2002 Honda 929 Fireblade

The Honda Fireblade is already something of a legend in motorcycling terms. First introduced back in February 1992 it set a new benchmark in the sports bike market. It took the evolution of the sports motorcycle, started by Kawasaki on the GPZ900R and continued by Suzuki with the GSX-R series and Yamaha with the FZR1000 Exup, to a whole new dimension. Both those bikes had to some extent redefined sports motorcycling, with more power and less weight. But the 'Blade leaped ahead of them, it wasn't just evolution it was revolution.

I remember riding the first 'Blade, the thing was a little rocket. It was small, light and very fast. It was also very exciting to ride with its slightly unruly manners. It didn't handle badly, and it wasn't an effort to ride in the way that the old style universal Japanese motorcycles (UJM) had been, but it sure took some commitment to handle the fierce power and the rather flappy feel of the front end.

To be fair on the original Fireblade, much of its front end problems stemmed from the fact that the front tyre spent so little time in full contact with the pavement that it was just bound to shake its head a bit. And many owners found that a little expert twiddling with suspension setup, or failing that a steering damper, cured the wildness completely. As Honda evolved the model things calmed down significantly, maybe too much for some owners who actually liked the wild 'just-released-from-the-lunatic-ward' manners.

Released for the 2000 season the latest incarnation of this revered machine, the 929 Fireblade, is supposed to take the old gun on a few more steps, enough hoped Honda, to regain the ground that they lost to Yamaha and the superb R1. But did the package of suspension tweaks, frame alterations and fuel injection, which essentially made the 929 an all-new version o the Fireblade, do enough? There's only one way to find out, ride it.

The Fireblade taken in isolation would be a very satisfying sports bike. It has loads of power, more than ever before, and top notch handling. I noticed a little tendency to shake its head when exiting fast corners (on the road where the surface tends to be poorer) and at times this got bad enough to force me to back off the throttle just a little to avoid disaster.

You wouldn't notice this behaviour unless you were demanding the 929's all, but then why buy a sports bike if you don't intend to explore the limits of its performance? I'd have liked to have tried the 'Blade on different tyres, as I'm not a huge fan of Bridgstones, they have plenty of grip, as do most tyres nowadays, but they're not, in my opinion, as stable at the ragged edge as the Michelins or Dunlops of the same class.

The brakes on the Fireblade are brilliant, and the front forks cope with them well, never bottoming out even when used really hard. Whatever speed you're braking down from the front end stays planted and continues to soak up road irregularities. This is the reason why bikes don't have 'funny' or alternative front ends nowadays - the technicians have made telescopics work so well there's no need to replace them anymore.

The Honda's front forks are great for the street, although my recent ride on the new Suzuki GSX-R1000K has shown me that there's better still available. No doubt Honda noted this and we'll see similar trick coated tubes on the much-rumoured next-generation Blade that might just make an appearance at Milan 's big show in Fall. At the rear there's an equally good brake and a pretty good shocker too - these modern sportsbikes really do have plenty enough in the handling and stopping department for the average rider.

The Honda does lose out on power to its competition, even the GSX-R750 that I rode the week after I had the 'Blade felt more powerful, and with only a little less torque, which surprised me for a bike that gave away nearly 200ccs. The Suzuki also seemed to have the edge on top speed, although I didn't have a chance to speed trap the Honda and Suzuki to compare them scientifically.

Hop off the Blade and onto the R1 and you'll see that the Yam has the edge on all-round power, it has more throttle response lower down, needing fewer revs to get it going. The Honda needs more use of the gearbox to keep it boiling, the Suzuki GSX-R 750 a bit more again, but the new GSX-R1000K sets a whole new standard in the 'power-anywhere-anytime' game. So Honda will have to do their homework if they want to keep up with Suzuki.

One area where Honda have always been ahead is in quality of finish. The Honda's a very well put together motorcycle and there's no history of problems with the 'Blade, although the early ones, the CBR900 RR-N did get a bit of a reputation in the UK for flaky finishing. The RR-P version, launched in November 92 (in the UK ) seemed to have addressed that problem.

The latest Blade is well thought out, it's comfortable for a sports bike, almost verging on being a useful touring motorcycle. The bars are low enough for sports riding at your local racetrack and yet high enough to make road riding a reasonable proposition - even for long distances. I rode the 'Blade for 250 miles, which included 15 miles in heavy London traffic, without cursing its ergonomics too much. That's no mean feat for a bike that can scratch with the best.

Faults? This is a difficult subject, bikes are just so good nowadays that finding fault always verges on nit-picking. And often you can only fault one bike by comparing it with a rival bike that's just that little bit better. I have to sound off about the reserve capacity though. On one ride out on the Blade I noticed the fuel warning light while pretty deep in the countryside, and some way from the nearest filling station. But I'm used to being able to get up to 40 miles out of the reserve tank on my own Yamaha Thunderace, so I expected more than the 10 miles it took the Blade to dump me, absolutely out of gas, on a country road late one evening.

And can someone tell me why four bikers rode past without stopping, while two car drivers pulled up, one with a can full of gas to rescue me? What happened to the old days when stopping at the side of the road on a motorcycle was as good a way as any to make new biker buddies?

There's also the Blades slight tendency to shake its bars when pushing hard over less than perfect pavement. But I won't score it down too much on this as I reckon tyres or suspension tuning would cure it in no time, as there seems little fundamentally wrong with the suspension or geometry on the blade.

So why should you buy a Fireblade when the magazines are all saying that the Suzuki is top of the sports bike tree, and the R1 is probably in second spot? Well, first reason would be you like your bikes with Honda on the tank, because you like the security that gives you. They make them well at Honda and they always look after you if you should have a problem. Or maybe you want to be different?

Who'd have thought you'd be able to say that about a Fireblade? From 1992 to the late Nineties when the R1 started to dominate the sports bike sales, the Fireblade was a bike you'd be sure to see whenever you took a ride out to any biker hang out, and in numbers. Nowadays the 929 version is actually somewhat scarce compared to the hordes of R1s and the ever increasing bands of GSX-R1Ks roaming the roads.

Honda know they have been aced by the R1 and the GSX-R. And that's a situation you can be sure they won't allow to continue for too long. There's sure to be a host of designers and engineers working away on their Cad-Cam machines as I write this, developing the next version of the legendary Fireblade to come and grind the upstarts into the racetrack.

Since this test was written, Honda has upgraded the Fireblade once more. But an all-new Fireblade is on the cards for 2003 and will probably be revealed at the Munich bike show this September.

DISPLACEMENT: 929cc
ENGINE TYPE: Inline four-cylinder
FUEL SYSTEM: 40mm Throtle Bodies, Fuel Injection
FUEL CAPACITY: 4.9 gallons
TRANSMISSION: Close-ratio six-speed
CHASSIS: Twin Spar Extruded Aluminum w/ Pivotless Swingarm
SEAT HEIGHT: 32.3 inches
HORSEPOWER: 123
HP TORQUE: 64ft. lbs@9300rpm
DRY WEIGHT: 379.0 pounds