MRW Issue 1

I had to keep reminding
myself I was not Marc
Marquez, even though
the RR-R made me feel
just like him.
lips at a local track day or
breakfast run.
In the hands of the unassuming,
general rider it was
a hit, but to the track nutter
wanting bragging rights it
was lacking.
They wanted to be able
to adorn their bike with the
famous wings logo with
pride, rather than parking
a mile away not to be seen
and avoid all the verbal and
shameful abuse. ‘Honda gives
you wings’ was a great catch
phrase, but that’s where it
ended. Now, with the new
FireBlade, it’s rather, Honda
gives you wings to sore higher
and faster than before.
Fast forward to what seems
like an eternity of hearing
about a new FireBlade model
coming and finally Honda’s
fans can shout proudly once
“But, as they say here in SA “a
boer maak n ‘plan” and that’s
exactly what Riaan Fourie and
his team from Honda SA did.”
again. I was lucky enough
to have been the first journo
in the country to sample
the new machines a few
months back. Both the new
CBR1000RR-R and RR-R SP
models blew me away with
their new-found speed and
sophistication. More power
than ever before and a new
aggression that had been
lacking on previous models.
The bikes were sublime, but
I did have a few gripes, the
biggest being the fact that
the base RR-R model didn’t
come standard with a quickshifter
or autoblip. I mean,
really? It’s 2020, how the
hell does a big manufacturer
like Honda release a R350k
plus new weapon without a
quickshifter and autoblip?
It has just about everything
else on – from riding modes
to a 6-axis IMU – but they
couldn’t see fit to just add
a quickshifter and autoblip?
Shame on you Honda!
As they say here in SA “a
boer maak n ‘plan” and that’s
exactly what Riaan Fourie and
his team from Honda SA did.
They did their homework and