Hiya DF! I have to agree on many of your points, especially the 'fly-by-wire'. Owners and dealers have no mechanisms to make any sort of adjustment to its function, therefore the throttle opening lag I have previously spoken of is there for life - or in your case until you walk out of a dealer with your next bike! I do love my 2018, its handling and build quality, but as you rightfully point out - there are few, if any, advancements over previous.
I was in the camp about other brands and that the my old 2014 blade was like the new one ...changed my tune once I got the sp....its 15kg lighter for starters.....quality finish and yes I do notice the difference with the electronics on the road....be interesting who slates it has actually ridden one.....
I don't think anyone's slating it and a couple of us do actually own one. I just think the last gen was a better road bike for a number of reasons and that's probably the same for all of the latest 1000cc supersports.
I like the SP, a lovely looking bike - but the price tag...... Locally the standard Blade is over £1,200 more than my MT-10 SP costs, and in my mind the MT-10SP is already quite an expensive bike. So you get the standard Blade for £1,200 more than the top of the range MT-10 SP. As a road bike which would I rather have ? The new Blade SP is a gorgeous bike, no doubt about it - but they are not going to be selling many to Joe Public like me. I still have not seen one locally registered round here, and there are some nice bikes around - but still not seen a locally registered new model Fireblade yet. ( a few R1s locally, even the R1M, new Gixer, ZX10R but not a Fireblade).
Well it's a good thing I can plug my bike into my laptop then and "Fiddle" wirh the parameters making my ride by wire a little bit smoother, taken all the lag of mine, better for track and road for sure, only works of course if you have a company that makes flashing software for your ecu, which ftecu do and of course you can use a laptop so not for life as you thought Nigel
Agree, @SimonRR . In fact I'd exchanged a few messages about that very topic some weeks ago but decided the outlay of software - for my purpose - would be extravagant in respect of the problem to solve. It does gripe me though, that when such software IS available, my local dealer insists that nothing can be done at dealer level. To put this into perspective, there should be no difference in a dealer buying the old 4-gauge carburettor balancers than buying relevant software to enhance a bike's rideability. Whether we're talking a standard Blade or an SP, the dealer SHOULD have on-hand equipment to ensure their product (the bike) meets all avenues of customer satisfaction. Perhaps I am just on my high horse and asking too much.
I haven't got a FBW throttle but just out of interest, why do you believe a lag has been left in there by Honda?
Surely the lag as it’s being called is just the electronic version of the cable type free play that they all come with?
Precisely, @raphael. It's no so much a feeling of 'looseness', for me it's a slight delay before injectors activate. Sure, I'm talking microseconds, but it's enough to be noticeable and a little off-putting when compared to the bang-on response of my RR4 and RRB throttles-by-cable. The other side is, that as seasoned riders (some of us very well seasoned) we learn to adapt to the idiosyncrasies of various bikes. My point in this thread is not TOTAL dissatisfaction, BUT, the prospect of having to engage aftermarket services to rectify what I consider a problem. (Granted, this nothing compared to the owners of ABS problems who would undoubtedly LOVE to have just this small itch.)
Thinks it more to do with emission Targets again, I have turned off the 200ms throttle lag and the deceleration fuel cut, makes the bike feel alive under your hand, but we have a few pops on deceleration and on power, which sounds cool anyway lol
So what are the pops on deceleration? (MV F4s are renowned for it.) Is it detonation of unspent fuel? If so, that would suggest quite an overlap with the closing of inlet/opening of exhaust valve. I don't mind the sound either. Dropping down from 8,000 rpm is quite a delight!!
I'm fairly sure it's emissions based and Honda having to come up with a solution for all situations and locales. I'd bet the tuners aren't worried about emissions testing and whatever Euro regs the manufacturers have to meet.
I took the plunge for an Africa Twin Adventure sports a few months back and have been enjoying it. I did come to the realisation quite quickly however that my sports bike days are not over and that I probably made the jump too soon and that I needed to get back on a litre sports bike asap. I test rode the current GSXR, Fireblade SP, S1000RR and the R1 over the past fortnight or so. All great bikes with their own positives and negatives but the Honda is just in another conversation from the rest in terms of build quality and riding experience. No contest for me. Just ordered a 2018 SP.
Great news. Hope you haven't lost much on the Africa. When's delivery? We'll have to arrange an SP meet up one day. Will be a good outing and @keithg1748 can show us his botched disc job!
