i think a F4i and a Katana should line up next to each other and then it would be easy to find out which one was a SS and which is just a "sporty" bike. I am new to the F4i and I recently had a ZX-9R and i am extremely impressed by this smaller bike. The F4i is a great 600.

 

LOL you guys are funny The Katana was mentioned for comparison of seating position only.

Trivia notes:
The Katana joins other such notable old machines as the V-Max (ugly, but fantastic street drag racer), Concours (****, **** and dripping **** on top of a pile of ****) and the Nighthawk (discontinued in '03) as old machines that hung on. The Katana was retired last year. Thankfully, the Concours died in '06 (finally) and is being replaced. The 599 & 919 fall out of the lineup this year, and with the Nighthawk gone, thus ends Honda's current line of naked sports/standards. (The current 250 Nighthawk is just the Rebel engine in an upright frame - it doesn't count) The V-Max is getting some redesign.

 

i say there is no point of carrying out this discussion and let just feed this guy to the bears.

 

trust me the F4is seat when it was a split-seat bike was just as uncomfortable as the RR's...
bikes have been getting progressively more track oriented since they were first produced, its been an ongoing cycle. When the F4i was first introduced it was a badass "race ready" demon of a 600 with high tech fuel injection and all that good stuff. Since then, the stock 600s have hyper evolved into race bikes with headlights so the F4i appears to be a "sport-touring" bike especially when they added the banana seat but the F4i is a damn good track bike. Its geared pretty low stock and is pretty lightweight. Take an F4i on the track and you can tell thats what it was designed for even if the newer bikes are more extreme.

 

and yeah there are countless bikes that have met the same fate as the F4i, the VFR for example. It was once used as a race bike but as newer models were developed it was evolved into a semi-sport touring bike but people that own a new one will tell you its still at home on the track. In fact when I did Freddie Spencer's school he used a VFR for doing 2 seater rides (all the students do a lap on the back of his bike) and he was going faster than any student or instructor on 06 RR's with a passenger on his VFR and when he'd do laps by himself on it, he would leave black lines all over the track, it was freakin awesome to watch

 

+1 million