Familiarity breeds contempt, so they say. And there aren’t many bikes we’re more familiar with than the FireBlade – 30 years of strong sales, plus countless road tests and feature bikes that have passed through these pages mean that they almost don’t register.
Until you stop and pay closer attention, as we have this month. There’s barely a dud among them, and owners still rave about them as everyday sportsbikes as well as the nostalgic trip they’ve become for some people. They are always memorable – Iremember the first time I rode an original. I cherish the memories of the 2008 project bike I built during my time with Performance Bikes – asupposedly obsolete sportsbike we turned into a giant-killer on a budget. John McGuinness’ 2015 Senior TT win is one of my favourite road racing moments too: both rider and bike had been written off against newer bikes and younger riders. Seeing the bookies set long odds on a win spurred him on to an incredible ride… It’s an undoubted highlight of a glittering career.
We spent a few days talking to former Honda R&D rider Dave Hancock, as well as probing owners about their own experiences, and having a spin on the latest one to see how the Fireblade has adapted as sportsbikes have become specialist, niche machines, and regulations make building performance motorcycles even harder. It’s a warts-and-all account, not smoke up Honda’s backside… Enjoy our feature marking the Blade’s big milestone (page 33), and the rest of the mag.
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The Team Their favourite FireBlades are…
The 1995 fox-eye. It was literally the first bike I took home w
