First Ride: 2003 Honda Hornet CB600F

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CAN'T SAY I'VE been testing many bikes recently having spent the last few years polishing the arse of a business suit. Still I reckon that qualifies me perfectly to bring you fresh impressions of a new model Hornet 600, the bike that has launched a thousand biking careers and no doubt revived as many.
The Hornet was launched in 1998 and since then has sold a significant 9,000 units in the UK. Compare that with the perennial class-leading Honda CBR600F which has done 17,500 units over the same period.

The beauty of the Hornet for Honda is that it's tapped into that new/born again biker market by providing an exciting bike which doesn't scare its rider or wind up the the wife (as in: "you're not having one of those it looks dangerous, etc"). On the contrary, many wives/women have been buying them too, thanks to a low seat height and a power delivery that raises an eyebrow but not quite a front wheel.

Cocking a leg over the Hornet in Sicily for the first time did feel a bit odd - like the tyres were flat or I'd grown another few inches in the night (that got the wife's attention...). The seat is low. That said, half an hour later, it felt entirely normal and the riding position natural and comfortable. At 5ft 11in, I'm not sure however, if I looked a bit gawky on it, but hey, who cares about that?

But to the shorter-arsed among us seat height is literally the first hurdle. If you can't touch the floor your confidence is undermined before you've even hit the starter. So Honda has doubled its potential market by the simple expedient of building the bike nearer to the deck. Er, genius.

And perhaps even more cleverly, in the UK Honda instigated the Hornet Cup, a novice race class which added some real capital to the sporting credentials of the bike. And besides that, the bike sells because it's good. So sensibly, the 2003 Hornet hasn't been altered radically, but a few niggles have been addressed and a few improvements made. Having said that, the changes read more like a 10,000 mile service report than a model revision. I'll keep it brief if you promise to stay with me.

The tank and seat cowl are slightly altered to give it more aggressive lines and to allow a needed extra litre of gas to be squeezed into the tank. The exhaust is a new stainless 4-2-1 which lowers emissions and looks snazzier. The engine itself has been improved in its combustion efficiency, for example - it says here - the intake ports feature a slightly narrower shape that improves transient linearity. Which is fine for everyone except Buddhists. Honda say the most significant change to the engine is in the carbs (oh come on, nearly there) which feature er, a solenoid or something. Anyway, the sum effect is to make it pick up a bit quicker and delay the arrival of the next Ice Age by a couple of minutes.

Ah - you'll like this. The headlight now lights up 70% more road than the previous model. This is thanks to a computer-designed free-form multi-reflector interior surface and some brighter bulbs. Top! This means you can go 70% faster in the dark, which is always a good thing.