Honda CBR600F-X 1999-2000 ASK ANDY
CMM contributor Andy Bolas has owned hundreds of bikes new and old and he knows what to source, buy and collect for the future. Listen to him!
In 1999 Honda took the plunge and released its all new middleweight supersports bike, giving the venerable CBR600F a huge revamp in the process. The old steel-framed CBR was falling behind its competitors in the sales stakes after most of the 1990s on top of its game. This time, Honda started with a clean slate and eliminated all of the old bike’s weaknesses: out went the steel frame and in came a lovely alloy frame and swingarm (which bolts straight to the back of the motor), four piston Nissin calipers up front replaced the ageing twin piston sliding calipers of the Steelie, proper sized wheels to suit a 180 rear tyre (up from 5in to 5.5in rim width), weight reduced by 16kg and an all-new motor with a claimed 110bhp to put the CBR back to the top of the pile; they still managed to keep the centrestand though! The CBR600 F-X was Honda’s answer to the Suzuki GSX-R600 and Kawasaki ZX6-R and at the same time Yamaha unleashed the R6. This redesign allowed the CBR to tackle the competition head-on both on the spec sheet and on the road and track. Compared to the opposition though, the CBR was more of a relaxed option to its raw-edged rivals. I guess what we are looking at here is the thinking man’s future classic. To ride it feels like it does everything better than the previous model; handling is sharper (shorter wheel base and stiffer chassis) but not quite as extreme as its competition though this is not necessarily a bad thing is it folks? Issues: apparently some early bikes did suffer some mechanical woes in the form of faulty bearing caps holding the cams in place causing a lot of noise and accelerated mechanical wear, no recall was issued and the problems were dealt with at dealer level. This may have created a problem if you had purchased your new steed from a parallel dealer. I would think you would have to be very unlucky to pick a bike up with this fault though as all these years later, very few seem to have suffered from it. Prices still seem to be falling at the moment and in some cases you can pick up an F-X/F-Y for less than a late model Steelie, although I can’t see this going on much longer. Personally I would look to spend around £2k on a nice example with decent miles and history. A while ago I purchased a mint F-X from a friend for £2400. The bike has done 8500 miles and has lots of history; it also came with a Yoshi can, double bubble screen and braided lines. Other than the previously mentioned early engine problems it’s your usual cam-chain tensioner (my later F-sport model needed it replacing at under 4k miles), or regulator rectifier problems, rotten downpipes (plenty of companies offer stainless replacements now) and general wear and tear to look out for. Speaking to people in the trade these models always sell quickly and only really return again for service, so take the plunge with confidence!