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Ownership review: My Honda CBR650F motorcycle

25th November 2021, 14:34 by Dev Shah

Mech gave a big thumbs up for the bike as the bike had a clean history, apart from a small fall and fork replacement done at Bigwing Bangalore.

BHPian Xaos636 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Long story short, I want to welcome every reader to my review and ownership experience of my Honda CBR650F in Pearl Metalloid White, also called back then as the HRC Racing color or simply the tricolor.

A few months before the pandemic, I was just about finalizing and looking at a few Street Triple 765's, CBR 650F's and a distant look at the Z900's as well. I did not want to go and get a new one, simply because I get bored of machines in 3-4 years of time and I could lose a big chunk of money right there, and for the fun to ride exponential bikes at great deals, where I myself can work on it because its not new and it wont match my OCD levels whatsoever. So it has to go through 'change' and me, along with a few very close auto enthusiasts are very much interested in working on automobiles, learning a few things, breaking a few things, re-learning it and the story goes on.

When my searches for a good bike led me to no mans land as expected, I decided to drop the plan altogether in the wake of Covid-19 outbreak as there was an unpredictable future lying around, atleast I thought so. Months passed, lockdowns passed and I moved back to Kerala, my hometown and the R3 was stuck at Bangalore because just before the lockdown, I had to drive my car to Kerala because I had a lot of luggage. I did not handover the keys of my bike to anyone as an old troll suggested, the amount of people I trust with my automobiles are very minuscule.

The lockdowns were eased, but entry to other states had a lot of things running. Hence I decided to courier the R3 keys to a trusted friend who promised me that he will deliver my bike to the border checkpost as his hometown was close by Coorg. Hence me @krishnaprasadgg started on the Tiger and went and collected the R3. I was so happy to saddle back on my own 2 wheels and perhaps this was the longest time that I did not ride a motorcycle, all thanks to the pandemic. Everything going smooth and sound with the R3(I decided to give her a pamper too, documented here. I came across an ad with a very decent quote for the Honda CBR650F and I immediately sent the details to my contacts in Bangalore to get the service history of the bike and also discussed with a few close friends on the same.

To be honest, the main motivation came from @krishnaprasadgg itself and he was pushing me to get it and he was ready for a ride to Bangalore to checkout the bike immediately. What I did was, I sent my friendly neighborhood mech from Highlander to see the bike, ride it and tell me the opinion on it. Hats off to the mech for taking time to go there after his work late night and a big thanks to the ex-owner who was kind enough to show the bike and allow my mech to check all the details, so late into the day. Mech gave a big thumbs up for the bike as the bike had a clean history (Apart from a small fall and fork replacement done at Bigwing Bangalore). The owner showed me all the pics of damage and there was a very miniscule bend on the fork tube and suspecting a fork damage, he decided to claim insurance and change both forks to the 2018 version one which had a slightly different design on the top cap and a different spring usage. Either way, the damage was limited to that and there was no damages even to fairings and hence they weren't replaced. The bike was literally decal-less as the previous owner said he did not like the stickers on the bike. The tank sticker cannot be removed as its clear coated and hence the rest of the stickers made way for a cleaner look. I have a pic of the bike before the fork change without stickers, so chances of doubts whether the stickers was removed after the fall can be taken off. Either way, we decided to get the machine after checking all the service history, owner being so open about the history of the bike and to the fact that the bike had new unused Pirelli tyres and a full system Akrapovic exhaust on it.

I decided to trade my R3 for funding issues because I did not have an option here. Everything was quick and being part of various riders groups helped and the R3 was sold in one day flat. The new owner taking it away was a heart breaking scene to me as any other enthusiast would feel. The last picture of it is below:

Here we go. Me and @krishnaprasadgg decided to take the tiger and a friend's R3(which had to be dropped at Bangalore) and ride back on the Tiger and the CBR:

The Tiger even though not mine had a big part to play in my life as always. What a bike.

Meanwhile, to reduce time at the pitstop at Bangalore, I had asked my mech to take delivery of the CBR from the owner after me transferring the entire payment amount to the ex-owner so that my mech can do a detailed check on the bike and see what lies where. I decided to change the oil and oil filter (even though the service history said it was changed just 2k kms ago), change the air filter to BMC stock replacement filter, clean the chain, adjust slack and ride back.

This was my first face to face meetup with my new steed. It was lying naked, getting pampered when we reached Bangalore. A diagnostic run was done and everything seemed normal:

This is me right here calling my wife and telling how the bike sounds with an Akrapovic without DB killer. Clicked as expected by @krishnaprasadgg:

The brand new BMC air filter:

Chain needed replacement. It cannot go more than 4k-5k kms by any chance. Notice the faux carbon fiber swing arm cover:

The fairings put back on (Note: Akra sticker removed thanks to cops going all hell loose. Cant deny the fact that now it looked like stock):

Getting a first feel of the bike:

The keys. One key was never used at all and it felt like Honda just handed it over to me:

We finished all the necessary RTO formalities for ownership transfer and the plan was to set off to the hotel, take rest and then ride the next day early morning back to Kerala through Salem, Avinashi, Coimbatore, Palakkad and Kozhikode through @kp's home meeting the mighty R1 on the way. This is the longest route I can take to reach home, but as both of us wanted to try the 650, we decided to take the longest route and I ended up more often on the Tiger and what a ride it was. Never thought the cruise control on a motorcycle could help this massively.

Setting off the next day early at 3:00 am:

Pics en route:

At @krishnaprasadgg's home . A shy R1 is hiding under the wraps:

A disaster when I missed a huge stone in the middle of the highway. Least expected and couldn't avoid the front wheel but somehow avoided the rear wheel. This was the first time something like this has happened to me:

Got back home and first thing first. Straightened the bend as a new wheel wasn't in stock either at Bigwing Bangalore or at Bigwing Cochin. Wheel was balanced and all well till date. But still thinking if I should replace it or not and opinions are welcome on the same. Very less fork travel doesn't help the bike at all:

One most important thing which I purchased right away was the Pyramid Plastic fender extender. It saves almost everything that is thrown by the front tire to the radiator. I thought a radiator guard wasn't required here, but how wrong I could be(More on that later):