Because Honda deny it is an issue and within tolerances it is virtually impossible to determine why the issue is occuring, its also very random, with some burning and some not, so its a bit like motorcycling russian roulette. I have read about oil burners coming from years 2008/2009/2010, so unless the engine internals changed for 2011 i guess some of them could '' burn '' too. Its just so damm random, you will never be 100% sure that an owner is being totally honest with you when selling it, he could be off loading it because of the oil issue.... but he will never tell you that. Its the old addage of buyer beware, although some don't have an issue with an oil burner, a lot will do.......... i found this most informative ! Hitler's 2009 Fireblade burns oil... - YouTube Keep some hankies handy, its so bloody funny.
I had an oil burner, I think any UK bike with gold engine cases is a 'possible burner' but those with black cases have the correctly engineered rings fitted. I do a lot of miles and had nightmares with mine, Honda tried every little trick and tale to wriggle out of it - used 3.5 litres in a week on a trip of 3000 miles and told 'that's normal' - did oil test and needed to go from one Honda dealer to another (In Scotland) - when it took 950ml after about 470 miles they said 'lets put the whole bottle in' - Honda UK turn round 'it was to two different dealers, and the exact measure was not taken so we won't accept that' - like the difference between 950ml and 1000ml over 470 would make the difference of it passing or failing. FINALLY got honda to agree to rebuild with new rings - local dealer (who kept saying 'we well hundreds of Blades and only your one has a problem') did a compression test before and after work, was massively down on 2 cylinders, and original rings were 'all squashy' - after rebuild compression was correct - emissions were also sky high pre re-build.
You make a good point ref the emissions, it can not be doing the whole engine any good having that much oil burnt, and for the environment ......
Are we still going on about this then? BTW there are plenty of black engine cased blades that burn oil and it doesn't matter if it's a UK bike or not.
Unfortunatley i think your right. I suspect in years to come when anybody mentions buying a blade of this era, some of the first things to '' look out for '' will be excess oil usage, sad really for a legend of a bike in its 20th anniversary year.
I had a cbr600f 2011 and also wanted an upgrade. Grunt mainly, power and 1000cc was just a bonus. I went for the RR8 a) for the bar, seat, pegs ratio (I'm only 5'6") and b) the styling! Apart from the fact that my bike is now nicknamed the Vulva, due to the front end looking like one and that my Tuono owning friend ALWAYS wants to cup it. So very very wrong! Apart from that the bike is amazing, very comfortable on both short stupid quick runs and on long 200-300 mile x-crounty runs and there are lots on mods, upgrades and parts on ebay and bikehps.com
