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Fireblade Future- whats in the future for Hondas Fireblade

Fireblade the Future.
The development of the 2004 Fireblade.

Page 1

What's in store for Honda's legendary Fireblade. We can only make a guess, at the moment, in March 2003. But sources at Honda have eluded to a RC211-V5 derived road bike, which hopefully if Honda chief's are reading this, won't look too dissimilar to this computer generated image of the red bike here, and hopefully will be priced at a figure us mere mortal's can afford. The RCB1000, the Grey bike pictured here is more likely to be the next generation of Honda Supersports bikes, and will it's believed no longer be called the 'FIREBLADE' Personally while there is nothing wrong with the styling of the RCB, I'd much prefer the red bike in my garage complete with the FIREBLADE name and a V5 engine. And not to use the FIREBLADE name when this name is synonymous with Honda's premier league Sports bike, will I feel be a decision Honda may live to regret. Only time and sales figures will tell.
Images courtesy of Motorcycle News/ Performance Bikes and Honda-Fireblades.co.uk

RC211 V5 derived road bike	RCB1000

Just for a bit of fun, I've added these two pictures below with the FIREBLADE name just to show just how good the new bikes could look, should Honda decide to give us these 'NEW' Fireblades.


This Picture Below is the latest to escape from Japan and could hint at the all new 2004 FIREBLADE so eagerly awaited by the masses. What at first glance appears to be a race spec 2002/03 954cc Fireblade, is in fact if you look closer a fair bit different. For starters the different shaped and centrally positioned ram air scoop. Sources at Honda have revealed this bike has a newly developed 1000cc in-line four cylinder engine, allegedly producing 150bhp at the rear wheel. Sources have also revealed that this bike is due to compete in the Japanese Superbike Series, which will give Honda a chance to develop this engine further into a road going bike.
Could this be the 'NEW' 1000cc FIREBLADE ??

30th April 2003 Update on the 2004 Fireblade Replacement
2004 CBR 1000RR
So, is this it then. The Fireblade's replacement the CBR 1000RR, Inside sources at Honda claim the 998cc in line four cylinder engined Superbike is rumored to be putting out 165 bhp and weighs in at a positively anorexic 165kg, lighter even than the current CBR600RR. Notice the lack of the legendary FIREBLADE moniker.



CBR1000 images courtesy of Motorcycle News & Dinant Rorije.

Latest News CBR1000RR 2nd July 2003
Heijiro Yoshimura (pictured right) senior chief engineer for the mighty HRC and the man behind the development of the Honda RCV211-V5 race bike, has now turned his hand to road going Honda's firstly with the CBR600RR, and now Honda have asked him to develop the replacement for the legendary Fireblade, the CBR1000RR.
The CBR1000RR due to be unveiled to the public on the 10th September 2003. Is expected to look like it's smaller brother the CBR600RR, even down to the underseat exhaust. The all new CBR1000RR, is said to be the size of the 600RR and weigh in at 165kg and produce between 160-165 bhp from the 4 cylinder in-line engine. Roll on September 10th is what I say.

Honda to confirm the new FIREBLADE 25th July 2003
Honda are to confirm, hopefully by the end of August, that they are indeed going to be keeping the name FIREBLADE on the next generation CBR998/1000RR. Firstly a massive response to my "keep the Fireblade name" alive campaign a huge thank you to everyone that contacted me and Honda UK through this web site, with their views on the proposed dropping of the Fireblade name. I recently forwarded all the e-mail's to Honda UK, that I received from other Blade owners who contacted me after my "keep the Fireblade name" campaign,, and have recently received a letter from Honda UK's Dave Hancock, and he say's the final decision will be made in late August as to whether the Fireblade name is to be used on the next generation CBR998/1000RR. He confirmed they have received a massive response and that serious consideration is in progress, so it definitely seems likely that the Fireblade name will hopefully live on, on the new CBR1000RR. So finger's crossed then.


28th August 2003
Is this the 'absolutely stunning' final development model of the all new class leading CBR1000RR, My sources tell me this bike is currently on test at a secret location. The question must surly be, with all those exhaust silencers, is this an RCV derived V5 engined road bike we so desperately want it to be, and can only hope for, and with Ram Air aswell. By the time the new bike is unveiled to the public next month (September 10th) it could well only have a twin underseat exhaust system similar to the CBR600RR, from what I'm told, also sadly as you can see the legendary 'Fireblade' name is prominent by it's absence, at least on this picture. Please Honda it's still not too late. If the 'new' bike look's like this, I for one will be straight down my local Honda dealers.

Of all the version's I've seen so far, this is my favorite by far, thank you Xavi for this image.

4th September 2003
Not a day goes by, without another version of Honda's 'new' CBR1000RR "Fireblade" replacement seems to escape from somewhere, I'm starting to wonder if, all these version's appearing, are just an extremely clever diversion by Honda, to keep us all guessing. This picture below, (red/white/blue bike) according to my sauces in the Netherlands is believed to be the 'new' CBR1000RR, in US colours, it is fairly different to all the other pictures of what the new bike is supposed to look like, with subtle differences with the swing are, seat unit, lower fairing and with no ram air. The Mystery continues...........


10th September 2003
This is it, these are the official pictures of the all new 2004 Honda CBR1000RR 'FIREBLADE' After all the leaked pictures of what the bike was going to look like, the "real" pictures are here and it's good news for Europe at least, the Fireblade name will continue to feature on the new CBR, in the rest of the world the bike will be known as the CBR1000RR. Technical specifications are a bit sketchy at present, but what we do know is, the bike has an all new design in-line 4 cylinder 998cc engine producing 163 bhp at 11,250 rpm. The front brake calipers are the must have for 2004, radial mounted calipers with 310mm disc's. Ram air induction features, as per the RCV race bike, a twin outlet single silencer, is now present as the proposed twin silencer as per the original design was going to be too expensive to produce, as the whole system is now fully titanium, a hugely braced swingarm, and the rear shock is a first for the Fireblade and is Honda's patented pro-link system, which does away with a top mounting point, as per the RCV race bike. Also a first for any road going Honda and a technical marvel is the electronically operated speed sensitive steering damper, which stiffens as speed increases, while giving little resistance at walking speed's.




You can clearly see the electronic and speed sensitive steering damper, which is a first for any road going Honda, and may hint at a steep steering head angle.
	The speed sensitive steering damper.
	Who's going to be first to change that end can then ??
thank you to Dinant Rorije & Rod Hughes & MCN for these images.


make your own mind up.............. Also some pictures from the Birmingham NEC Motorcycle Show 2003.

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