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2007-12 600RR bodywork. WTF was Honda thinking?

2K views 18 replies 13 participants last post by  FightingChance 
#1 · (Edited)
First off. I love my bike. For the most part The more I dig into it I appreciate how much clever work has gone into making it so compact. It's like an engine with a frame melted over it and bodywork shrink wrapped around that. Every nook and cranny is filled with something that does something and some very ingenious things they did in packaging.
The one thing that makes me wonder what the fawk were they thinking is the bodywork. From my first oil change to just last night when I was tinkering on the bike I curse whoever there at Honda thought this particular model's bodywork was a good idea. The front fairing not including brackets and fasteners add up to 16 separate pieces that are screwed and tabbed together to make up an upper cowl, and left/right side panels. If you include the tank cover and tail it's 22 separate plastic pieces. If you compare that to say how Sharkskinz offers their race version you go from this:



To this:






That's 22 items down to 4. What were they thinking? That's 22 items that need their own individual molds and stations in a factory to produce. That's 22 items that need to be sorted where some of them need to go to painting stations. That's 22 unique part #'s that need to be in the system. That's 22 boxes, bags, and/or sleeves to package the spares on the shelves in their warehouses. That's a much more complicated parts diagram and list. Then of course there are all the screws, adhesive, and brackets to bodge this pile of junk together into it's functional pieces on the bike. They made the production of the bike that much more complex than need be which made it that much more expensive than need be, and consequently for us owners/users made it that much more of a hassle to service & clean our bikes. Why? Why couldn't they have done just what Sharkskinz did? 4 molds. 4 items. 4 part numbers. For us easy disassembly and reassembly to clean & maintain the bike. They make the worlds most advanced grand prix race bike. That thing doesn't have as many body parts as our 600rr for a reason. What's worse is that these plastic parts do not like repeated taking apart and reassembly. Tabs weaken and can crack or break even with careful use. It makes me consider ordering a set of Sharkskinz bodywork for my street bike just to make my life simpler. Y'all feeling this or am I the only one that thinks this was stupid of Honda?
 
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#2 ·
This model has always been a PITA regarding fairings. After a lowside I bought race glass and fitted an off-road led light for a headlight and my integrated tail fit in the new tail. Plus most of my riding is track these days. Occasional need for street use.

Race glass = more economic

Unless you are a shiny bike kinda guy.
 
#3 ·
I love the body work. It all stays together even without fasteners, you can literally snap everything together and apply fasteners later. No risk of parts falling off or trouble lining it all up.

Also, its very easy to store. The pieces take up very little room and can be easily stacked. This is great for warehouse and shop space.

It's also very easy to make interesting schemes without too much layout or taping.

The injection moulding process with simpler, flatter parts is also more than likely more consistent and cost effective. The same goes for paint.


Don't think you're going to do it better and more efficiently than honda pdub
 
#11 ·
+1

When I strip my bike down, the body work comes off in 6 pieces. Front, right side, left side, belly, tank, tail.

6 pieces is pretty damn close to 4, and way better than 22.
 
#5 ·
I was with pdubrr untill wibbly informed us that the entire side can come off as one piece. Wish honda had shared that info. Without knowing that its as if honda took its experience with the F4i, thought no thats WAY WAY too easy, and made it as hard as possible so everyone needs a dealer to service the bike. Jerks lol.
 
#6 ·
You'll find all the modern sportbikes have about this many pieces, except for Ducati. Yes, it's a little weird when the race fairings seem to have figured out to just mold the pieces together, but remember it's all unpainted fiberglass - the plastic can't have the same colors/paint if it was all one piece. Also, spots for things like turn signals and other little mounts sort of demand their own little plastic connecting pieces.

If you ever have to wrestle with the RAM air ducts on the 2005-2006 600RR, you'll fall in love with the 07+ fairings. Also, on the 05 I remember needing to remove the lower and mid for an oil change, but on the 07 it's just the lower.

The only fail in my eyes is the mids connecting to the nose - those little tabs snap off after one mounting, but the piece holds in just find so they're kind of not needed anyway.

That said, I love my race fairings and Dzus rings. Everything pops off in minutes.
 
#8 ·
If you ever have to wrestle with the RAM air ducts on the 2005-2006 600RR, you'll fall in love with the 07+ fairings. Also, on the 05 I remember needing to remove the lower and mid for an oil change, but on the 07 it's just the lower.
That would be one of my complaints about my 03's fairings. The ducts connect to trim pieces that are screwed into the upper cowl in two places. I believe these trim pieces were incorporated into the upper cowl on the 05-06. And you only really need to remove one mid fairing depending on which side you prefer to get at the oil filter from.

The other issue is the tail piece on the 03-04. You have to stretch the hell out of it to get it over the plastic tray on the subframe.
 
#9 ·
You'd be grateful for the small pieces in the event you need to replace/repair a single small panel rather than a costly bill for a large piece, even though the damage is the size of a coin.
 
#15 ·
Coming from a kawi recently I can't stand the honda bodywork. I am comparing apples to apples race body work only.

Honda has far too may spacers and overlapping pieces to it.
That tongue and grove thing with the seat and tank bodywork. WTF is that!!

it's 10 min to take off my honda bodywork and 2 to take off my kawi.
That's a big difference when you have a problem and have to fix it before your next session racing.

To get at your airbox,tank or fuel lines, every single thing has to come off.

Besides bodywork it has been a great bike so far. The bodywork is just brutal.
 
#17 ·
Coming from a kawi recently I can't stand the honda bodywork
That's a big difference when you have a problem and have to fix it before your next session racing.
Your coming from a Kawi so we understand. The fail in your logic is you never need to do anything to a honda, they are always perfect and don't require repair :grin2:
 
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#16 ·
Yeah Suzuki is pretty good about accessibility too.

I wonder, if one of the reasons that Hondas test so well with the reviewers, are these compromises that Honda refuses to take for the sake of ease. On a 600RR, the throttle bodies are operated by a drum that's in the center of the bodies, making it very hard to get to. On a suzuki, it's on the side. But does this placement have a resultant effect? It might. Honda's small things, like brake lines, are often higher quality than everyone else's.
 
#18 · (Edited)
Some good discussion going on this. Cool. I don't agree with all of it but some good points.

I remember way back when the 2007 generation came out, seeing the bodywork and wondering about some of it. The PR at the time was about a "layered" approach to the bodywork. To what purpose? I don't know. The only novel thing about the new bodywork at the time was the gap between the upper & mids. That was supposed to be functional. Something about reducing air pressure under the nose of the bike. I was dubious then and now in hindsight I call BS. It was just another styling exercise gimmick. We never saw that feature develop in GP bikes where such an advantage might mean something. It was never picked up by another factory and has since disappeared from the CBR. Same with the "layered" bodywork idea. The new CBR goes back to a more traditional, less complicated lower, mid, upper arrangement. Fewer pieces. No layering.
Wibbly made some interesting suppositions about possible advantages from a manufacturer point of view of the piece together panels. Possible but any advantage in producing, stocking, and shipping smaller flat parts is offset by the overhead of managing that many more items. Every bolt on a vehicle has a cost to the manufacturer that is more than the simple cost of the part. In the case of the extra number of parts in our fairing panels I don't think it's significant but I don't see much of a benefit from the patchwork panels. Again, the practice was abandoned on the new bike and hasn't really spread across their range of bikes. I think it was just a styling philosophy that looked good on paper & CAD but was no benefit in the real world. Also interesting was the PR for the current CBR. They touted how the new bodywork reduced drag by 6.5%. Well no shite. Going to more streamlined panels on the 13-15 from all the edges & contours of patched together pieces of the 07-12 should count for something. Again, I think it's the difference between some anime/CAD/transfomer-origami styling to something that resembles race bikes past & present may have something to do with it. Whatever. Looks wise, I've grown to like the 07-12 bikes. Not classic by any means but novel and distinctive. My only gripe is the one from my original post. Too many pieces for the practical world. Yes, they come off as whole assemblies but it's unnecessary & too clever by half.

Here's how it should be done. Upper cowl,1piece. lower pan, 1 piece (2 lower panels on street bikes), 2 side panels (1 left, 1 right). Done. Simple. If they can do it on thier halo bike that costs more than 10x the 600RR they can do it for the 600RR.
 
#19 ·
Yeah, I think the 2007 design was just a looks thing, that did well enough in aero so they went with it. There was a lot of talk about, since this 2007 bike was sooo much lighter, to emphasize this lightness in the looks. It's interesting how it's just a twist on the 2006 1000RR - you can see the exact same boomerang shape in the mids on both bikes, just different places where the plastics come together.
 
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