What can be said about the Fireblade that hasn't been said already?  Until the arrival of the R1 and subsequently the GSXR1000 the Blade was the "daddy" of the sportsbike market.  Recently however it's been left wanting in the eyes of the motorcycle press.  If you believe the hype the bike is  under powered, doesn't handle and certainly not worth the attention of the  average sportsbike buying connoisseur....what utter bollocks!

For me the Fireblade is the ultimate sportsbike, regardless of whether it's  been left behind by the competition it was still the bike at the top of my  wanted list so imagine my delight when I realised my dream was within reach  with the help of an insurance company willing to insure me with less than  400 years NCB.  Even though this was the ultimate bike for me I still wasn't  100% sure about getting one thinking it would be too much for me given I've  only one years riding experience, although in this time I've probably done  more mileage than most who've held licenses for three or four years.   Anyway, should I buy with my head or my heart, new CBR600 or new Fireblade?   Well this question was answered for me when the head advised the heart to  just fucking do it when it realised I could have a Blade for almost the same  money as a CBR600FS.  The deal was done and I was the proud if somewhat  nervous owner of a brand new Honda Fireblade.

After owning the bike now for about a month I know I made the right choice  simply because despite it's faults I absolutely love it.  So what's it like  to ride and what are these faults?

First the bad news....

Fuel Injection
I'd read in the bike mags about problems with the fuel injection at low revs but figured having ridden a CBR600 with seriously out of balance carbs for  about three months it would still be better and possibly not even noticable,  it wasn't!  To say the bike is glitchy at low revs between 1500 and 3500 rpm would be a serious understatement, this bike does not like town riding at all.  At times it feels as though your about to run out of fuel sending you subconsiously reaching for the reserve tap, not much use though given it doesn't have one.

Mirrors
For the 2000 model onwards Honda removed the mirror stay which IMO tidies up the front end immensely, unfortunately they didn't put a great deal of  thought into why it was there in the first place. Anything above 70mph causes the mirrors to vibrate meaning you cannot make out whatever is behind you other than basic car shape and colour, now given that this problem  arises just above the NSL for Britian this really is a pain in the arse as you're unable to check for janitorial company.

Now the good news....

Engine
As I said regardless of the faults I love this bike.  The FI problem only exists when riding slow so the obvious cure for this is to cane the damn thing to within an inch of it's life.  Coming from the 600 it really is a pleasure to ride, whenever you wanted to make "good progress" on the 600 it was vital to keep it in that sweet spot in the rev range, for my bike this was between 8500 and 12000 rpm, the Blade simply pulls in any gear.  Until I got used to it I found myself going for another gear once I'd settled from a blast thinking I must have been in 3rd or 4th the torque was so strong but alas no I had just spent the last 10 minutes blasting through the twisties in top using the torque alone.  Once realised this of course only begged the question "what would that have been like had I cogged down and used the revs a bit more?".....fecking awesome is the answer :o)

A novelty only truely available to those that own large capacity sportsbikes is the fun of top gear roll ons, the 600 would quickly run out of steam when given a handfull above 90mph but the Blade simply pulls like a train from any gear right upto license erradicating speeds in no time.

Handling
Physically the Blade doesn't feel much bigger than the 600 and according to the specs is the same weight.  Having said this it was clear pretty early on that the handling was *way* different.  I must admit that "turn in" doesn't feel as sharp as I'd expected, I wouldn't say it's slower than the 600 it just requires slightly more input at the bars, I assume this could be altered  if required with adjustment up front.  Testimony to the Blades ridability is that having only done 250 miles on the bike of which some 120  of that was motorway I had my knee down around a local roundabout.  Having  realised that my usual technique put me right in the glitchy FI range a quick adjustment for gear and speed had me cranking it over with confidence, well, allowing for me crapping myself about dropping it.  On inspection of  the rear tyre once home there was approx. 5-10mm of untouched rubber on the side of the rear proving the bike had some way to go before the tyres; limit was reached.  Clearly it's going to require extra effort to scrape the pegs but I guess in some respects this is a good thing, I'll have to get some toe sliders now for that sparky effect :o)

At speed the front end is a lot more flightly than the 600, when given some serious beans over one of my favourite country roads there was a small amount of twitching from the bars, certainly nothing to worry about but nothing I'd had on the 600.  The stock settings on the bike are *much* harder than to 600 so I suspect this may have something to do with it.  With that huge section rear tyre the back end feels well planted and as yet has  given me no cause for concern.

Gearbox
Honda's gearboxes are renowned for their "clunky" operation and the Blade is  no exception.  Neutral to first gives the impression there's a sledgehammer operating the gear change mechanism but it's solid through the remaining gears with no sign of false neutrals.

What's been done
Since getting the bike I've fitted a carbon rear hugger from M&P to keep the crap off the rear shock and fitted a rather tasty sounding Scorpion race can picked up at the bike show.  I've also got some mushrooms to fit when I can be arsed, talk about tempting fate.