The power game
Emma learns a lesson about keeping the Blade charged
One of those old-fashioned sportsbike-loving types, with 18 years’ experience. Enjoys trackdays and a bit of club racing Wired-up, focused, engaged, thrilled; Honda’s all-new Fireblade SP stirs up lots of emotions, but I never thought ‘flat’ would be one of them. The trouble started when I noticed the Blade wouldn’t start after 48 hours of inactivity. Instantly, I thought this was down to me leaving the ignition on or something daft like that, draining the lightweight, lithiumion battery. Connecting it up to a regular charger was enough to fire the engine into life. The battery charged up happily while I rode and all was fine; the battery’s ions were all positively charged and so were my endorphins, especially as I had a place on the James Whitham School booked – my first opportunity to try the Blade out on track.
With the Honda lovingly strapped into the back of my van, I drove two-and-a-half hours through the rain to get to Croft. Once there, I wheeled the Blade into the paddock, then prodded the ignition. Nothing. I borrowed a spare battery from a fellow trackday rider and connected it to the Blade’s tiny Li-ion unit. Bingo! The ignition came on and the Blade’s motor spun into life. Leaving the bike idling, I wriggled into leathers ready to hit the track. Not so fast… After 10 minutes, the Blade cut out and wouldn’t restart. Following a call to Honda, it turns out there were a number of factors at play. Firstly, the lightweight battery had been going flat because of the drain placed upon it by the GPS tracker my bike has been fitted with, and therefore needed to be connected to a trickle charger at all times when not in use. Secondly, perhaps because of my jump start or maybe because it had been discharged so many times, my Blade’s battery was now kaput so needed replacing (£322.18). Honda recommend that the CBR1000RR-R should be kept connected to a lithium-ion-specific charger, like the Optimate Lithium 4s 0.8A (£64.99), which I’ve now hardwired to the Blade’s battery to keep it tip top. Talk about learning the hard – expensive – way!