Ten years of the FireBlade

Honda’s FireBlade is a decade old this month and, during those 10 years, it has changed the way the world perceives motorcycles.

It has been all things to all people, arriving in 1992 to cries of ” too much for the road ” , gaining extra power over the years yet being ” demoted ” in 1998 to a sports tourer, before blasting back this year with a phenomenal package of refined ability.

Before the FireBlade, Honda’s flagship sports bike was the CBR1000F, which crushed the scales at 222kg (488lb), wallowed over anything less perfect than a race track surface and ran out of ground clearance every time anything resembling a sporty lean angle was approached.

Riders the world over were crying out for a powerful sports bike that didn’t knacker them out wheeling it from the garage. Their prayers were about to be answered.

A young engineer with a design background had a clear vision. He approached his bosses at Honda and laid his plans on the table.

The firm, keen to lead the class like it had done in previous years with such bikes as the CB1100R and VF1000R Bol D’Or, listened.

It was 1989 and Tadao Baba got the backing he needed. His mission – to create a bike with the power of a litre sports, but the handling of a 750 – was go. This was the birth of the FireBlade, arguably the most influential motorcycle of the past 20 years.

A few others have come close. Suzuki’s 250cc X7 and Yamaha’s RD250LC gained eternal infamy around 1980 when their performance was judged by stuffy MPs to be too much for learners, who were forced back on to 125s.

Kawasaki’s GPZ900R, introduced in 1984, gained a huge following thanks to its near-160mph performance and nimble handling.

A year later, we got Suzuki’s GSX-R750G, complete with bendy wheels. Based on Suzuki’s factory endurance rocketships, they were the closest to a racer for the road.

Not content with scaring buyers witless with that, Suzuki launched the bigger, more powerful GSX-R1100G in 1986. The modern sports bike was shaping up, and if things has carried on in the same vein, the Blade would not have been so revolutionary.

But then Suzuki committed two heinous acts. The first was the GSX-R1100J in 1988, which weighed a stupendous 24kg (53lb) more than the original G model. It was trimmed by 11kg (24lb) the next year, but the resulting 1100K had suspension that made it handle like a drunk.

Yamaha slid into the picture with its stunning FZR1000EXUP that year, but even though it was the best litre sports bike around, at 209kg (460lb), it was far from light.

The scene was set for the start of the FireBlade era – an era we are still celebrating a decade later. We look back at those 10 Blades – and discover there’s not a bad ’un among them.