Honda CBR1000RR

Honda's Fireblade revolutionised the sportsbike market in 1992, setting new standards in performance, handling and excitement, but over the years - like all of us - it has become slightly more civilised, and now even comes with optional luggage. Could the Fireblade's fire be fading? Chris Moss finds out.
Racetracks are the only place to test the latest generation of road-going superbikes. Their huge power and speed dictate no other environment is sensible enough to sample them to the full in any sort of safety. That's clearly what Honda thinks too. and the Losail MotoGP track was the venue chosen for the press to ride its new 2008 Fireblade.
Set in the middle of a desert, the superfast circuit lets you use a bike in a way that no public road ever can. Save the Isle of Man TT course (and only when it's closed), the track is a perfect place to examine the ultimate performance of the Blade. At Losail, the Honda recorded 180mph or more down its long straight and up to 130-140mph round a fair few of its many corners.
That's a very impressive set of speed figures but more important is putting them into context - though the Fireblade is more than capable of putting in some very impressive lap times at Losail, it's also a street-legal bike that anyone with the necessary £9300 can buy. In real terms that means it can perform just a strongly as a fully fledged BSB bike could just a few years ago, and take you down to the shops with comfort and ease as well. A broad range of usability like that is nothing short of remarkable.
I londa claims the new Olade has been built to be not only better than the current model, but also to challenge for the honour of being the best superbike on the market. It's used the same engineering philosophy it applied when it built the original all-conquering Blade way back in 1992, and instead of just concentrating on sheer horsepower, has instead focused more on power-to-weight ratio to allow the bike to deliver its speed. We've only got Honda's word to rely on when it says it's achieved that by making the Fireblade's wet and ready to ride weight significantly lower than the opposition's, but there's no doubt the bike can perform brilliantly on track.
There aren't too many areas where the new bike is significantly superior to the old one, but overall it's appreciably better and even easier to use at the limit. With fewer kilos to accelerate, steer and stop I Honda's claiming it's reduced the wet weight by four of them] there's a greater feeling of manageability and this is obvious as soon as you get the bike rolling. Physically smaller than the old bike and a little bit more agile, the 1000 feels more like a 600, and that usability advantage grows as the speed of the bike increases. It's a highly impressive piece of kit, and though it's not faultless, it's certainly one of the easiest bikes to ride hard that I've ever tried.
The precise feeling of its chassis is the primary reason for the peerless poise and confidence the Honda can generate. There's not much it can't do really well. And it doesn't matter whether you're rating the steering, stability, braking, ability to change direction, or general feel of the bike overall, for most of us it'll be a maximum score.
Two other aspects of the bike really showed their potential during the track test. Thanks to the solidity of the front forks and the huge strength of the new monoblock front brake calipers, slowing the bike is really safe and secure. Nowhere was this more obvious than at the end of the main straight where you needed to lose around lOO mph and drop three gears in double quick time. Lap after lap, the Honda just got on with the job with
impressive consistency and without fade or complaint of any sort. Perhaps even more remarkable though is the Fireblade's slipper clutch that allowed all of this sudden and massive deceleration without any loss of traction from the rear wheel. It's arguably the single best feature of the bike and really shows just how civilised and predictable it can make the superbike, even under such massive duress.
Helping to generate this sort of stress on the brakes is the Honda's new engine. It only makes an extra 5bhp compared to the 2007-spec bike, but the additional grunt in the midrange is what sets it apart from the current machine's power delivery. Even at the high speed Losail track, that extra drive was really welcome exiting corners, and helped to get the Honda onto and down the straights faster.
With a smooth, linear and fluid build up of horsepower all the way to the rev light-indicated max of 13,000rpm, the inline four can only be described as very usable and friendly. The civility masks just how powerful the engine is, though a quick look at the digital speedo within the Fireblade's new clocks soon reminds you of the fact. On track the Honda is clearly a very fast and powerful bike, but it does a good job of disguising that feeling at times. Motors making over l?0bhp don't often feel as deceptively calm as this one.
This is one of two contentious points of the machine, and very much the part of the bike with the most 'Honda-factor' about it. Some wil I criticise the way it goes about its business of powering the big CBR to its insane speeds in the gentlemanly manner that it does, and many label it as relatively dull and uninspiring. I personally like the highly effective and predictable way it accelerates and lets you use it more fully without feeling you're goingto run into problems with things like slides or impromptu wheelies. It's quite remarkable that it can make so much power feel so friendly to use. My only criticism of it was with some abruptness in its fuelling from a closed throttle, and that only occurred after being shut for a few seconds at the end of the straight. Overall, I'd give it a 9/10 score for its strength and sophistication.
The most debatable issue with the Fireblade though, and one that may well turn people against it, is its style. Most of the testers thought it pretty damned ugly. I have to admit that it's no oil painting, and can't touch something like an Rl or 1098 for aesthetic appeal. But I also reckon it's just the expanse of bodywork above the headlights that needs work, and if you made that look a bit more like the CBRGOORR then you'd have a lot more voting for it. Either way, I was so impressed with the Blade that it could look positively repulsive (like the Hayabusa for example) and I'd still like it -just as I do the Suzuki.
To be honest, I can't bring you what I'd call a full and comprehensive test on the bike because I didn't get the chance to ride it on the road. Bearing that in mind, I'm not able to form a view on real world stuff like comfort, unknown road and in town manners, or fuel range for instance. I'm pretty confident those issues should be fine, especially when you consider stuff like the underseat storage and range of official accessories (including luggage a nd a specially designed comfort seat], which will be available forthe bike to increase its versatility. That indicates the bike's design team had wanted the bike to be able to do more than just post fast lap times.
A spokesman confirmed that opinion, and told me that Honda is aiming to attract a broader range of customers with its new sportsbike, not just those who want to go fast. The Fireblade will have to be pretty damned good to beat both the performance and civility of the class-leader, the GSX-R1000. But from my experience of it at Losail, I'd guess it's just got a hell of a lot closer. Just like the original 1992 version, the 2008 Fireblade is one hell of a bike.