The Honda CBR650F has been launched in India at Rs 7.61 lakh (ex-showroom, Mumbai). The CBR650F has been positioned as a versatile motorcycle which can take care of commuting, sport riding, as well as long distance touring.
The CBR650F is a middleweight sports tourer, which gets a fully-faired design penned along the lines of the CBR600RR, though the single headlamp unit differentiates it from the 600cc supersport bike. The CBR650F is built around a twin-Spar steel frame and employs a 649cc liquid-cooled inline four engine. The engine delivers 87bhp and a peak torque of 63Nm through a six speed transmission.
Suspension duties are performed by 41mm forks at the front and a monoshock with spring-preload adjust in the rear. Braking hardware is made up of 320mm dual disc brakes at the front and a 240mm single disc at the rear, with ABS offered as standard. The instrument cluster is made up of a fully digital LCD display which has a speedometer, tachometer, clock, trip meter and a fuel gauge among other information. It also gets a four-into-two-into-one underbody exhaust system which gives the rear section a clean look.
The CBR650F is locally assembled from the completely knocked down (CKD) kits imported from Thailand, which makes it fall under a different tax bracket. The local assembly is a part of ‘Make in India’ campaign, which aims to take the benefit of the country’s efficient manpower, while maintaining an affordability aspect for its products. The CBR650F will be sold through a new premium distribution format in just 14 cities across the country.
As of now, Honda hasn’t revealed any plans of exporting the CBR650F assembled in India to other global markets, though the Japanese manufacturer might eventually get into it. The CBR650F competes with other fully-faired middleweight motorcycles like the Kawasaki Ninja 650, Hyosung GT650R and the upcoming Benelli BN 600GT.
