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New CBR650F and CB650 from the stout chaps at Honda

The 600 supersport class might be dying on its arse, but there’s still a market for a lower level of middleweight roadster. Honda’s CBR650 fits that bill nicely – the big H has been churning them out quietly for a couple of years now, and it wears the spiritual clothing of the old CBR600F very nicely indeed thank you.

Tucked into the range alongside the likes of the CBR500 and NC750, it offers a semi-sporting chassis, with a decent 90bhp inline-four motor. Practicality and economy are here in spades, and it’ll no doubt be as good buzzing through town on a daily commute as it would be on a sunny Sunday blast. You’d maybe end up a little bit at sea in the fast group of a trackday of course, but with some grippier rubber, you’d still have a ball.

For 2017, the CBR650F gets engine tweaks – adding 5bhp peak power and plumping out the midrange. It also presumably has complied with more emissions rules at the same time. The bodywork has been refined to show off more engine, and there’s a new set of Showa forks and some updated Nissin brake calipers.

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Is it going to set your pants alight? No. Will it make a fortune for Honda dealers everywhere as happy daily riders sign up for them on PCP and ride off with big grins on their faces? Undoubtedly…

The firm’s CB650 gets some mild tweaks When we were lads, we called this sort of thing an ‘Ornet, and be done with it. Times is all changed now though, and we’re all too ‘igh and mighty to just have a sweet 600cc four in a budget naked chassis and call it after an insect. ‘Eck as like.

The Hornet was almost as revolutionary a bike as Honda’s FireBlade – back in 1997, a tasty 85bhp naked roadster was the stuff of dreams, and both the CB600F and Yamaha’s Fazer energised that middleweight sector like never before.

Nowadays that class is on the wane a bit, but there are still some decent machines out there, like this CB650F. Essentially an unfaired version of the CBR650F, it gets a few more bhp for 2017, a revised front end, and a bit of a cosmetic makeover too. The forks are new Showa Dual Bending Valve chappies, and the twin-piston calipers are revised Nissins.

All decent stuff – but we wish Honda could work out how to cut some more mass from its budget machinery. This naked 600 tips the scales at 208kg wet – 13kg more than the new Fireblade. Tough to do on a budget of course, but that’s the challenge for the big guys…

And there’s more

CRF250 Rally
Another one for the ‘we sort of love it but don’t fully understand it’ box that Honda ticks every now and again. This CRF250 looks like the sort of thing which should have a fire-breathing race-tuned rally race engine under the panels. Instead, it has a softened 250 enduro motor putting out 24bhp.

The styling is straight from Honda’s CRF450 Dakar racers, so why not have a chunky lump in there? Is it for green lanes? Enduros? All-the-gear adventure urban commuting? We don’t know, but will be asking Honda and our offroad chums just that question…

X-ADV
We had a bit of pop at this, both last year when it was shown off as a concept, and again a couple of months back when it was announced as a genuine production model. An adventure scooter? Really? We suppose it’s spiritually not so different from something like a Honda CR-V or a Range Rover Evoque: road cars with very gentle offroad styling.

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The X-ADV is essentially an NC750 Integra, which we tested earlier this year, with, yes, some very gentle offroad styling. That means a soft 54bhp parallel twin 745cc motor, with DCT auto transmission, in a step-through(ish) chassis. The X-ADV gets longer travel suspension, chunky tyres, spoked rims, bashplate and handguards. You also get an Africa Twin-styled dashboard, and a heap of underseat storage (21l).

Obviously, since we’ve been unkind about it, it will turn out to be the best bike in the world. We’ll be riding it as soon as we can to let ye know.

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