World's greatest bikes #4: Honda Fireblade

It’s the bike that put Honda back on the sportsbike map and, by revolutionising design with its emphasis on light weight and manageability, set the template for all superbikes which followed.

Impressive given that it was created by an inexperienced project leader with little formal training.

Tadao Baba joined Honda in 1962, worked as a machinist then test rider before moving into product development.

Then, in 1987, he took over the new sportsbike project, a key sector dominated by Yamaha’s FZR1000 and Suzuki’s GSX-R1100.

“Of course, I was nervous – it was my first project,” Baba recalled.

“But I was also confident, too. I love riding sportsbikes and the feeling of satisfaction when I can control it as I want. Bikes at the time were very fast but they never turned like a race bike. The brief was to create a sportsbike with total control that was easy to ride. This was my world, my ideal bike.”

To achieve that a compact size and ultralight weight were deemed key, with Baba setting a target of 190kg (the Yamaha was 209kg, the GSX-R 226kg) and demanding parts be redesigned rather than be too heavy.

It also resulted in the first prototype, in late 1989, being a 750…