HONDA CB650F (2017 - 2019) Review

Not for long drives.

Purrs

Lack of

Firm but comfortable on most roads, but you can feel the bumps or ruts through the bike if the road is rough and full of potholes and can unsettle it if going a bit quick. On a smooth twisty roads it glides along and is so engaging and fun to ride. As long as you have good quality tyres you can feel what the wheels are doing and how it's griping the road. Having done a mix of town, rural and motorways and weekend trips I like having the pre-load on the rear a bit stiffer that you would normally need as it makes it feel more precise in corners and less like a bouncy castle on bumpy roads.Town riding is not a problem but can get a bit tiring and feel heavy in slow busy traffic, and as the turning circle isn't amazing can be a bit challenging to manoeuvre in tight spaces. Brakes are good and solid with good feel and takes quite a lot before the ABS kicks in (depending on road conditions), but overall the bike is easy to ride and very forgiving if you're accidentally a little bit heavy handed now and then.

The engine is brilliant, nice and smooth with it being a 4 cylinder, can purr along at slow speeds without any issue and is very good at letting you be lazy with the gears or it can give you an exciting thrill and be sporty when you keep the revs up higher and in a lower gear. Quite often I leave it in 6th when I ride around on country lanes without needing to change down much and will pick up from 30mph and climbing hills it just pulls, but if you want a quicker response just keep it in a lower gear and the revs up and it will instantly pull away.It can be a little snatchy and aggressive if you throttle on from 0 too quick, but it's a cable throttle and you gradually learn how to adapt to it and how to do it smoothly

The build quality of the chassis, engine and important parts it's really good, there is rust and corrosion in places but mostly cause I would leave it for weeks between washes even in the winter so it got covered in a lot of road salt. The plastic panels around the rear don't quite fit together as well as you might expect and don't fully line up with the mounting points properly in some places but it's a small issue.The OEM chain is a bit cheap and poor quality and rusts very quickly, mine stretched a lot and got seized links within the first 4000 miles, but was probably from lack of maintenance and cleaning on my part

I can push it up to around 80mpg on long runs and get close to 240 miles out a tank (quoted is 213 miles). Servicing is pretty decent cost, mine might be a bit higher than most but cause of heavy use it would usually need brake pads or a tyre around servicing time. Certain parts can be a little pricy for what they are, like the front brake pads as you need 4 or the air filter, but since it's out of warranty I replaced that with a washable K&N filter so saves a little.

The LED lights are great, nice and bright and give a nice white light at night with decent illumination of the road. It could be seen as being a bit underequipped compared to other brands in the same category at the time with the old LCD display and no gear indicator, but the engineering was spent where it really counted on the engine, chassis and suspension etc.I have added a top box, heated grips, power for charging my phone when using it as a satnav, and the optional Honda screen and still love it. I've also found an unused plug in the wiring loom under the seat that can give out 12V only when the ignition is on so I am looking to use that if I ever need to have more power for accessories. Personally I don't rate the Dunlop's that came with it or the options they offer that fit having tried 2 or 3 different sets. Currently on a set of Metzler's and they are excellent.

I found the ride quality to be really nice, brakes however were slightly lacking imho. The part inside of the disc (mount / abs reader) also suffered from corrosion)

Whilst the engine itself never missed a beat and power (initial roll on aside) was smooth and predictable. It wore a little thin on me that you kind of have to ring its neck to get to the power. I did still enjoy it loads tho and its not lacking power, I just prefer abit more without having to rev it so much.

Headstock bearings were replaced twice in two years, Some parts suffered some corrosion despite good maintenance cleaning and protection (bike was used all year round)

You see some really amazing deals on these bikes now and again but in hindsight I feel slightly duped as the 0% pcp deal was somewhat dulled by the additional charges etc placed on top of list price. I ended up paying around 130pcm over 3yrs

I didnt rate the original tyres, I also find protection lacking as standard. I added crash protection, mirrors which function beyond a view of my arm / shoulder, handguards, replaced the chain and sprockets as they didn't fare too well through winter. Usual stuff really, added a tail tidy and heated grips, had a top box on for winter which also helped with practicality, but didn't help with the slight feeling that the bikes balance wasn't awesome perhaps me in part, but current bike doesn't make me feel the same). Abs is also eager to intrude and paint durability didnt live upto my expectations for a Honda.

Great in line 4 engine commute/ cruise/tour .Happy to do 250/mls a day on this bike.Sounds great if you wind her up a bit

Honda quality.Never let me down.No corrosion.But always wiped down cleaned garaged under a blanket.

2yrs old Will be independent serviced now

Maybe a gear indicator but never missed one

Did a 1.5k trip around Spain and Portugal. Very comfortable. ABS works well. Discovered this when I really need it.

Can potter around town and doing the sensible thing, however give it a fist full and it responds with a bit agression and character

It's a Honda

60+ mpg Not expecting anything too costly service wise.

Could do with a gear indicator.