Back To The Heart Of It

Fairings off? Fluids drained? It’s getting serious for the Fireblade (again...)

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AMONG THE MEGABYTES of press releases and other dreary nonsense that pings in to my inbox every day was an email from PB reader Mick Loughlin that brightened a morning of the tedious admin shit that comes with steering the ship on Performance Bikes.

Project Fireblade’s new goal of shaving kilograms in order to chase down the Panigale Superleggera’s figures (and lap time) was the subject up for discussion – and more precisely, how Mick could help. As well as a hard-used CBR600RR track bike of his own that he’s been on a similar mission of extricating max performance from a solid older sportsbike, Mick has also spannered for various race teams – most recently, Jackson Racing, who campaigned Hondas on the roads and world endurance until this year.

“I’ve got a few used HRC bits I’ve collected over the years… would you be interested in them?” ’Kin right we are. When I started Project Blade, I went to see Honda Racing in Louth, who were at the end of eight years on the SC59 model. The minimal, efficient build of their bikes, and the high quality, but utilititarian nature of the componentry really appeals: none of the complicated, needlessly fancy trinketry that comes with catalogue performance parts: strong, light and getting it done are the only order of the day.

Some days later, a parcel arrived, containing a set of rearsets and some other bracketry (which I’ll come to in a while), so I rushed off to the garage to offer them up, and compare like for like on PB’s sub-10kg, coke dealer-spec scales that come in handy when scrutinising parts like this.