Weak acceleration 20 year old CB600F Hornet

[luiceur]

I recently bought a 1998 Honda CB600F Hornet with 14,600 miles. I have been ridding 125cc and 250cc bikes in the past and I thought a 600cc one would be much more powerful.
The last Honda service was in September and they did not suggest or recommended anything but I was wondering if there was something I could suggest them to check next time. What can be improved in a 20 year old bike?

Thanks
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Moto

[stinkwheel]

Two questions.

1) Do you have the throttle wide open.

2) Are you revving it to the redline?

These 600 motors can seem kind of flat if you ride them sensibly. More revs = more power. When I get on the wifes CBR600, I go for ovvertakes lke I would on my VFR and think "Hell, that's sluggish" Whereas what I should have done is changed down two gears and got a howl-on. The power is there but it's all up top.

I'd suggest you find a straight and pin the throttle wide open in second until you hit the redline then start changing gear. If you don't start cackling like a lunatic inside your helmet then yes, there is something wrong with it.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[luiceur]

[Easy-X]

[Old Git Racing]

If you're happy you are riding it to the max I'd do a compression test or get the garage to do one, it wont be covered in a service.

OGR
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2022 Tiger Sport 660 2019 Street Twin 2003 K3 gixxer 1000 1998 Srad 600 track hack

[ThatDippyTwat]

Drop a gear, and make sure you're winding it on over 7K. That motor does pretty much naff all interesting until then, but it's actually not horribly bad after that. Make sure you don't have anything in front of you, you may be in for a shock.
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'98 VFR800 (touring) - '12 VFR800 Crosrunner (Commuting) - '01 KDX220 (Big Green Antisocial Machine)

[1198]

Any friend who’s used to a 600 who could give a second opinion?

[G]

What 125cc and 250cc bikes?
0-60 in around 3.5seconds if ridden well. At most speeds it should be a good bit faster ridden properly than 99.9% of 125cc and 250cc bikes.

Making sure you don't flip, pull away sharply in first gear and hold the throttle wide open, change up when you get to the red line.

If it's still not faster than the bikes you're used, then possible there's a problem or maybe the bike is restricted?

[MarJay]

Really does sound like you need to open the throttle more, or it's broken.

Could it be restricted? does it rev freely to the redline?
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F; Cheap project: CBR900RR FireBlade
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[Pete.]

Even a restricted Hornet should feel like a rocket after a 125.

Start the engine then wipe a damp rag on each of the exhaust pipes, see if any aren't getting hot. If they all are, check the air filter. YM friend had a hornet that got very lethargic and it was the air filter that was blocked. It wouldn't even rev all the way up with no load on it.
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a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[chris_hu_cheng]

My first 'bigger' bike is a 20 year Bandit 600, had similar thoughts initially.

It is essentially two bikes though, chugging around in the lower half of the rev counter as opposed to hooning around in the upper half.

It will 'pull' in 6th gear from 30mph up a hill (extreme but I was experimenting). This and much less extreme chugging around is great in certain circumstance but not exactly overwhelming and whilst I can overtake quite comfortably in clear situations from 5000 revs etc. it is not exactly urgent.

I aim to start overtakes from about 7 - 8000 revs now and the difference is day and night. and there is still space to put on significantly more speed without changing up.

When I got the bike someone recommended I found a nice bit of straight clear road, pin it in 2nd from almost a standstill, get up to around 8000 rpm and hold it there for a bit and then pin it again to the red line.... that was 'instructional', redline in 2nd is well north of 70mph.

If it still feels like a 250cc then, well there is something wrong with it.

My Bandit is about 80bhp ... yours is a tad more I think.. At some point I am looking forward to finding what 140bhp and above feels like (carefully).

[G]

[MarJay]

[Pete.]

[G]

Thus "ridden well" .
My NSR stayed between 8 and 11 krpm a lot of the time!

[1198]

The general consensus of opinion seems to be ‘man up and pin it’. OP has not returned in a few days. Hope he’s (she’s) not splattered under the x78 bus!

[stinkwheel]

[G]