Hi all I have not been here for a while, a lot happened after Fireblade number 7… A superduke 1290R, a Speed Triple RS and a divorce and life throws me back to Fireblade number 8, a 2013 and back to one of the first ones i had (08,09,13, 02,16,16,19) nice to be back looking at exhaust etc …
All good for different reasons and i know that sounds a shit answer, let me try and explain 954 2002. loved the blue, the bigger bike feel and you felt to be using more of the bike with less power, it was a great roadbike, all day comfort. But they are showing and feeling their age. Noises and vibrations you dont get with new, not as smooth but that is part of the attraction, and your on a bike few own or are seen 7/10 08 my first owned Fireblade (explain further below). Black and i did the wheels gold. Alpha suspension did a fork oil change and set up the suspension and it was like on carpet. Good looking bike and quick enough for most. If im honest i love the looks of the front. The rear shock from newer 13 is a good improvement. Did everything i needed, the black was hard to keep on top of but a good bike but… a little bit neutral and did use a bit of oil. Had a 09 Repsol too which i think is one of the best looking blades of all time with the front and old repsol colours 6/10 2013- my first new blade whilst working for Honda UK. A far improvement on the 08. Display, suspension, i did a lot of training courses on that bike and was very confident on it, looked great in pearl white and pound for pound as good as you will need. Worth the extra for the dash and suspension over 08 nowadays 7/10 2016 - Repsol, and Black edition. the days of a brand new blade for £10500, loved it but no real difference to the 2013, extras on the black edition were nice though. 7/10 should have been better by that year. 2019- could not fault this bike, I remembered first riding it and thinking wow. Very very easy to go quick, its like a 2016 thats been to the gym, similar size but a lot lighter and just efficient at what it did.. just Honda at its best. It reminded me in a way of the old 954 in weight and feel. Id have another but i lost a lot of money on the interest free deal like many as the market wasnt £17k. Id have another but its wasted on the roads, would love to go on track as that much easy power is lost on a road nowadays 8/10 a lot is looks, things i did on them and how i felt. I always think a blade is a perfect 1 bike, if you are lucky and can have two you dont need a blade. They 2019 was the best, but not worth the price tag. The 954 always made me smile on a sunny day sat looking at it, but the 2013 for £6k is as good as it gets, better than the 08/09 but not much more money, the 16 isnt worth £9k - £10k nowadays they were that new, and the 2019 whilst incredible was just too easy to loose a license as probably the most easy clinical bike i have ridden. looking forwards to the 2013 and maybe one day a 954 will come to join it. many will argue. And deservedly so. Always wanted to try a 07 but never did.
That's above and beyond... thanks for the detailed insight. I think that's the main reason I bought a blade after 15 years not riding. I can only have 1 bike (for now) so it had to be a good'n.
Makes me weep I didn't bother to back up a computer memory as a melt down meant a loss of all my photos of my past Blades. The 02 954 was my first brand new one. Made getting to work bliss and the weekends a joy. T boned by someone talking to their passenger. That's life.
Welcome back @Shutty, great review of the past blades. Love the 954 and always wanted one, unfortunately its difficult to find a decent one with low miles these days. Enjoy the new bike!
Google data recovery firms...I bet the pics and other stuff can be retrieved off the HDD unless you've binned it.
It actually melted, caught fire and that was it. Paid someone to try but apparently no chance. Learnt my lesson, now have a 1TB external HD.
That's the first time I've seen the term 'Melt-down' used to describe something actually melting. Great job, but sorry for your loss, been there done that, know how that feels.