Passion
A quarter of a century on, there’s something magical about the original CBR900RR FireBlade, which transformed superbike development and still generates adrenaline in bucketloads. The mid-Nineties Foxeye models remain deservedly popular, especially 1994’s so-called “Urban Tiger” with its striped orange paintwork. Those earlier ’Blades had the benefit of being sharpest of the superbike pack, before Yamaha’s YZF-R1 and Suzuki’s GSX-R1000 arrived to add competition.
All the other Fireblade models have their supporters. The 2004 bike remains a favourite, its sharp nose and under-seat pipe echoing the style of Rossi’s all-conquering MotoGP racer. But a blast on the sweet 2008-model ’Blade highlights the benefits of more recent refinement. And for track use, in particular, the latest Fireblade SP is way out ahead. Perhaps the greatest achievement of Honda’s famous family is that in all this time there hasn’t been a single bad one.
Price of our bike: 2017 CBR1000RR Fireblade SP £19,125; standard Fireblade £15,225. A clean, original 1992 CBR900RR FireBlade costs around £5000