well i was thinking about this subject too and i got too into it. heres what i did. i went to a dealer near my place and i asked an employee why f4i's arent raced and he said because the f4i is more of an upright position and that its meant to be a comfortable ride for cruising. he also said that thats why the 600 rr is called RR for "race ready" so you know it kinda goes together like a puzzle. personally i think they should have the f4i in some races! that would be nice to see.

 

"went to a dealer".........bad idea. they usually dont know their butt from a whole in the ground with that type of stuff, IME they are almost as bad as cyclegear. I went in there the other day to grab a set of Pirelli DCIII's for the track, and this dumbass tried to talk me into buyin a set of Rosso's to run on the track because they are the best tire out right now???? anyway

like we said, they did have the F4i in races in their day, butthey are way too heavy and underpowered by todays standards to keep up in top level competion. They are upright and all, but hell, they used to race the VFR interceptors too. You ever sat on that thing?

 

the F4i WAS raced....
Miguel Duhamel raced it in the 600 supersport.

like i've said before...unless you're racing, it's not the bike...it's the rider.

 

That's says it all my friends....

The f4i was top of the line back in the days, but with technological arms race that is supersport development, Honda has gone to the RR and the f4i like many other bikes for other companies gets relegated to "sport tourer". Much like the Kawi ZZR.

 

And the F4i isnt in production anymore, so it wouldnt be raced anymore anyhow.

 

I think they just keep the older models around for a while to make the new models look hotter and to sell to those who want a starter bike. Like the YZF600 and the R6, and now the standard R6 and the new R6.

 

i understand what you guys are saying that its a more upright position...trust me, im the first to bash on the position the i has...but even with its capabilities, youd think a racing team would love to utilize this bike...

i mean, theyre racing, its not gonna be raced stock...i have rearset risers and its already a tad better...im about to buy some adj rearsets, triple tree, and adj clipons in hopes to liven up the position...with the unlimited resouces a team has, it would be no where near the way our bikes feel or ride...and i realize that the RR was breathing down the i's neck just after two years of production, but im just bummed that the F4i wasnt raced more...

yes, production bikes are raced all the time hence listing the F2/F3, 600rr, 1000rr, RC51, etc...motogp is something else all together...lol at someone thinking i actually compared the RC211V to the F4i...

and this is just to make me feel better:

 

It seems to be a bit more work to get these bikes track ready when compared to most other sport bikes, mostly because of the clipons, but for the street it's a realistic and awesome bike to have. I still haven't figured out the best clipon option for this bike but then again I am thinking I would just regret it anyway.

I dropped woodcraft clipons on my SV and Monster like it was nothing (well there was the whole headlight issue but that was easily solved with some zip ties).

Also I think there is a bigger more noticable difference between the early F4i split seats and the bananna seat version. My 01 feels a lot like the same year R6.

 

I have R6 clip-ons and rearset risers (1" up/back) and the combination makes a HUGE difference in riding position. Just the clip-on itself made a much more aggressive ride, in comparison to a stock F4i. The rearset riser just topped it off, I love it. The bike now sits a lot like the newer sport bike, but the seat itself is lower than others (R6 in particular). I'm considering aftermarket clip-ons just to get a little more lower in the front. But as many have said, it's all about the rider. I have thought about getting a newer "cooler" bike like the 600RR, but I kinda like to be an underdog. F4i was THE sportbike before the 600RR

 

man...if you want another bike, just go get it...stop ******* up the F4i and making excuses saying it isn't this and it isn't that, doesn't have this doesn't have that.

just get the newer bike that you want and stop trying to justify it by saying the F4i is old skool, etc. like you did in the other post.

because in the end, we all know that you can't outride your f4i...

ride positioning, etc. can all be made more aggressive.