FURIOUS FIREPOWER

Have you ever been “that guy”? You know the one I’m talking about — the guy who stands out from the crowd for all the wrong reasons. Perhaps you downed a few too many ales at a work party or dropped the F-bomb at a kid’s birthday just as the music stopped. Or maybe you just got caught with your pants down (we’ve all been there). Well, Honda’s CBR1000RR Fireblade was very close to becoming “that guy” in the superbike class.

Street-legal superbikes are peaking at the moment and any model that doesn’t have the full gamut of electronic rider aids simply gets left for dead ... or dacked in this case. For consumers, it’s bliss. We’re reaping the benefits of millions spent on race engineering and development as manufacturers try to keep pace with the constantly moving goal posts of MotoGP and WSBK, but for the marques it’s a tough pill to swallow. And there’s also the evertightening European emissions regulations to contend with.

Just a few issues back we saw Suzuki pull out all stops to resurrect its ageing GSX-R1000 with a fresh breath of variable valve timing to meet Euro 4 head on. It certainly needed it, but this unveiling put Honda squarely in the spotlight as the sole remaining