Upgrades For The 2019 Honda CBR650R

The 2019 Honda CBR650R is one of our favorite four cylinder bikes to ride and to work on in the shop. We think it’s a good entry point for anyone looking to start riding sportbikes. It has a relatively low price point and is very capable on the street and on the track. To make it even better, we upgraded the bike to give it better handling, faster acceleration, better braking, and more horsepower.

Ohlins Shock

The upgrade that made the biggest difference was the Ohlins front and rear suspension upgrade. Of course it was the most expensive upgrade but it was definitely worth it. The Ohlins kits transformed the bike into a corner carving machine. We replaced the stock non-adjustable fork components, springs, and oil with Ohlins FKS 516 Street NIX 30 Cartridge Kit and FSK 150 Street Fork Spring Kit. With the Ohlins kit, one front fork has the rebound adjustment and the other the compression adjustment. The rear shock was replaced with an HO 913 Street S46 Shock. Don’t forget to set the sag after you install the Ohlins kits.

Stock Exhaust

The stock exhaust on the CBR650R is a work of art that is hidden behind the fairing and radiator. You can’t deny the craftmanship of the perfect bends, mirror finish, and welded joints capped off with a one of a kind muffler. But it weighs a metric ton and is choke point for the exhaust gases trying to exit the cylinder head.

Akrapovic Exhaust

It was replaced by a less beautiful but lighter and functional Akrapovic full exhaust.

Brembo 19RCS Corsa Corta

The CBR650R stock brakes are sufficient for street riding and most track day riding. But we improved them by installing a Brembo 19RCS Corsa Corta Front Brake Master Cylinder and reservoir. To attached the brake line to the front master cylinder, you will need to purchase a Brembo Single Banjo Bolt 1.0 Thread Pitch (06222897) which is not included in the kit. We have installed this same master cylinder on many different makes and models of bikes and it has improved braking on all of them. The Brembo has adjustable brake pressure between 18 – 20 and three settings for brake sensitivity. We found the default settings for street riding worked well and for track days and racing, 19 or 20 and high sensitivity setting enabled us to brake later into the corners.

To further improve braking, we installed front and rear braided stainless steel lines from HEL. We had the ABS kit which took some time to install because the kit replaces the blocks that convert the hard lines from the ABS pump to the flexible lines in the front and rear. The blocks fit precisely and it took some time and patience to thread the hard lines into the blocks.

Puig Adjustable Clutch Lever and Brembo Master Cylinder w/Reservoir

The stock clutch lever is not adjustable, so we replaced it with the Puig 3.0 foldable lever. Puig has bike specific adapters for their levers, don’t forget to buy the adapter when you purchase the lever.

Dyno Tuning Chart

After we completed the upgrades, we dyno tuned the bike and were able to produce 89 HP and 45 lb ft of Torque. Check out my article on dyno tuning for more information.

Some other noteworthy upgrades included the OEM accessories: