The Honda CBR1000RR a.k.a. the Honda Fireblade this year completes 25 years in the market. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of this iconic motorcycle, Honda Motor Company recently organised a special riding event at Rockingham, UK, where the company gave a select group of guests the chance to ride the new CBR1000RR Fireblade and CBR1000RR Fireblade SP along with a selection of very special Fireblades from throughout the ages, including the original 1992 Fireblade - Honda CBR900RR, which was the first of a series of large-displacement Honda models to carry the RR suffix.
A select group of guests rode the new Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade and CBR1000RR Fireblade SP
Designed by former Honda test rider, Tadao Baba, the Honda Fireblade is one of the most iconic litre-class motorcycles out there, and still claims a sizeable fan following among litre-class superbike aficionados globally. Honda claims that the first Fireblade had the potency of a litre bike with the agility of a 600cc motorcycle and credits its success to the radical thinking from Baba, who concentrated on getting the perfect power to weight ratio. The same design brief has underpinned every generation of Fireblades since the first one. The first Fireblade was powered by an 893 cc in-line four-cylinder engine that made about 111 bhp.
In fact, when Tadao Baba retired in 2004, in his honour, Honda dropped the capital 'B' in 'FireBlade' and was only brought back again in 2014 for a special edition model of the Urban Tiger paint scheme. The modern day Honda Fireblade also began its journey in 2004 with the introduction of the CBR1000RR, which was the 7th generation model. The bike was powered by a 998cc liquid-cooled inline four-cylinder engine that used to churn out 172 bhp and about 103.6 Nm of peak torque. The Honda CBR1000RR was developed by the same team that was behind the MotoGP series bike.
Also Read: All-New Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade Breaks Cover at Intermot 2016
The latest generation of Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade and Honda CBR1000RR SP
As for the latest generation Fireblade, the 2017 Honda CBR1000RR is powered by a 999 cc in-line four-cylinder engine, which has been heavily revised and uses a lot of new parts as well. The engine gets a bump of almost 10 bhp bringing the total power output to 189 bhp at 13,000 rpm, which develops a peak torque of 114 Nm at 11,000rpm. The motor is now also Euro4 compliant and gets a revised cam timing as well. It comes mated to a six-speed transmission.
The Fireblade has also been competing in the most dangerous motorcycle race in the world - the Isle of Man TT, and Honda is one of few to have the most number of wins by a manufacturer at the event. With over 250 victories so far, the most recent one was the closing race of the 2015 Isle of Man TT Races with John McGuinness.
The 2017 Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade is priced in India at Rs. 17.61 lakh
Also Read: 2017 Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade Launched In India
In India, the 2017 Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade was launched early this year in April. The bike is priced at Rs. 17.61 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) for the standard CBR1000RR Fireblade and Rs. 21.70 lakh for the CBR1000RR SP. In India, the bike competes with the likes of - the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R, Suzuki GSX-R1000, BMW S1000RR, and the Yamaha YZF R1 as well.
