Test drive: Honda CB650F (2018) - First acquaintance

Honda CBR650F sports touring motorcycle model

was introduced in 2014 as a budget road motorcycle with a plastic body kit. At the same time, a naked version was presented, called the Honda CB650F. Both models are absolutely identical in technical terms and differ only in the front plastic and the type of steering wheel (on the CBR650F there are clip-ons, on the CB650F there is a classic U-shaped steering wheel). The Honda CBR650F is assembled at the Honda plant in Thailand.

The Honda CBR650F is based on a new in-line 4-cylinder liquid-cooled engine with a volume of 649 cm³ and producing 87 hp. power and 63 Nm of torque. The engine is derated and tuned for confident traction from low and medium speeds, showing maximum performance at 8000-11000 rpm. Since 2021, the engine settings have been optimized, thanks to which the maximum power has increased to almost 90 hp and torque to 64 Nm.

The Honda CBR650F positions itself as a budget sports motorcycle aimed at various categories of pilots - from beginners to experienced ones. The deforcing engine, coupled with smooth power take-off, a comfortable seating position and the presence of ABS, make this model as versatile as possible and suitable for the role of a first motorcycle.

Main competitors of Honda CBR650F:

• Kawasaki ER-6F
• Suzuki GSF650SA Bandit
• Yamaha XJ6 Diversion F

Speaking about the reasons for the appearance of the Honda CBR650F and Honda CB650F models on the market, it seems obvious that Honda is striving to occupy the niche of budget city motorcycles for every day, where “Ruffs” and “Diversions” reign supreme. After all, despite having a whole line of flagship naked bikes and sports (which, by the way, are in great demand), Honda did not have a budget series of motorcycles that could compete on equal terms with the XJ6 Diversion or the ER-6, mainly in price. The appearance of the Honda CBR650F and Honda CB650F solved this problem. Yes, such models do not have sporting characteristics and advanced racing technologies, but they are more promising from the point of view of targeting the broad masses of consumers.

2018 was the last year of production of the model, after which it was replaced by a new one - the Honda CBR650R.

Brief history of the model

• 2014 - start of production and sales.

Model:

Honda CBR650F + ABS (all regions).
Factory designation:
CBR650FE, CBR650FAE.

• 2015 - no significant changes.

Model:

Honda CBR650F + ABS (all regions).
Factory designation:
CBR650FF, CBR650FAF.

• 2016 - no significant changes.

Model:

Honda CBR650F + ABS (all regions).
Factory designation:
CBR650FG, CBR650FAG.

• 2017 - the engine undergoes modifications. The performance increases: 87.0 → 89.7 hp, 63.0 → 64.0 Nm.

Model:

Honda CBR650F + ABS (all regions).
Factory designation:
CBR650FH, CBR650FAH.

• 2018 - no significant changes. Last year of production.

Model:

Honda CBR650F + ABS (all regions).
Factory designation:
CBR650FJ, CBR650FAJ.

Bike features

Here are the main features of the Honda SBR 650 F:

• budget;
• flexible disposition;
• high performance for the class.

What many will like about this model is that it responds very smoothly to driver inputs. However, it has quite a lot of potential, which should not be forgotten. Still, among road motorcycles this is one of the most powerful options.

Specifications

Technical characteristics of Honda CBR650F:

Hello everyone, Bikepost ! In the previous post about obtaining a license and buying a motorcycle, I asked you, comrades, if you would be interested in reading about anything else. Having received several comments and personal messages, I now plan to make several posts about the motorcycle itself and about the features of local driving, roads and other related joys.

I’ll start with the “delicious” part - first impressions of my brand new Honda CBR650F , 2018 model year.

Disclaimer : according to the Russian Honda website, this model is no longer officially supplied to Russia. A quick search for one of the popular sites for buying/selling cars and motorcycles in Russia found 10+ advertisements for the sale of used motorcycles of this model, produced in 2014 and 2015 - this post can be considered as a small review/guide on the model with my personal impressions, well with an eye to updating the model in 2021.

Briefly about the motorcycle

The Honda CBR650F is the successor to the CBR600F and CBR600Fi (and, in part, the CBR600RR ), as well as the Full version of the naked CB650F (which is the successor to the Hornet). Honda positions the CBR650F as a “supersport”, but we understand that it is still more of a road bike, with a slight admixture of sport. The first motorcycles were released in 2014, in 2021 a modernization/update/restyling was carried out - I will write about it below. The main competitors are the Yamaha FZ6R and Kawasaki Ninja 650 .

Specifications

Many people love various kinds of plates and data from brochures, so I will give the most important and interesting ones, as it seems to me. The full list can be easily found on the Internet: • Engine: 649 cc. see, 4 cylinders, 16 valves. Max. power 89 hp, 66 kW at 11,000 rpm, torque 64 Nm at 8,000 rpm. • Suspension: telescopic fork at the front, 41 mm, travel 120 mm, at the rear – monoshock adjustable for rigidity, travel 127 mm. • Wheelbase: 1450 mm. • Wheels: 120/70 front, 180/55 rear, factory Dunlop tires. • Fuel tank: 17.3 liters. • Claimed consumption: 21 km/litre. • Seat height: 810 mm. • Weight: 211 kg. • “Passport” dynamics: acceleration 0-100: 3.5 seconds, maximum speed: 235 km/h. In general, if you compare the “nameplates” and put Honda, Yamaha and Cava next to each other, then Honda will be better than its competitors in almost all respects (except, perhaps, weight and fuel consumption).

Update 2017/2018

As I wrote above, Honda made a fairly major update to the CB650F/CBR650F in 2017. What has changed: • LED optics installed. Here it must be said that these are not just LED running lights - the entire head light (low/high) is now LED, white. Looks very cool, shines too. • Additional 4 horsepower (was 85, now 89), tightened the exhaust. • Modernized front fork. • The rear swingarm has become lighter and black. • Added colors to the motorcycle, in particular a red and black color scheme for the CBR1000RR Fireblade. Overall, in my opinion, this is a fairly serious and “tasty” update. I would especially note the changes to the front headlight, which have a rather serious impact on both passive safety and appearance.

Impression

Actually, this is why this post was written. I’ll try to break my impressions into separate groups and describe personal pros and cons.

Landing

Moderately athletic. For myself, I found three “working” positions, depending on the speed and type of ride. • "Urban". Up to 50-60 km/h, the landing is almost vertical, with a slight tilt forward. Arms are almost straight, slightly bent at the elbows. A normal option for the city, taking into account constant stops at traffic lights. • "Country". Up to 100 km/h. The seating position is lower, the arms are bent more, yet you are still sitting on the motorcycle, not lying down. • "Autobahn". 100+ km/h. The “shrimp” pose, the ass moves as far as possible from the gas tank to the passenger seat, the elbows rest on the knees, the body and head are hidden behind the windshield. The wind protection works great, but it’s not comfortable to ride like this for a very long time - your legs and chest get tired (if you lie completely on the tank). Perhaps it's a matter of habit. Taking into account local characteristics and roads (many expressways and highways, country driving), I am pleased with the landing. If I were buying a motorcycle in St. Petersburg, I would think twice about it, and most likely, I would buy a naked bike with a more upright stance for city riding.

Dynamics

Woohoo! Enough power! In “urban” mode with local restrictions of 50 km/h it is even too much, a typical start from a traffic light: 1st gear, gas, acceleration to 40 km/h, clutch - second, third, fourth, release the clutch and drive 50 km/ h. It’s more interesting outside the city and on the autobahn - the motorcycle very quickly picks up somewhere around 160-170 km/h, after which it continues to smoothly and evenly pick up speed up to 200+, not so vigorously, but still. Unfortunately, I haven’t checked the maximum speed yet - firstly, the run-in has just finished; secondly, it’s hard to find an area without traffic - people rarely drive faster than 200 km/h, despite the absence of speed limits - so you constantly run into cars ahead. About the gearbox: all shifts are as clear as possible, neutral is perfect. The gear ratios are selected quite well; in “retirement” mode in the city, a maximum of 4-5 gears are needed. Outside the city on the highway, fifth and sixth work very well.

Ergonomics

There are probably some nuances here that you need to get used to. Of the obvious shortcomings that I encountered: • Mirrors. They are quite large, but I don't have enough reach. In city driving you have to constantly tuck your elbows towards your body. I’ll also think about it, maybe I’ll order and install small extensions of 2-3 cm. • The high beam blinker is located on the main button on the left handle (and not a small chicken under the index finger, as was the case on my KTM). Thus, in order to simply blink distantly, you need to seriously change the position of your left hand, which can be very inconvenient if you hold the clutch depressed. • The horn is located a little far away and is a little difficult to find by touch. • The instrument panel is quite informative, but has two major drawbacks - there is no engine temperature scale (only a warning light that lights up when it overheats), and there is no indicator of the current gear. Cheap options that were on my small KTM, which for some reason are not on the big and serious Honda. • The engine, by the way, warms up well and after a long drive begins to warm up the legs. It's good to warm up like that! You won't freeze on autumn days • The factory windshield, as is often the case, is quite low and can only protect the pilot from the wind when lying down. I have already solved this problem by ordering an alternative glass with a “hump” from Ali. Perhaps in the future I will try to find even larger glass. • The saddle is quite hard; out of habit, my butt became numb when riding for more than an hour. Now I seem to have gotten used to it . In any case, this drawback is easily solved by purchasing a new saddle, which, however, costs about 300 euros.

Conclusion

You have to understand that my experience is not yet very large and rich - several school motorcycles (Yamaha YBR-125, Stels Flame 200, Kawasaki ER-6N) and the main city motorcycle in Russia (KTM Duke 200).
Some things are just new to me, and some I have not yet discovered at all - however, this does not stop me from getting great pleasure from the motorcycle and being happy with the purchase every day! I hope you enjoyed my humble story. If you have any wishes or questions, I will be happy to answer in the comments or private messages. Write!

PS I plan to write my next post about the peculiarities of German driving - roads, rules, other drivers, travel. I hope I can please you in June

Main competitors of Honda CBR650F:

Kawasaki ER-6F

Suzuki GSF650SA Bandit

Yamaha XJ6 Diversion F

Speaking about the reasons for the appearance of the Honda CBR650F and Honda CB650F models on the market, it seems obvious that Honda is striving to occupy the niche of budget city motorcycles for every day, where “Ruffs” and “Diversions” reign supreme. After all, despite having a whole line of flagship naked bikes and sports (which, by the way, are in great demand), Honda did not have a budget series of motorcycles that could compete on equal terms with the XJ6 Diversion or the ER-6, mainly in price. The appearance of the Honda CBR650F and Honda CB650F solved this problem. Yes, such models do not have sporting characteristics and advanced racing technologies, but they are more promising from the point of view of targeting the broad masses of consumers.

Chassis and brakes

The frame of this bike is made of reliable steel and is a very road-worthy body. The interestingly shaped alloy wheels are combined with a sporty-looking steering wheel. In general, the entire exterior hints at the racing nature of the motorcycle, so some may be surprised when they learn that this is not a sportbike.

A progressive monoshock at the rear is combined with a 41mm telescopic fork front suspension. The CBR 650 F is braked at the rear by one disc with a diameter of 240 mm and a single-piston caliper, and at the front by two discs of 320 mm each and two-piston calipers. There is ABS, which makes the braking system much better.

Motorcycle Honda CBR 650F 2021 review

The description of the Honda CBR 650F 2021 motorcycle is in the queue for publication of the article. Announcement: Today, for almost every new motorcycle that comes into being, marketers strive to carve out their own niche. This one is a road sport, this one is a recreational enduro. But what class should we include a motorcycle that has a little bit of everything? A good bike should have a reliable engine, comfortable ergonomics and simple controls...

Honda CBR 650F is a very rare motorcycle in Russia equipped with a fairly powerful 89.8 hp engine. Despite the fact that good models of motorcycles have a very respectable price, and the season for their use is relatively short, the motorcycle market is developing rapidly. And if you believe the words of dealers, then some models of recently released motorcycles are selling like hot cakes at the beginning of the season, and the models brought to Russia are clearly not enough to fully satisfy consumer demand.

A motorcycle has long ceased to be an alternative to a car, and the times when this equipment was bought only because there was not enough money for a full-fledged car are forgotten. Nowadays, two-wheelers can be called technological marvels in many cases, and their cost can be compared with that of prestigious cars.

Many people have started buying motorcycles for hobby purposes as riding or even collecting them has become a good pastime for many people. Many motorcycles, for example the Honda CBR 650F, whose technical characteristics make it possible to call the model a prestigious brand, are in demand among both beginners and experienced motorcyclists.

Motorcycles with an engine capacity of 649 cc / 39.6 cu-in. see, appeared as a result of long work of inventors who sought to create a model that was not inferior in characteristics to other versions of the motorcycle. In some cases, these models are not only not inferior, but also ahead of other motorcycles, as they have minimal fuel consumption and other excellent parameters.

Motorcycles with an engine capacity of more than 400 kb. cm, which includes the Honda CBR 650F - this category of motorcycles simply cannot claim the title of “motorcycle for a beginner.” On the contrary, this is already a serious technique that requires certain control of motorcycle equipment with a smaller engine capacity. Yes, she attracts more attention, she is the most beautiful, fast, interesting and there is a huge selection of models. But as power increases, the weight of the motorcycle inevitably increases. In this class you are unlikely to find motorcycles lighter than 180 kg, unless they are the latest motorcycle models.

Go to the entire range of Honda motorcycles, on this page you can find Honda CBR 650F motorcycles from other years of production and information about them