Words: Peter Elliott, Ben Wilkins / Photos: Geoff Osborne
We’ ve tested Honda’ s 2017 Fireblade on both road and track to give the all-new machine an extensive shakedown. Dig in to read all about it...
I confess to feeling completely bewildered by the array of technical detail and data on the Fireblade’ s new TFT crystal display up front. This state lasted for several rides. But, hell, it was going sensationally with no intellectual input from me, and some prior rider must have known what they were doing when they changed the factory settings; but frankly learning to set this bike up for your own preferences was always going to take a bit of time. So I did exactly what most of us would do... just turned the key and rode it. My initial impressions are uncomfortable ones, it’ s short, compact, offers little wind resistance to my looming body, and the pegs feel like they are slung just below the fuel tank. My six foot frame is thrust forward aggressively and my nuts feel dangerously exposed to any forward movement and stoppage. My head cranes forward to peer under the rim of my helmet, and those details on the screen are impossible to discern without my reading glasses on. But, within half an hour, the best part of 60km behind me and any number of bends and turns, I felt like I had ridden the bike yesterday and the day before. It was both familiar, and a constant revelation, as everything I originally found odd or different, became crystal clear as to why the engineers at Honda had gone the way they had. The body position felt better and better, and the
expected cramping I often get when my knees are touching my eyebrows did not eventuate. The bike looks incredible. Lets get that out of the way. The Honda finish is the best of any commercial manufacturer anywhere. Bar none. It turns heads, and best of all, and most unexpectedly, this iteration has personality to burn. We are used to fiendish precision from the Honda camp, but not the sort of heartstring tug that great Euro marques often inspire, until now. I liked this bike very much indeed, and it felt like it was taking me on a journey of discovery, one that I was happily led on. The SP1 is about as close to factory race as I