New Honda CBR600F wins fans at Motorcycle Live

The new Honda CBR600F is an almost unchanged Honda CB600 Hornet with different handlebars and a quality fairing. The result is a 100bhp 599cc machine but with more comfort than the CBR600RR.

• 2011 Honda CBR600F gallery

But is this what UK customers want? We spoke to show-goers at Motorcycle Live to find out:   

Peter Main, 41, Horsham
“I can’t afford two bikes anymore so what I want is a bike like the old CBR600F which will do everything pretty well. I want to ride it all day, be able to tour on it, do the odd trackday and it still be comfortable for a pillion. What I really want though is a Fireblade with the performance and handling but more comfortable.”

Joe Main, 44, Redhill
“I’ve got a 1990 CBR600F at the moment along with a Suzuki Hayabusa but the CBR is getting a bit old and tired. I think the new one looks good and the styling has brought the CBR600F right up to date. Having 100bhp is more than enough on the road for day to day riding. If I want to go on really long touring then the Hayabusa is good for that.”

Neil Walker, 48, Leamington
“I’ve got a Kawasaki ER6-n and I use it everyday for commuting and moving around between different jobs during the day but the lack of a fairing is a problem. I want something practical with ABS that I can ride all day long and I think this might be the bike. I want to test ride one as soon as I can.”

Simon Godfrey, 44, Leamington
“I’ve got a Suzuki GSX-R1000 but it’s not the sort of practical bike I need at the moment. I want something that I can use everyday but I am quite big so I need to know if I can fit on it. The problem is always with bikes that are smaller than a 600cc is that they are physically too small for normal people.”

The old CBR600F is a bike that is still in massive demand despite the fact that Honda stopped making it in 2004 and replaced it with the much more focused and racing-derived CBR600RR.

While the CBR600RR has been a big seller, the 600cc sportsbike market has seen the biggest drops off all in the past two years.