2007 Honda CBR600RR

Changes Great and Small

For 2007, the 20th anniversary of the Honda Hurricane, Honda is dropping the venerable, street-focused CBR600F4i and returning to their "one 600cc sportbike for all occasions" formula.

The 2007 CBR600RR has been thoroughly redesigned to appeal to track addicts and roadrunners alike, and when Honda invited us to sample the new version at Barber Motorsports Park in late November, we enthusiastically accepted. Sitting there in the pits, the bike looks seriously track-ready, with paddock stands and tire warmers and the shiny trailers of Honda and Dunlop in the background, and all the tire and bike mechanics in the foreground.

As I admire the new bodywork and finely honed mechanical bits, something catches my eye: two tabs on each side of the underseat exhaust's mounting bracket. Little nubs of molded plastic, they may be the least attractive part of the motorcycle, but they speak to me. A tailpack can be bungeed to these tabs, potentially making the Honda a perfect partner for a long weekend (or short week) of apex hunting. Waddling out onto the rain-soaked track under the watchful eye of the proud Honda Japan engineers, I secretly wonder how this bike would perform on a mountain road....

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