When I was looking for a new bike I spent ages looking for reviews from people who have actually owned and ridden the bike they were pimping, and to be honest good reviews are hard to find. So I decided that as soon as I could write a review that was useful, I would ……. So hear we go.
Bought it back in Nov 07 Red / ABS, and have covered 5000 miles so far. My last bike was a Honda CBF 500 (we all have to start somewhere). I have had no problems with the bike at all (well it’s a Honda what else would you expect?). It’s good points are, as mentioned before it’s a Honda and it looks cool and I mean cool. It’s so easy to ride (easier than the old man bike I had before), I have never had the feeling it was going to bite me for making small mistakes. Its got a clock. It has a proper size fuel tank (19l). It’s narrow, so whipping through traffic on he A12 is actually a pleasure (BMW bike owners please pull in and let us pass). I have no idea what the fuel economy is like and with the way that I ride it at the moment I don’t want to, so sorry I can’t be of help on that point. It has just the right engine range that you need i.e. if you are commuting and need to get from A to B it will deliver all you need with good power output at low revs so you don’t have to change gear every 30 sec. Like wise if you are commuting, sat at traffic lights and a chav in a Honda civic R decides that he owns the road, with very little effort at all you can show him the true meaning of ‘power to weight ratio’ and still have room for as smug glance backwards. Oh did I mention that it sounds as cool as it looks when employing the ‘educating chav mode’. Combined ABS well what can I say wet / dry / icy, when you press on the brakes ….. the bike stops …. I don’t think that needs any more said about it except this, on two occasions this amazing invention has prevented me from a trip to the local A+E department, and being that this is Queens in Romford its not a bad thing.
Bad points, the mirrors, as you have seen from other reviews you need to move your shoulders to use them. It needs the optional extra rear hugger to protect the underside from all the salt, grit and dirt on the road.
So all in all this is a top bike with great reliability and all the performance you need for the commute and the weekend. Oh did I mention it looks and sounds cool.
R