Honda CBR600FY Reviews from United Kingdom

None.

Absolutely well impressed with my Honda. Power delivery is smooth and progressive. Very quick at higher revs.

Handling feels sure footed and confidence inspiring. I tried taking corners I previously took on the ZZR600, and the Honda was superior in every way. It followed the road perfectly and allowed me to enter faster!

Everything on the Honda just feels right (upper market), from the fantastic finish (black) to the ergonomics to the neat and tidy cockpit. Top speed is up with the other newer 600s, although I don't ride that fast preferring to cruise around, and in that department the relaxed seating angle and comfy seat suit me perfectly.

The bike, weighing in at 170kgs, is light and nimble on the move, allowing for rapid line changing. My only gripe would be the wind blast, as the double bubble screen is too small. Never mind, I don't plan on sustaining high speeds for long if at all. Love my Honda!!!

The cam chain tensioner needed replacing by 5000 miles. This is a well known fault on FX and FY models. Given this, I asked the Honda dealer to change the tensioner for free - they contacted Honda UK, who authorised them to do the job at no cost to me, so top marks to Honda as my bike was already five years old at the time.

Apart from the tensioner, nothing else has gone wrong with the bike.

It is very comfortable (much better than the Yamaha Thundercat I had before). Doing a few hundred miles in one day is no problem. The bike does need a double bubble windscreen though. I am six feet tall and the wind blast with the standard screen hits the bottom of my helmet - the wind turbulence makes things very noisy.

The handling (especially with Metzeler Sportecs) is superb. It is a very quick steering bike that you can flick from one corner to the next, but is also very stable in corners. It is very confidence inspiring. When the back end does start to slip at extreme lean angles, the slide is very progressive; I haven't had any scary moments on it yet.

I did think about "upgrading" to a bigger bike, and had test rides on a new Yamaha R1 and the new Triumph Sprint ST. The Triumph felt no faster than the CBR, and definitely wasn't worth the extra money to me. The R1 had explosive power, but was much, much slower steering than the CBR, and took a lot more effort to ride fast - it just wasn't as fun through the twisties as the CBR. Having tried a litre bike, I don't think you need more power than a 600 gives you for road use anyway. The R1 is a lot quicker over 100 mph in a straight line, but not so in the corners, where it counts.

So overall I'll keep the CBR for its excellent mix of comfort, power and handling. It also looks pretty good, too with the matt black lower fairings with gloss black tank & upper fairings.