No laws broken by Mike Emery ~ Photos by Sir Peter Jones (MSS)

Less? More? What...

Many years ago, in a land far, far away, a sportbike got into a fight with a street. The street quite rightly won, especially after damaging the sportbikes nice shiny clothing. The owner of that said vehicle neglected to replace the bodywork, added a set of comfortable upright bars and a new genre was born. The streetfighter... or something like that. Now across the pond (and then some) Mr Honda was watching this spectacle with great amusement, especially as many times the donor bike (mostly unwittingly) was his very own Honda CBR-F1234i. His answer? Give them what they want - a naked 600. The subsequent bike, named the Hornet, went on to win many sales from those same spotty 'yoofs' looking to skip that aforementioned crashing part.

And this, my two-wheeled streetfighting freaks, is where the 599 comes in. New for 2004 for us, available for the last 8 months or so for those wacky Euro's, this pint-sized bike (it's got a lower seat height than the SV650) compliments its bigger bro' the 919. Sure, I got a little bent out of shape when I finally discovered the price - $7099 - but that's before I rode the thing…

Now, it's no secret at all that I prefer smaller women, cars, meals, and more importantly, bikes. The sorry fact is, that 90% of us will go faster on a lesser-powered bike than one bristling with ball-busting horsepower. Proof? How about the arse whooping I dealt out last year roadracing on the Project XR-RR Supermoto. More proof? Our very own AlexF regularly beats both 600 and 750 in-line-fours on his girly-girl SV650, held together with bubblegum and string. He has a good excuse though, the fact that he's only four feet tall - I don't even have an excuse - I'm just faster on the smaller tackle, that's all.

This bike confirmed that fact quite nicely, I could get all the way up to the bikes (and my) limits and back again with nary a scare, yet alone a wobble. This bike just plain got it done. I wasn't cruising around either; the intro ride was a potential street-fighting affair through the Malibu canyons, north of LA. Our "guide" was none other that ex-world Endurance Champion Doug Toland. Being a recent graduate of the "Jeff Haney School of Motorcycle Related Terrorism" - Doug proceed to leave some pretty lurid "darkies" out of quite a few corners with me quite happily in tow, and more impressively, without the 599 tying itself up in knots like the bigger 919 does or can.

This bike is not all about going along as fast as its little legs would carry it, it seemed just as happy as a freeway/boulevard sleeper as it does as a canyon blaster. On either road the suspension is a little.. ahem, cheap, but if it hits a bump, even mid corner and regardless of speed, it'll settle right into the job at hand with nary a shake of its super fabulously taut steering head.

One of the reasons for the surefootedness of the smaller bike is partly due to it weight, 401lbs dry, and the rest due to the sum of its parts. It's got those parts sourced from the venerable F3 part's bin. This includes the engine, which turfs out around 90 BHP and about 43 lbs of torque, the 43mm forks with slightly beefed up internals and that healthy sized rear swinger. All this is tied together using a box frame derived from the original 250 Japanese-only version. The frame is particularly unobtrusive and sturdy. The first for looks ('cause you can't really see it) and the second, because it's almost flex free.

The motor is that anvil-like 16-valver from the 98' F3. Yes, that one. The same engine that resists most maintenance expenses; how about 16,000 miles between valve adjustments? It's liquid cooled with a bigger radiator than of old. Oh, and a 6-speed tranny carefully matched to the engines power band no less. All you need is gas and oil and a twist of that loud handle and you're set.

Honda handily stepped up to the plate with this bike by adding a decent 5.5-inch rim to the rear ready for some sticky or tour quality rubber for whatever floats your dinghy. With a generous 4.5-gallon tank you can tour or sport for some decent mileage in between refills. The seat is tier-style and passenger friendly with its big grab rails for those with large fisted girl or boy friends. It's a little firm but it's a good enough shape to hang a bum cheek off if your looking for a rest.

The brakes are all you'll need too, with pretty meaty dual floating 296mm rotors and twin two-piston calipers coddling them. Feel was good and a healthy squeeze saw you stopping or stoppying depending if you used two or four fingers. I was into them pretty good a number of times over the course of this ride with no fading or groaning of any kind.

Further trekery comes in the form of the headlamp; it's the next generation type. No more fumbling around in the dark with Captain Kirk or Dr Spock. Whoops - that's a typo - I meant trickery. It's a snazzy two-bulb affair with a lightweight polycarbonate lens and an internal die-cast aluminum multi reflector. We rode in the sunshine, but apparently you can go boldly where no man has gone before at night. High-beam me up Scotty… alright that's enough.

I wish I could decide where this bike and the Yamaha FZ6 compare - I didn't really get a long enough ride on the FZ to draw any real conclusions. The FZ definitely has a stouter mid-range, but the 599 turns quicker and both rev in a similar fashion. I'm not really sure about the salability of these bikes because you 'mericans are a fickle lot. In the UK, a cup series was developed to showcase the Hornets abilities. This was a one-make championship that helped produce decent sales, basically because it showed that you could buy, race and live with that same bike. Here we are not so lucky as to enjoy that same type of spec series and I'm hoping that this particular Honda won't get lost because the people who need a bike like this won't get the exposure to it.

I really liked riding this bike. It was drama free, regardless of how goofy I got and its versatility is obvious. So, here's the deal. I'm going to pinch one from Honda as soon as I can, come over to my place and have a go...You won't be sorry. MikeE