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News

2022 Honda CBR1000RR-R SP

Fireblade Ridden On Track

Launched in 2020, the heavily updated Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade was the fastest, most
powerful, and technologically advanced ‘Blade the world had ever seen.

It took the most iconic of all the modern-era sports bikes into the 200bhp party, chu-
cked in some MotoGP rider ergonomics, race-bred aerodynamics, and wrapped it in
one of the slinkiest fairings the two-wheeled world has ever seen. But time marches
on, and so does the competition. We’ve already had a go on the new Panigale V4 S
at Jerez last year and it is the most stonkingly fast road-ready sports bike I’ve ever
ridden. To combat this, Honda has given the ‘Blade a bit of an update. It’s not a huge
change in any respect, but the tweaks seem to have all been made off the back
of rider and racer feedback, and they go some way to address some of the
points I made in my 2020 Fireblade launch report.

Before we get into it though, this is more a case of evolution over
revolution. The latest 2022 ‘Blade takes on some of the areas that
have been noted by those I mentioned above. That means the
effort is put into increasing the mid-range punch, changing the
gearing to make the engine more rideable on the road and twe-
aking the Honda Selectable Torque Control. Oh, and let’s not
forget the stunning 30th-anniversary paintjob. Because that’s
pretty bloody sweet looking!

To get to grips with the new ‘Blade

Honda asked us along to the bike’s birthday bash at the Donington round of the
British Superbike Championship. Aside from the on-track action, there was a sea
of bikes parked on the un-used Melbourne Loop, all of them Hondas, 99% of them
Fireblades and some of them FireBlades – if you know the difference! It was so nice
to see so many nicely turned out early 90s bikes there, still being used. Most weren’t
show-ponies either, and many had a nice, well-ridden patina.

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