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This definitely has something in common: six hundred horsemen, flying by command of the commander in a desperate attack on the guns, and six hundred “cubes” just as passionately throw forward the motorcycle, sometimes just as suicidal …
These sportbikes have a special fate. It is they in America and Europe that ensure the mass of the “ring” - highway-ring motor racing. Competitions in this class permeate the entire structure of world motorsport - from competitions of the “yard” level to the world championship “Supersport”.
But the trouble is: some irresponsible citizens will not be at all imbued with the seriousness of the situation: they, ignorant people, want to ride the “six hundred” not only along race tracks! What poses a puzzling task for designers: whether to combine in one bike the advantages of a racing shell and a car for every day, or share?
Honda specialists are easier than competing colleagues: their group is rich enough to indulge the desires of the capricious public. In the model range of the company there are two completely different 600-cc sports bikes: the “civilian” CBR600F and the “combat” CBR600RR. Other manufacturers cannot afford such a luxury, so they get out as they can. Kawasaki also produces two cars, but they are not as different as the Honda ones, but are closely unified - the ZX-6R and ZX-6RR. "Sports" Yamaha and Suzuki to an even greater extent combine a set of racing and "everyday" properties. In the wake of the Japanese, the British Triumph Daytona also strives to tread. For completeness, we mention the Kawasaki ZZ-R600 and Suzuki GSX600F - these are also sports bikes, but with a strong utilitarian and tourist accent.
Until recently, the "six hundred" were considered "budget" motorcycles. On the one hand, everything seems to be in them, like on the “liter” ones, but on the other, they are a little lower in class: simpler suspensions, weaker brakes, motors are not so sophisticated. The “bad tradition” was decisively broken in 2002 by Kawasaki engineers - they equipped the serial “six hundred” with technical “delicacies”: an inverted front telescopic fork and radial-mounted brake calipers. Opponents howled! A special confusion reigned in the Honda camp: it so happened that it was then that the concern presented to the public its CBR600RR, in which there were no such “tsatseks”! As, however, the new Yamaha YZF-R6 debuted in the autumn of the same year 2002. However, the creators of the “Erki-Six” could justify themselves by the fact that their motorcycle is still “for all occasions,” and not extreme, like the new CBR600RR.
Have you noticed that three Japanese concerns show new products at the same time? But Suzuki "moved in phase." And for good reason. When the updated GSX-R600 saw the light in the fall of 2003, its creators were able to prove that they got rid of last year’s flaws: they installed both a fork-shifter and radial brakes. On both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, the specialists tested the motorcycle and enthusiastically recognized it as the best 600 cc sport bike in the world! Other people's laurels do not let them sleep peacefully - and just last fall, they showed the updates of Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha … Who is meant by the ellipsis?
For some time (namely, since 1999), the British Triumph also entered the game. There were so many ambitions that hold on: they say that the car will not yield to the Japanese in anything, but will surpass them in some ways!.. In the near future. Alas, this bright future is being postponed. Despite the feverish modernization, the British did not catch up with the Japanese. And in the 2005 season, their Daytona performs in a 650 cc format. What testifies: the bird does not break on sports tracks.
But for a sport bike race check is the moment of truth. The stated indicators are one thing, the impartial protocol data is another. Let’s take a look at them. Here are the results of the Supersport 2004 World Cup. Honda CBR600RR, which is “on paper” inferior to rivals in terms of declared engine power, and besides, is significantly heavier, throws everyone to the smithereens! Aussie Carl Muggeridge from Ten Kate Honda won seven out of ten races! Only riders on the Yamaha R6 were able to make him a little more serious competition. Athletes at Suzuki are fighting for places at the end of the top ten, and Kawasaki's best performance is at 23rd place.
Any questions?
Enough of the lyrics - closer to the body: we will remove the plastic cladding from our beauties and see what the 2005 season gave.
Each team of designers solved their own problems. Honda engineers fought first of all for weight loss: 169 kg of the previous version is simply indecent! Other modern "liters" will be easier. During the "pumping fat" managed to remove as much as 6 kg. Due to what? First of all, they re-calculated the frame, made its walls thinner in those places where it would not affect the strength - down with 1.5 kg! The rear subframe (it, like the frame, is cast from aluminum alloy) was able to be lightened by as much as 668 g! (Please note: the manufacturer indicates “overweight” to the nearest gram, because each is given incredible intellectual effort!) The design of the Unit Pro-Link rear pendulum has been redesigned: if earlier the shock absorber mount and chain tension adjustments were separate parts, now they are cast as a unit with a pendulum. The struggle for "weight loss" also touched the details of the power unit: for example, new nozzles are 64 g lighter than old ones. Laugh, laugh, but like that, in grams, and dropped 6 kg.
And the rest of the updated Honda - "berry again." All the fashionable “tsatskis” with her: an inverted telescopic fork, and brakes with radial brackets, and a silencer hidden in a shank. The peak of power (117 hp) remained the same, but the maximum torque grew from 63 to 66 Nm - this suggests that the power, although not by much, has grown in the range of “working” revolutions. The designers of the concern used an interesting technical solution: they introduced an additional diffuser in the inlet tract, closer to the inlet valve. It accelerates the flow of the fuel-air mixture "inlet".
Of the trinity of modernized "Japanese" the biggest changes, perhaps, Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R. The main innovation in the design of the power unit is the transition to a fuel injection system with two nozzles per cylinder (like the Honda CBR600RR). Additional nozzles are installed behind the air filter and are included in the work at high speeds when it is necessary to provide the engine with a “power supply ration”. The passage section of the diffusers was increased, and since there is not enough space for such disaggregation in these details, the diffusers were made … oval. We borrowed another technical solution from Suzuki: they “made a hole” in the bottom of the cylinder walls to reduce pump losses. New camshafts are the same as previously offered only in a special kit for preparing for racing. And a power valve was added to the exhaust system that improves the characteristics of the motor at low and medium revs. The new clutch is with “reverse slipping”: it does not allow the wheel to lock up during a sharp discharge of gas.
The frame retained its previous configuration, but the distance between the steering column and the swing axis of the pendulum was reduced by 13 mm - with only 7 mm going to reduce the base, and 6 mm to extend the pendulum. Although the pendulum itself seems a very impressive casting, in fact it is lighter than the previous design. It is interesting that exhaust pipes also pass through it - so they managed to be brought to a silencer hidden in the tail. The front brake discs are lobed, they are better cooled and cleaned. And the rear brake caliper is mounted directly on the suspension pendulum, without intermediate rods.
Amid these dramatic changes, the Yamaha YZF-R6 update looks like just a light upgrade. The motorcycle has another front fork - an inverted type, radial brake calipers - well, without this now in the "high society" you will not show up. The modified intake tract allowed to increase the maximum power to 120 hp. at 13, 000 rpm However, the group’s marketers stubbornly continue to give two power values - “according to the standard” and taking into account the influence of the inertial pressurization system. The second indicator is noticeably “more beautiful”: 126 liters. with. Competitors by this technique do not determine power - apparently, consider it bravado. Against the Japanese background, the British Triumph Daytona looks pale. Neither the “shifter” forks, nor the radial brakes … Of all the fashionable “bells and whistles,” there is only a clutch with “reverse slipping”. Apparently, from the hopelessness of such the British decided to add at least the working volume. “Cubes”, like porridge with butter, you will never spoil the motor.
