet.co.uk/07hornet.html
Joes Final Summary
This is a great bike for someone looking for something with performance but not a sports bike, it offers a rider confidence in the machine that they are riding and is a fantastic machine for a low maintainence rider.
A big thumbs up from Average Joe!
