HONDA FIREBLADE CBR1000 RR-R
It’s one of the sauciest Blades on the track scene, with an utterly awesome spec to go with it.
The most striking Fireblade around town... there’s no two ways about it! When it comes to tribute acts, there are very few that actually nail it, but I have to say, I reckon Bob has done a cracking job with this bike. The closer you look, the better it gets; it’s an absolute peach. Undeniably, it’s the first thing that you notice with this bike, and I’ve got to say I love this flamboyant livery, which is inspired by the 1993 Honda Fireblade designed by Tadoa Baba. I don’t know the actual name of this design, but Bob’s calling it the Unicorn… it works for me. Personally, I’d like to see manufacturers taking gambles on their designs more often. This one has definitely stood the test of time.
Bob Collins purchased this bike new in 2020 and after clocking 400 miles on the road (mainly on its back wheel), he decided to turn it into a completely outrageous track weapon. The road-to-race conversion took place in Bob’s own workshop, with a helping hand from his mate, HRC Tony… no, it’s not a joke – Tony actually is a mechanic for the factory Honda World Superbike team, working on Alvaro Bautista’s bike, and so I think it’s safe to say that the lads knew what they were doing when they put this bike together.
It has been carefully assembled with specific parts, following a similar spec of the Honda UK Superstock 1000 racing machine. Bob did his homework, and now this Fireblade boasts an impressive spec. It is essentially a Superstock spec bike, but it’s had a few extra goodies thrown in for good measure; the aftermarket master cylinder, quick release OZ wheels and Moto Holders subframe makes it somewhat of a hybrid, but by no means a Superbike.
Bob originally fitted an Öhlins fork cartridge kit and shock but has recently changed to Ktech DDS suspension in the front and rear, claiming that it’s a slightly better spec product. Having bought the standard (non-SP) model CBR-1000 RRR, it means the forks are slightly different to the factory team, which uses the SP model, and so he couldn’t use the same ‘top spec’ Öhlins kit. He’s still only in the trial process with the new suspension and has kept hold of the Öhlins should he wish to switch back.
When it came to choosing the parts that would actually make a difference to the performance of the bike, I completely understand why Bob followed the path of the Honda racing team; he’d have been daft not too since this bike is still in the infancy of its development, and there aren’t many other (fast) riders using this bike. He’s gone with the HRC loom and ECU with a full titanium Akrapovic exhaust system, and the fuel mapping has been done by DynoJet UK – sounds a good combo to me.
Bob’s been having a play with the electronics at the track himself, but there is so much that can be changed on these new Blades that it’s going to take a day or two for him to get his head around it. Traction control, anti-wheelie, slip control… the list goes on and on. You can actually change the level of traction control per gear with the new Hondas, and Bob runs it in ‘low’ for second and third gear, and has reduced the power in second slightly to make the bike more manageable on the exit of tighter corners.
Bob has had all the little details anodised in purple by L74, including the Promach rearsets, which, I have to say, do look pretty neat – but I just can’t resist saying it does look a bit like it’s been crashed into Halfords…