MIDDLEWEIGHT MANIA
HONDA CBR650R
Who here remembers the CBR600RR? Thought you did. Those things were, and still are, bloody awesome. Yet when it was ditched from the line up, it was up to Honda’s previous CBR650F to pick up the sporty middleweight mantel… and it never really set the sports bike scene alight. I mean, it was almost a 600cc, but just not quite there. It was a bit weighty, lethargic and generally uninspiring compared to a screaming six when it came to providing that ball-bustingly exciting ride and offering any serious hooning abilities.
Thankfully though, Honda have been back to the drawing board and come back with something they tell us is faster, smarter and downright sexier. They’ve even dropped the ‘F’ in the name for an ‘R’. Just what we like to see, here at Fast Bikes Towers.
It’s not just the name which appears to be sportier, either. The clever chaps in Japan have been busy behind the scenes making the CBR650R leaner, meaner and mightier than ever before.
For starters, even though it uses the same engine as before, the ’19 machine has new cam and valve timings, a revised piston shape and compression ratio, iridium spark plugs, a revised intake and a brand new exhaust system. The result is 5% more power than before and a powerplant that
