If you take a look at the Honda UK website, the super sport offering in terms of new models definitely doesn’t have a CBR600RR in the line up. It was dropped in 2017 thanks to EU emissions laws, along with a change in focus from the market. In short, the price difference between a 600cc and a 1000cc sports bike was very small while the difference in performance was sizeable. People stopped buying the middleweight screamers, choosing instead to spend just a little bit more money on the litre version.
We were told by the head of Honda Europe back in 2013 that the future for the 600 super sport market wasn’t looking good, the writing was on the wall. Until today.
In a bit of a U-turn, Honda Japan has released early images and video of the new CBR600RR on their Japanese website. Looking a lot like the new Fireblade and even sporting a set of baby wings, the 600RR looks trick in the HRC paint we can see in the video.
It looks like a fair amount of the hardware from the 2017 model has been utilised, the wheels, swinging arm and exhaust all look familiar to us, as do the body panels.
But a screenshot from the video of the clocks shows multiple riding modes, and the same levels of adjustability as the CBR1000RR Fireblade.
Full details will follow later this month, in the meantime here’s a picture to tide you over. It’s possible it could be a limited numbers effort in order to homologate updates for racing. We can handle that as the opportunity to ride one again is an exciting prospect. Welcome back old buddy!
