SuperBike Magazine September 2020

37
It’s been out for a while already overseas
but the first few have just arrived in SA
recently and we were given a first ride on
them at Red Star Raceway, but was this
Fireblade going to impress? Honda has
a reputation of always making you drool
over the prototypes but when the actual model
arrives, too many guys with white cloaks have
had a hand at it with health and safety always
getting the better of them. Goodness sake,
this is the company that made the man eating
CR500 and has more world titles to their name
than any other brand. But they are a conservative
Japanese manufacturer, so was it going to
impress?
I first had a go on the outgoing model, courtesy
of Dave from Track Daze, just to refresh
my Fireblade memory, and immediately I was
back in my happy space, so planted so easy to
ride but yes, if I must admit, a little poor on the
power side, if you are not doing a claimed 200
nowadays you seem to be out of the ball park.
I then had a turn on the 2020 Fireblade RR-
R, there is a second model as well called the
SP, but more on that later on.
I’m a fan of the out-going model but this
new one makes it look dated, it’s small, the
keyless start is in a clever spot on the left
consol. The dash is super modern and I love
the way it goes through it’s sequence. At start