Honda waves the wand over the 2007 CBR600RR

Honda doesn’t like getting beaten on the world stage and the success of Yamaha’s all-new 2006 600 supersport is biting into Honda’s success in competition (after four World Supersport titles in a row, it is likely to be beaten by Yamaha Germany’s Kevin Curtain for the 2006 title) and on the showroom floor. So, for 2007, Honda has done a complete makeover of every molecule of the CBR600RR and it promises the most advanced 600cc machine in the class for next year. The motor features two-stage fuel-injection system and ECU programming giving it more pull in the 7000-10,000 rev-range and an amazing 118bhp (nearly 200bhp/litre). Chassis-wise, the CBR600RR has shed a stunning eight kilograms for a dry weight of just 155 kilos! The new 2007 bike is also 22mm shorter than the older model and now features a new Honda Electronic Steering Damper (HESD) to keep the front-end of the bike securely planted on the road. An extensive article with lots of detailed pics inside on the CBR600 which celebrates its 20th birthday in 2007. No price has yet been fixed for this latest middleweight missile, but it will be available in March 2007.

In comes a sleek and slippery aerodynamically refined fairing, a wide, aggressive snout-mounted air-intake and an all-new, lighter and more powerful 600cc Dual Sequential Fuel-Injected inline four-cylinder engine featuring the smallest dimensions in its class. The motor itself is almost a kilo less than the previous model’s, but the important thing is that the two-stage fuel-injection system and ECU programming give the new CBR much more ‘pull’ in the 7000-10,000 rev-range than the previous model. All this helps to add up to a total power output of an amazing 118bhp.

Chassis-wise, the CBR600RR design team have worked towards a lighter machine than ever before with the aim being an eight kilo reduction in overall weight. This results in an amazing dry weight of just 155 kilos! For quick-turning ability the new 2007 bike is also 22mm shorter than the older model (with a longer swing-arm) and now features a new Honda Electronic Steering Damper (HESD) to keep the front-end of the bike securely planted on the road.

Packed with racing technologies handed directly down from Honda’s MotoGP RC211V, the astounding CBR600RR debuted in 2003 as a mid-sized sports bike designed primarily to reassert Honda’s leadership in the highly competitive environment of World Supersport racing. Subsequently, its class-leading combination of top performance characteristics carried the CBR600RR to three consecutive World Supersport championships following the 2002 title held by the CBR600F-Sport, and total domination of its class in every year since its auspicious debut. It also excelled at providing one of the most exciting blends of top performance and remarkable riding ease to ever make a rider with a need for speed feel like a champion. Its incredible race-winning capability and far-reaching performance potential also made the CBR a thrilling and confidence-inspiring mount for those who simply love to ride…fast.

Time, however, gradually caught up with the CBR600RR, and the competition has grown to become especially intense in the hottest-selling category in the world of street bikes. In order to reassert its domination of the class, the CBR required more than just another makeover and the addition of a few new performance features to a well-proven design. Instead, the time had come to start again on a clean page to incorporate all the design, manufacturing and racing innovations gleaned over the years since the CBR saw the first light of day. The time had come to lay a king to rest and prepare the stage for the coming of a new champion.

Development Concept

Setting out to create a more intensely competitive yet more widely enjoyable next-generation successor to the brilliant CBR600RR would be no mean feat. However, unhindered by the limitations of trying to improve on an existing machine, the CBR600RR’s development team were given the freedom to explore the vast possibilities and hidden potential of drastically new design innovations in the quest for even greater advances in performance and handling.

Thus, formulating their ideas for an all-new middleweight Super Sports leader around the main design concepts of “Lighter Weight for Ultimate Control” and “New Dimensions in 600cc Super Sports Design,” the team focused on achieving an even stronger power-to-weight ratio—with all its inherent benefits—through lighter weight and reduced drag everywhere. Engine, frame, bodywork, even the instrument panel; nothing was overlooked in quest for a lighter and faster CBR.

True to Function

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