Honda CBR600F Sport, the first and aggressive 600 sports car from Tokyo

Before the arrival of the almighty CBR600RR in the brand with the golden wing, they worked to make their good-natured sport tourism more sporty, and thus the Honda CBR600F Sport was born.

Two decades ago in Tokyo they only thought of unseating the tremendous Yamaha R6, which had become a terrible weapon on the circuits.

For this they needed more power, and they would have achieved it by adding an electronic injection, as in the 900RR. According to rumor mill, the 99′ CBR600F should have been presented with the extra ingredient of a modern electronic fuel injection, but no.

Thus, two years later, the CBR600F appears with this power system and with other changes, designed to be able to recover the scepter of supersport middleweight motorcycles.

This CBR represented the arrival of many innovations to supersports such as injection, iridium spark plugs, analog-digital instrumentation, the exhaust catalyst…

The Honda CBR600F Sport was a fix before the arrival of the true revolution

To steal customers from the R6, Honda divided its emblematic CBR600F -in the 2001 version- into two variants: the F to dry, the friendly sport tourism of always, and the F Sport, our protagonist.

Compared to the 2000 CBR600, this version was lighter -1.5 kg-, with a reinforced chassis and swingarm, it premiered new aesthetics and its engine gained some extra CV with the arrival of injection.

The Sport is the “radical” version and as such it differs from the “quiet” version by a tail and a two-seater seat with two levels and by the Sport tagline. On the sides of its fairing it also sports the name “Sport”.

The rear light was also different, embedded in the tail -double stacked-, with new smaller and sharper front indicators.

The chassis was one of double aluminum beam -more reinforced- and with semi-pivotless technology, that is, the swingarm was anchored to the engine, but with a reinforcement of the lateral plates of the chassis.

The suspensions were conventional with a conventional multi-adjustable HMAS fork, although the internal steel cartridge was changed for a lighter aluminum one.

The rear shock absorber with Pro-Link system linkages was also kept, and 17” alloy wheels and 290mm brake discs with Nissin calipers kept the same structure as the 2000 version, but were lightened with a new hub and the brakes thanks to new aluminum cylinders and a new anchoring «spider».

This version was a compromise created so as not to lose the loyal customer base of the CBR600F of all life.

As for its 599 cc transverse in-line four-cylinder engine -4T, LC, 16V, DOHC, PGM-Fi- it received a PGM-FI electronic injection, derived from the one used in the CBR900RR.

Instead of carburetors, it was fitted with two 38mm diameter twin bodies, as well as new sensors, a larger airbox, and new forced air system ducts.

Electronic injection 20 years ago already used 3D fuel injection maps for each cylinder, as well as three different 3D maps for ignition.

And although it may seem incredible, the CBR600F from 2000 still had a manual starter, something that disappeared in 2001 with the arrival of injection, luckily…

And another novelty is that the spark plugs began to be made of iridium, with a very thin central electrode of only 0.4 mm in diameter. A consequence of the adoption of the injection.

It must be remembered that in 2000 leaded gasoline was still sold and that iridium degrades with lead, so the new CBR 600 could only fill the tank with “unleaded”.
Compared to the normal version, the Sport also received an extra treatment on its engine, to gain more power.

The Sport received a tail with the passenger seat on the second floor and internal changes to the engine

Thus, it mounted new larger intake valves, new double concentric springs, reinforced and lengthened gearbox transmission main shaft, clutch equipped with 8 friction discs and reduced alternator mass, to increase revolutions faster.

With all these changes the power rose to 110 hp at 12,500 rpm, and the red line was at 14,500 laps.

And with this version the systems to clean the exhaust gases began to arrive, and it is that it equipped a clean air injection system in the exhaust duct, to eliminate traces of HC and CO. And for the German market it was already equipped with a three-way catalyst, the HECS 3 system (Honda Evolutional Catalyzing System).

The arrival of electronics led to a completely new instrumentation: it is now analog-digital, and a large LCD screen is combined on the left side with an analog dial.

The analog tachometer was located on the dial, and included the indicator LED of the HISS anti-theft system -Honda Ignition Security System, released in 1999- as well as a tiny liquid quartz screen.

It was put up for sale in 2001 at a price of 1,699,000 pesetas, about 10,200 euros in exchange.

Due to this new electronic age, the “welcome introductions” begin: when the ignition key is inserted and the HISS recognizes the code, the speedometer lights up and shows the figure 290 km/h while the tachometer needle shoots up up to 15,000 rpm… Everything is electronic.

And this was the solution of the Honda R&D department to beat the competition with an “RR” without losing personality or the good-natured and comfortable character of the F, which was so popular among its customers.

The solution was found by dividing efforts, creating two new bikes, not new versions, which are the same bike with minor changes: one sports car and the other racing, without losing the CBR surname.

The Honda CBR600F Sport was put up for sale in our country in 2001 at a price of 1,699,000 pesetas, about 10,200 euros to change, and I was lucky enough to be able to buy one and enjoy it…

In the R&D environment the idea of ​​creating a much more radical RR version was already floating around, but that would come just two years later with the revolutionary CBR600RR…

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