How can it be seven years since the CBR600RR was discontinued? It feels like only yesterday when Honda announced it wouldn’t be making the 600RR anymore, citing a lack of interest in hardcore 600cc supersport bikes and ever tighter emission rules which were suffocating the small-capacity engine. It was a far cry from the heady days only another seven or so years before that when supersport bikes mattered just as much as superbikes, and when updates came thick and fast, and when they flew out of the showrooms by the container-load. It was a sad day when not just Honda, but also Suzuki, Kawasaki, Triumph and finally Yamaha all withdrew their supersport bikes from the market.
It was especially hard to watch the likes of the 600RR disappear for me, because I feared that future generations of motorcyclists would never experience the joy and thrill of grabbing hold of a supersport bike by the scruff of its neck and thrashing the living daylights out of it. Having that affordable alternative to the full-on superbikes was – and remains – something that I firmly believe is crucial to the industry and potential motorcyclists. Losing the 600RR and later the rest of the class made the bike industry a much poorer place, but when all is said and done, money talks, and as well as people becoming obsessed with superbikes, there wasn’t/isn’t enough new blood coming into bikes to justify the continued investment in supersport bikes to make them kitten-friendly.