Clawing Back The Advantage

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2017 HONDA FIREBLADE JOHN McAVOY

THE LAST TIME my Fireblade was at Donington Park, things didn’t go too well. In the hands of Michael Rutter, it got well and truly spanked on track by all the other 2017 litre bikes, setting a woeful lap time, 2.8 seconds slower than the other new arrival for 2017, Suzuki’s GSX-R1000. And the less said about what PB’s 2008 Fireblade did on track to the new all-singing, all-dancing model, the better.

As bad as the lap times were, picking the positives from Rutter’s, Newbigging’s and my feedback wasn’t easy. Each of us pointed to an inconsistent throttle connection, peaky power delivery, conservative and relatively crude rider aids making it difficult to ride. The lack of a quickshifter also made managing hard acceleration a real issue. We noted it was noticeably lighter and much better at turning than the other bikes. But sadly the lasting impression of the Fireblade from the day was that it was slow and unpopular. Harsh words, unwelcome by some, below our own expectations, and in contradiction with reports in less thorough publications. However, the datalogger doesn’t lie, and the observations were unanimous.