Posted by Jasmin Doobay | May 9, 2010

Honda rolled into Kelowna for Mother’s Day and brought a bunch of bikes for us to try out.

I managed to get in two rides in the morning before the spring weather hit once again and I made it home just in time to get hit with three or four raindrops.

Today’s road trips included the Honda CBF 600 and the Honda CBR 600.

Now the CBF is again similar to the Ninja 650 and the Yamaha FZ6R in that they’ve got the sport bike styling but a more upright position for the rider and not the break neck torque and power.

I rode the CBF first on a great trip up through the Ellison area with lots of left and right turns.  Now the 3 bikes in front of me were the Honda VFR 1200, the CBR 1000 and the CBR 600 and all had guys with a lot more experience on their sportbikes than little ole me.

I may not have totally kept up but I didn’t keep too many people waiting and the CBF is very much like the feel of my Ninja 650.

Though the shifting was different.  Honda has made this a very smooth ride and the shifts up and down were like a hot knife thru butter.  The seating was a bit different too.  There’s plenty of leg room and you’re not crouched up like on the CBR but the actual seat was quite wide.  I felt the wide seat and the larger gas tank pushed my knees out and put a bit of pressure on my hips.  Kind of like “dating” a guy with a beer belly (sorry…but it’s really the best analogy)

Alan from Kelowna Honda Powerhouse has really wanted to get me on this CBF for quite a while and while I liked it…I’m not sure it would be my next bike…given that I’ve kind of got the same with the Kawi.

The exception to the rule would be the CBF 1000…which given the upright riding position, the power, the ease of shifting and the comfort level…would be a great alternative to the adventure sports on the market.  You get the sexy sport look, the power to keep up on the highway and the easy riding position for a great combo for those longer rides…just throw on some packs and go.

Now I think I’m a little in love with the CBR 600.

This is the more true to racing sportbike replica, complete with over the tank body positioning and for me…great control in the corners.

I keep hearing from the dealers that I won’t like the super sports and I keep riding them and loving them.

To each their own.

So what if I’m not 20 something and wearing a size zero…there’s something about a super sport than gets me as excited as a cold beer on a hot day and no kids nearby (wink wink nudge nudge).

That forward lean into the steering wheel gives me a feel of control…and I like control.

The comparison for me is:

Yamaha FZ6R, Honda CBF 600 and Ninja 650 = automatic

Yamaha R6, Honda CBR 600 and Kawi Ninja ZX6R = standard

Like driving a car…there’s just more control with a standard…and there’s just more control with a super sport.

So I’ll work on gaining my confidence more on my 650 and I swear to the motorcycle gods my next bike has got to be a supersport 600…at least before I turn 50.

Here are some of the other pics from the day…great turnout for Kelowna Honda Powerhouse and thank you Alan, Kristen and all the rest of the fabulous staff for putting together another great demo days.