A bar style fuel gauge is displayed on the comprehensive instrument panel. On the previous F4i model a gauge only showed when the machine was displaying a reserve countdown. But the new CBR600RR sports a proper fuel gauge to the left of the large conventional tachometer. The LCD below and to the right of the tachometer is the larger LCD which displays the vehicle speed, odometer, tripmeters and clock.

The 599cc engine pulls well and revs hard. Redline is set at 15,000rpm on the 17,000rpm tachometer, the rev-limiter cuts in a little over 15,000. Best results are gained by shifting at around 14,000rpm. While the engine is stronger than the previous F4i machine, from my seat of the pants it felt no stronger than the current crop of supersport machines available elsewhere.  It does rev the hardest, and had good top end pull, but it does suffer a little in the mid-range.  However I have also ridden a machine with an aftermarket exhaust system which felt considerably stronger in this area of performance.

Honda claim the engine is all new. After some CAD calculations Honda found that the bore & stroke was ideal in the same ratio as that seen on the F4i, so these measurements remain the same. Engine width has been reduced at the crankshaft through the repositioning of some components. For example, moving the crankshaft starter gear has realised a 3-degree improvement in available lean angle.

The engine is also shorter, allowing for a longer swingarm while moving the rider closer to the steering head. A higher countershaft and more triangular gearbox layout reduced the distance from the crank to the swingarm pivot by 30mm. Shortening the layout even further was achieved by positioning the engine 9mm more forward than before. This was enabled the new exhaust ports which angle 30-degress downward compared to the previous engine, this means that the header pipes occupy less space.  Combined with extra length saved by the new fuel cell these measures add up to move the rider 70mm closer to the steering head.

The engine runs new skirtless slipper pistons. These forged items are much shorter and 15g lighter than before. Very thin 0.8mm top rings are more resistant to high rpm 'flutter' when running in the aluminium/ceramic composite cylinder sleeves. More weight has been trimmed from the piston pins, 8 grams each.

The carburised conrods borrow some design cues from Honda's VTR World SuperBike machines with their 'nutless' design. Threaded bolts screw directly into tapped holes in the body of the conrod instead of the conventional bolt/nut combination which saves around 35g per cylinder, amounting to another 140g overall.  That doesn't sound like much but it can make quite a difference to the inertia of the engine internals when they are spinning at 15,000rpm.

Cosmetically, the quality of finish is generally excellent. However we did find that wearing leathers caused the black paint on the tank to scuff and lose lustre. Some clear ‘contact’ sheets will need to be fitted here to prevent this from happening.