My Kawasaki ZR-7S is quite similar to your CBF in terms of ergonomics, tire size, and number of cylinders. I've had it on gravel / dirt roads in the Yukon and Baja (wet and dry). I say without hesitation that it does very poorly under those circumstances. Progress is slow, painstaking and insecure. So, sure, it can be done but it's not fun and, frankly, not that safe, particularly if you hit a softer patch of dirt or a deeper patch of gravel. More than once I felt at the edge of control.

Of course, a pair of Vespas once successfully completed the Paris - Dakar so perhaps it's me and not the bike.

The conventional wisdom is that deflating the tires substantially will improve handling off pavement. I never did that because I was encountering routes that kept shifting between pavement and gravel and the thought of repeatedly deflating and inflating was just too much trouble.

I do recall investigating the availability of dual purpose tires that would fit the 17 inch wheels and, about four years ago, Avon Distanzias were available in the correct size.

There is supposedly something about the manner in which parallel four cylinder engines deliver power to the the wheels that makes them bad choices for unstable surfaces. Perhaps someone more technically knowledgeable can weigh in on that topic.

Normw