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Fireblade gets ready to take on its rivals

Published: 24 January 2008 Updated: 19 November 2014
  • Which 1000cc sportsbike will come out on top?
    Which 1000cc sportsbike will come out on top?
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The waiting is finally over. We’ve finally got our hands on one of the first new Honda CBR1000RR FireBlades in Europe, and that means we can get to work on seeing which of the 1000cc Japanese superbikes is going to be this year’s king.

Senior Road Tester, Michael Neeves is at the Almeria circuit in southern Spain with the FireBlade, the new Kawasaki ZX-10R, Suzuki GSX-R1000 and Yamaha R1.

  • See our video of the R1 against the ZX-10R

All the bikes are on Michelin Power Race ‘control’ tyres to level up the playing field and it’s his job to see which one is the fastest.

Neevesy will then hand the baton over to fellow MCN Road Tester, Chad and he will be performance testing each one to see how fast they accelerate, how quickly they stop and what they do flat-out.

He’ll then take them out on the UK roads to see how they fare in real-world conditions.

When the dust has settled Chad and Neevesy will decide the overall winner.

All this makes this the most comprehensive 1000s group test we’ve ever done so don’t miss MCN on February 6 to see how we got on.

We’re also making two videos documenting our test on the track and the roads so look out for that too here on www.motorcyclenews.com

By Michael Neeves

MCN Chief Road Tester - Neevesy’s been an MCN Road Tester since 2002. He’s reviewed everything from mopeds to Rossi’s Yamaha M1, and plenty in between He covers tens of thousands of miles a year on the world’s roads and racetracks in his role with MCN, and when he’s not working he’s still on two wheels, racing both modern and classic superbikes for a variety of teams. To cement his position as one of the most influential motorcycling journalists on the planet, Neevesy spent many years as an Elite Instructor at the Ron Haslam Race School, based at the famous Donington Park race circuit. He regularly presents videos on riding tips and road safety, working alongside the likes of Highways England to deliver a strong and consistent message.