Oh No, Dave's Bought another Bike

Thought I would put a few words together for you lot about the new toy in the garage: the mighty Honda CBR 600RR 2007 model.

After 10 months and 17,000 kms on the Suzuki GSXR600 K6 the thought crossed my mind to see about another bike. The Suzuki has been very good to me with no problems at all with very little money spent on it. As the rego and tyres and a few other things were due to hit me, I investigated the changeover with a few friends. Marty Thompson and old friend, Tony Fabris, (ex MSR member) felt that the time was right to move it on. I value their input as they both used to work in the bike industry. As a newish bike with higher than normal kays, they noted the GSXR would be harder to sell once it got over the 20,000 km mark.

I estimated that the Suzuki would need approximately $1,500 spent on her and I figured it would be better spent towards a changeover.

What bike would I like to try next? I had thought of another Suzi but thought I should really try something else. Not keen on the Yamaha. There were only two left. I liked the Kawa ZX6RR and took one for a spin. It all felt great with only one problem, the seat height for Bronwyn was just way too tall for her. It was shame really as I would get the orange colour to match the ute!

I have a friend Darren who now owns a Honda Dealership down Seaford way. He told me I should take the CBR for a trip down the road. At this point, after riding two new bikes, that the GSXR felt old and worn, even though it's not.  The brakes were spongy and the throttle felt stiff.

The Honda felt pretty good with the seat height low enough for Bron. I also liked the sit-on-top feel compared to the Suzuki. The Honda lacks the adjustable rear-sets, slipper clutch and the gear selector the Suzi had. I think Honda needs to pick up their game on that front. I have never owned a Honda road bike before (does a HI00 count?) but have had a few dirt bikes with no problems so I thought now was the time to try one out.

Darren gave me a good changover price on an ex demo with only 1,000 k's on her and I figured that would save me a first service bill as well as the time to run it in. The cost would be approx $3,200 to change over which I felt was OK.

The first impression of the CBR are that brakes are very similar but the gearbox is a lot smoother. Suspension was way too soft for me but I have since stiffened it up. I have put on a Tankslapper kit (scratch/stone chip clear plastics …Ed.) to protect it for all the rocks that 1000s seem to throw at me on Club rides. The extra fuel range is a welcomed addition as now I can run out to 250 k's for the tank. The Suzi was very good on the juice but lacked the capacity with only a 15.5 litre tank. (The Honda has an 18 litre tank.)

Last week I got put on heated grips (don't knock them till you try them) and a quick action throttle to speed things up a notch. Not sure if I will send the bike to Kroozetune to get the suspension done as I feel it's not too bad. I gave the bike a run round the track the other week and it felt good on road rubber. I have a set of race rubber to put on for the Melbourne Cup trip which should be great.

So far, so good with Honda. I just need to find out how I hide the funds from Bron to attack the HRC brochure!

600s rule!

Dave Ward