Icon: Honda CBR900RR Fireblade
#20 Honda CBR900RR Fireblade
Where did it come from?
From the brain of Tadao Baba, the engineer tasked by Honda with bringing them back into the sportsbike market. Originally conceived as a 750, the Fireblade took a new direction under Baba’s obsession for light weight and more power. Ignoring existing capacity categories, he combined a top-quality chassis with the biggest engine he could fit in the smallest space, to create a bike dedicated to the task of going fast where it mattered - on the road.
What changed?
Our perceptions of what a big sportsbike was, and what it could do. In 1991, litre-class sportsbikes were big, heavy bruisers like the Kawasaki ZZ-R1100, Honda CBR1000F and the slightly sportier Yamaha FZR1000 EXUP - all blessed with 170mph top ends, comfy seats and protective fairings. In the spring of 1992, those bikes became sports-tourers overnight. The Fireblade simply ran rings round them. It took the competition six years to catch up with a bike to beat it - 1998’s Yamaha R1.
Why do people like it?
Because it was a game-changer then and it’s still great to ride now. And the original round-lamp model still has that raw, stripped-back feel which subsequent models gradually lost.
Cult rating: 3/5
Only 3? Seems a bit miserly... Well yes, but then there are loads of them about and, because the name’s gone on to become so common, there’s none of the inherent magic of a rare and delicious confection like an RC30 or a Ducati 916.
The problem is...
Finding a good, standard one, or finding good, standard parts to restore a tired one. Many were crashed, then treated to the standard 1990s streetfighter makeover - it can be very hard to resurrect a past-its-best Blade.
Without the first Fireblade...
We might never have got used to calling bikes by names instead of alphanumerical codes. It’s hard to remember now just how we all sniggered when when we heard the new CBR900RR was also called the ‘Fireblade’. But nobody’s laughing now.
“It took the competition six years to catch up”