‘I did 13,500 miles on my Blade, but my new S1000RR is better…’
“I’ve always loved Hondas. I just love everything about them, especially the smoothness and the build quality. Before I bought my 2017 Fireblade, I picked up a 13-plate model and the salesman at the time told me that the all-new Fireblade would be coming soon, so I was patiently waiting for news about it. It was at the NEC show in 2016 when I finally clapped eyes on it and I thought wow, I’m having one of those! So in spring of 2017 I finally bit the bullet and bought one. But because I got a custom paint job as part of the deal, I had to wait over two months before I could ride it.
“We went all over the place together – I rode it over to the Isle of Man for the TT, various BSB meetings and even a tour of the Scottish west coast. I bought an SW Motech rack and adapted it to take a topbox, then loaded it up and went all the way up to John O’ Groats then rode most of the west coast of Scotland. A lot of people don’t like touring on a sportsbike, but with me not being very big I found it fine, with no aches or pains although I did find the seat a little on the hard side by the end of the trip.
“Over the Mountain section of the TT course I got a chance to test out the Blade’s performance and apart from being really, really fast, the most amazing thing about it is how stable it is at speed. Really confidence inspiring. Mine had the two-way quickshifter fitted too, which made you feel like a racer. I also fitted it with an Austin Racing exhaust which helped boost power to 192bhp. “However, I ended up trading it in at the end of 2019; it had done over 13,500 miles, I knew the new Fireblade was just about to hit
‘I got a chance to try it out over the Mountain’
the showrooms so I was worried I’d lose money, and I’d also taken a test ride on the new S1000RR because I fancied a change from Hondas and I discovered it’s a much nicer machine all round with better power and riding position. My Blade was great though, and it never missed a beat in all those miles.”