The Honda Hornet is essentially a naked CBR600 retuned for more midrange. Older models from 2003-up were carbureted and built on an old CBR600F3 engine and were competitors for the SV650 nekkid, but newer ones (not available in the US) are fuel injected and are built on CBR600RR engines. These ones are decidedly NOT good beginner bikes with horsepower exceeding 100, but if you’re talking about an older carbureted model then I don’t see a reason why it should be bad. After all, on paper it’s nothing more than a lighter weight Bandit 600 and I’ve known plenty of people who started out on those just fine.
Because it was “retuned for midrange” it isn’t as peaky as the racebike the engine was originally sourced from, but it still does have that nature. Be careful and respect the machine and understand that the engine has an *on* switch that kicks in about 1/2 way thru the rev range. Below that it is docile and controllable, above that it’s a snarling, rabid beast. This is the nature of 4-cylinder engines.
Other bikes in the same vein worth considering, that may be even better choices, are the Kawasaki ER-6n, Suzuki SV650, Honda Hawk GT, and older Suzuki Bandit 600s.
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