10 Years of Honda CBR600

After two years on the ’98 Honda CBR600 F3 I was starting to look at a new bike. I did my first test ride on a new 600RR last year at the HRC track day at Sandown. I was amazed by the difference in brakes, suspension, riding position… basically everything. It was a completely different bike. From then on I couldn’t get it out of my head.

I bought my CBR with 27,800 km on the clock back in November 2007. Before I moved to Australia I was looking at all kinds of bikes but everyone recommended the F3: reliable, comfortable and affordable. This was my first bike as previously I was only riding my Dad’s choppers whenever he let me. Never a sports bike.

Unfortunately, I dropped the CBR three months after I bought it, on my second Club ride. I’ll always remember Marty Thomson’s supporting words “Don’t worry about fixing it mate; there’ll be many more!”

During the winter months I decided to do a complete service and make over. I stripped down the bike to the frame and engine. I cleaned every part, changed every bearing, oil and fluid, painted and fixed all the plastics and powder-coated most of the non-plastic parts. I put a Micron slip-on muffler on and changed the sprockets to get a bit more acceleration out of the 98 HP motor. It took me two months and almost two hours every weekday after work. I’ll never do it again. I guess I only did it because this wouldn’t be possible in Germany – too much bureaucracy.

The more rides I did with the Club the more confident I became. I found myself keeping up with riders I wasn’t even close to before. But the quicker the rides became, the harder it became to ride the bike. Braking was always a handful... literally.

After the second track day at The Island I did another test ride on the CBR600. I also rode the new 1000cc Fireblade. Bloody fast! But I liked the 600 more, especially in the corners. And I don’t mind the lack of power. From then on I hinted to Bianca about getting a new bike, especially as the newer bikes are a lot safer. Right?

I have now done around 60,000km since I bought the bike and have to say it has been, and still is, a very good bike. I snapped one clutch cable and the fuel pump failed once. I just gave the pump a bang with the hammer and it hasn’t stopped since – it has been 15,000km now. Apart from those minor issues, I have only had to do the regular services replacing oil, filter, pads, etc.

Finally I started seriously looking at new bikes. Test rides were first, as the track day rides I’ve done didn’t really tell me much about riding on the road. I was planning to do a test ride on every 600cc sports bike, but at the end it was just too much hassle with the dealers. I only did one on the GSXR600 and one on the CBR600RR.

I did the CBR first with Jeffrey Honda / Metro. They gave me the key and wished me a good ride. The bike felt comfortable right away on the bumpy roads around Olinda. I rode for almost an hour and didn’t really want to give it back. Steering was so easy and at the end the new shiny tyres were properly scrubbed in. The only two things I disliked were that I could only see half the dashboard except in a race position. The other one was that the mirrors only offered a view of your elbows. But I guess this is the same with every sports bike.

The Gixxer was with Peter Stevens. I had to ride behind the sales guy through Ringwood. Probably a good bike but I’ll really never know. 30 minutes of traffic and 60 zones don’t really tell you much. I picked a few electronic differences on the Gixxer: a gear indicator and a shift light. The feeling was similar, but the bike felt a bit bigger even though the actual dimensions are not that different.

I made the decision to go with the bike I know works. Plus I never had an issue with my CBR. Dave Ward offered to help me look at a few bikes. We soon found an ’08 model offered by John Clowes, a former MSR member. We had a look at the bike and after I came home, I rang him up to seal the deal.

A couple more weeks until I move house and I’ll do my first ride. The plan is to leave the bike as standard as possible… I think. Unfortunately, the summer season is almost over, but I guess that’s something the bike has to get used to. It has never seen a drop of rain before!

Dennis Lindemann