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Honda CBR600RR: Fast ride to your happy place

By Grant Parsons, photos by Kevin Wing

I'm leaned way over on Barber Motorsports Park's ultra-fun turn 3 in Alabama, my knee skimming the slightly banked pavement as I push Honda's 2007 CBR600RR toward the outside of the track with the throttle. And I'm laughing — wickedly and loudly — in my helmet.

Now, despite my sometimes deranged appearance, I'm not usually that big on wicked laughs. I like to think I'm more of a sly smile kinda guy. You know, understatement.

But not on this bike. The new CBR600RR works so well, puts you so much at ease, builds your confidence so quickly that I blew past understatement about two laps into my second 20-minute session of the day.

What's odd is that I had never even turned a wheel at this track before. I was able to learn my way around the beatific Barber circuit, become one with the bike and reach what the touchy-feely types would call my "happy place" in a mere 25 minutes of track time.

Yes, the newest RR is that good. And after a full day of riding the new machine, I'm willing to bet a lot of track day junkies like me are going to absolutely love this bike.

Though I didn't test the bike in a street environment, I'm thinking that with a relatively stout midrange (for a 600) and relatively comfort able ergos (for a 600), it will likely do well in the world of stoplights and commutes (for a 600).

Arriving right on Honda's four-years-and-out development cycle for its frontline sportbikes, the '07 CBR600RR is new from the ground up, with more changes than the second script of your average Hollywood movie. The engine is lighter (by 3.7 pounds) and more compact, and it's claimed to be the smallest inline four-cylinder 600cc mill in the world. Injection is remapped, with a new servo-controlled butterfly bypass that smooths quick downshifts, going a third of the way towards the effects of a slipper clutch without the extra weight.

The frame is slimmer and 1.1 pounds lighter. The lighter exhaust features titanium internals. The swingarm is longer. The rake is steeper. The wheelbase is shorter. And making all that chassis tightness work is a slimmed-down version of the ultra-trick electronic steering damper off the CBR1000RR (shown uncovered in the photo at right).

The ram-air intake is moved to the point of highest pressure in the nose. The nose is moved closer to the head stock. Gear ratios are closer. Ergos are relaxed slightly, with handlebars raised 10mm, though they're still under the triple clamps.

Overall wet weight is a claimed 412 pounds—a whopping 18 pounds shaved from the previous-generation 600RR.

Styling is updated, too, with the emphasis on making the bike's looks match its trimmer figure. In fact, you can see all the way through the bodywork in one spot, between the exhaust header and the motor.

On the track, the first impression the bike makes is in midrange. Like other 600cc Supersports, the RR aims for a rush of power as the tach sweeps towards red—and it delivers that. But unlike a few others, Honda's engineers saved a little bit of oomph for the midrange. After all, that's what you use mostly on the street — and, let's be honest here — it's also what's more forgiving on the track.

As the day went on, though, that initial impression became one of supreme smoothness and unflappability. The chassis and steering damper allow you to save the drama for your mama, and concentrate on going in deeper and getting on the gas sooner.

I'm particularly impressed with the ergonomics. In addition to the slightly higher handlebars, engineers changed the seat foam in a way that keeps your posterior more planted, letting you dial in the rest of your own personal comfort zone all the more easily.

Riding the bike back-to-back with the '06, the lighter weight is more than noticeable. The '07 transitions from one side to the other faster than a politician in an election year, and it does it with a sublime sense of competence that only makes you want to do it faster the next time. Honda engineers say that's not only down to lighter weight, but also to the fairing cutaways, which allow flow-through air to ease direction changes at higher speeds.

The other major difference between the '06 and the '07 is the fuel injection, which is much crisper in the new machine, especially in on-off throttle transitions. On the '06, I repeatedly found myself leaned over and aimed at a corner exit, smoothly twisting the throttle, only to wait…and wait… for the power to come on — hoping like heck that when it did, it'd be smooth.

On the '07, all that just…happens. I never had to think about compensating for any injection shortcomings.

One other impressive feature of the '07 is what Honda calls its Air Intake Control Valve, a servo-controlled needle valve in the fuel-injector throttle body that draws its instructions from the several engine parameters. What it does is allow a controlled amount of air to bypass the injectors' butterfly valves when you chop the throttle quickly — as in throttle-blip downshifts — and smooths out the dip in rpm. In other words, it makes quick downshifts leading into fast corners smoother.

It's not a slipper clutch — you can still make the rear-wheel hop with a ham-footed downshift — but it does make a difference. Riders who don't care to hand off their shifting duties to a slipper clutch will love it.

Perhaps the best testament I can give the new machine is that at the end of a full day on the track, I would have been perfectly happy — no, thrilled — to ride more.

My happy place has never been so much fun.

2007 Honda CBR600RR
Engine	Liquid-cooled inline four with 4 valves per cylinder
Displacement	599cc
Bore x stroke	67mm x 42.5mm
Carburetion	Dual stage electronic fuel injection
Compression ratio	12.2:1
Transmission	6-speed
Final drive	#525 Chain
Tires	120/70-17 front, 180/55-17 rear
Front suspension	41mm inverted cartridge fork, adjustable for pre-load, rebound and compression damping; 4.7 inches of travel
Rear suspension	Pro-Link single shock adjustable for pre-load, rebound and compression damping; 5.1 inches of travel
Front brake	Dual 310mm discs, radial-mounted 4-piston calipers
Rear brake	Single 220mm disc
Seat height	32.3 inches
Rake/Trail	23.7 degrees/3.8 inches
Wheelbase	53.8 inches
Fuel capacity	4.8 gallons
Dry/wet weight	345 pounds/412 pounds
MSRP	$9,499