2009 Honda CB600F Hornet

So I’m just meters behind Grant ‘The Destroyer’ Hyndman (one of our bike testers), we’re barreling into the first section of winding mid-speed corners. So far it’s been all straight so I’m about find our how the two bikes fare. I’m riding the 2009 Honda CB1000R Predator and ‘The Destroyer’ is on the 2009 Honda CB600 Hornet. The Destroyer is a fast road rider, not stupid fast; safe fast. My Predator has more power, more torque and higher spec brakes and suspension. He’s not going to get away from me! Well…corner one… he’s getting away from me.

For the next few corners I try desperately to keep up, each time I drift back a few meters mid corner, as we exit I gain back about half of what I’ve lost. I can nail it like a mad-man down the straights and get back on his wheel but that doesn’t count. Basically, I can’t keep up with him. I have the usual thoughts; maybe it’s just The Destroyer, he’s faster than me. I can deal with that. I’ve never been the fastest rider on the road. I prefer to stay alive.

We arrive at our destination which is Tongariro National Park. Our plan is simple, ride down stay the night in Ohakune and hopefully get some nice shots of the two bikes the following day if the gods are good to us and the mountains are free of clouds. As luck would have it, the following day the weather is fantastic and we manage to nab some great images. Now we swap bikes, I’m now on the Hornet. Corner one and it suddenly makes sense. The Hornet is incredibly easy to ride fast within literally seconds I’m carving through corners at full noise…and where you ask is The Destroyer. He’s a small ever decreasing dot in my rear view mirrors.