Honda CB600F Hornet Service Manual (1998)

Honda launched the 600-class Hornet in 1998 as a compact naked road-sports motorcycle built around a high-revving four-cylinder engine and deliberately muscular styling. The concept had first appeared at the 1997 Tokyo Motor Show, and Honda’s February 1998 launch announcement described the production Hornet 600 as a slim-profile naked sport model intended to combine strong performance with easy handling in both city and highway use. Honda based the chassis concept on the smaller Hornet 250 while installing the 599 cc inline-four from the CBR600F. See Honda’s official 1998 Hornet 600 launch announcement.

The CB600F used a 599 cm³ liquid-cooled DOHC inline-four with a 65.0 × 45.2 mm bore and stroke, 12.0:1 compression ratio and four 34 mm constant-velocity carburetors. Honda altered the intake and exhaust setup from the CBR600F to emphasize stronger low- and mid-range torque, making the engine more suitable for road use without losing its free-revving supersport character. Power went through a cable-operated wet multi-plate clutch, six-speed constant-mesh transmission and chain final drive.

The chassis gave the original Hornet much of its visual and dynamic identity. Factory specifications list a 1,420 mm wheelbase, 795 mm seat height, 176 kg dry weight and 196 kg curb weight. The diamond mono-backbone frame used a conventional telescopic fork and swingarm rear suspension, while hydraulic twin front discs and a single rear disc handled braking. A notably wide 180/55ZR17 rear tyre, paired with a 130/70ZR16 front, contributed to the bike’s distinctive stance and helped define the early middleweight naked sport motorcycle look that became closely associated with the Hornet name.

The first-generation Hornet established a long-running model line rather than remaining a one-year experiment. Honda’s official Hornet history identifies 1998 as the starting point, followed by a significant 2003 update with revised styling, suspension, fuel capacity and emissions performance. A much more extensive redesign arrived in 2007 under Honda’s Italian development team, moving the model further away from the original carbureted PC34 specification while retaining the Hornet’s compact, accessible and sporty character. See Honda’s Hornet model history.

This product is specifically for the 1998 CB600FW factory service configuration. The uploaded shop manual is a 374-page image-based scan whose cover is marked CB600FW and © 1998 Honda Motor Co., Ltd.; no later model-year supplement is appended. Related publications are grouped in the Honda CB600F service manual catalog and the Honda Hornet catalog.