A cut ABOVE

Honda totally rewrote the Fireblade's direction when it launched the RCV-inspired CBR1000RR in 2004. It was, and still is, a very capable and pleasurable litre bike.

- JON URRY

Looking back, the early 2000s were brilliant for four-stroke motorcycle development. Over in MotoGP, the stink-wheels had been phased out and instead a grid full of roaring four-strokes were lining up to do battle. And one manufacturer was dominating the show - Honda.

A far cry from Honda's pitiful performance nowadays, the RC211V was leaving all in its wake, and with a young Italian called Valentino Rossi on board (whatever happened to him...), it took the inaugural four-stoke MotoGP title in 2002 and retained it in 2003. To be fair, things went downhill in 2004, mainly because that Rossi chap jumped ship to bitter rival Yamaha, but the headlines had been written, and when the all-new 2004 Fireblade arrived, it was heralded as the first Blade to contain MotoGP technology for the road. And not only that, it looked pretty bloody cool too!