CBR650F – The 2014 CBR650F is, apparently, a totally new middleweight but looks remarkably like the old CBR600F. The 649cc motor has been designed for low-to-midrange grunt, especially below 4,000rpm. The Six-Fiddy’s development team had many young designers included, in order to manufacturer a bike for the younger customer.
Teishiro Goto, Large Project Leader CBR650F: “The CBR650F is designed to conquer corners with ease and also be great around town. It offers a sporting edge but makes no compromise to rider lifestyle – and is a real pleasure to look at. More and more of our customers, novice or veteran, are drawn to such a distinct identity and riding feel and it gives me great pleasure to welcome them to Honda’s newest CBR.”
Needless to say, the CBR650F will frugally suck juice and comes with ABS as a safety measure, rather than the Fireblade’s performance enhancer.
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CBR300R – To rival Kawasaki’s Ninja 300, Honda has graced us with the CBR300R and (thankfully) more aggressive aesthetics than the slightly spindly 250R. Thanks to another 37cc (through a longer stroke) capacity is up to 286cc and packs another 4-5bhp over the 250R. A new balancer shaft is heavier to cope with the added oomph, and the fuel injection has also been remapped. The gearbox has also gone under the knife with a longer final ratio – another welcome improvement. Honda claim 240 miles from a 13L tank.
VFR800F – Sadly, the 2014 Fireblade has no V4 motor but the 2014 VFR800F does. And Honda’s TCS traction control. The 782cc VTEC lump gets a bottom end and midrange power boost, with some cam timing changes another internal trickery. The latest VFR also gets a significant diet, saving 10kg over its predecessor – 7kg is down to the new exhaust. Chassis-wise, there’s a new fork and Pro-arm swinger’, new wheels and an adjustable seat height.
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