no, i dont mean like an impression of tommy cooper pulling the curtains down :/ ive now done 1130 miles on the new bike and this is what i've noticed... seat / riding position - comfy as fk. more comfy than i expected. first ride was 326 miles and i still felt fresh. being a shorty at 5'7 i dont get cramped and even at naughty speeds the standard screen is fine can't wait to get the oem levers off though - needs some dogleg jobbies cos the reach is too far imo. fuel economy! compared to my sp which was returning 27-33mpg, i'm getting between 44 & 53 out of the blade - every 100 mile is saving me £8 lol i mustn't be riding it hard enough lol, but trust me, i dont hang about! brakes - ive seen a few folk complaining that the brakes are crap... including a mate who has the same (non abs) as me - he says his drop off completely. i said take it in, it shouldnt do that. not that ive had need to grab a handfull in panic (cos im cool like fonzy but not gay) but i think theyre spot on. more than adequate. and the back brake works. zorst. i found the oem can a tad annoying as it was waay too quiet which imo is dangerous - it sounds like a bleedin car! and the 4k flapper, it sounds ok when your giving it some, but rolling through 30s just under and over 4k, it was driving me mad opening and closing the flapper, so first thing i did is rip the cable off. its now got a nice ti racefit on and its spot on. and jeez isnt the oem can heavy! tractability / torque / power - one thing i was dreading after the sp2 was losing that vee twin grunt, but tbh the blade is better. on the sp and my other vees, i was having to feather the clutch in traffic and it was very hard work going slow, whereas with the blade it will quite happily pootle along in 4th / 5th at town speeds and pull away clean. if i'd tried that on the sp it would just stall or shake itself to bits! im just about starting to give it proper fistfulls and yeh, its there isnt it! over 8k they fkin fly! while i dont think it's as quick up top as my mates 10r, its enough for me atm lol! gets to over double the national effortlessly,(on track of course) whereas tbh it was a bit of an effort on the sp (surprisingly) i have noticed a weeny flat bit just under 3k since i put the new can on so i'll shortly be fitting a pcv, better filter, intake flap mod (like on the sp) and get it mapped proper. with the standard can there were no flat spots at all - very smooth power & torque. suspension - very good, even on default settings... when i cba i'll have a nip down the road to kais but im more than satisfied with it atm... the front is very stable even when shaving a bit off in the bends, as i keep forgetting its an IL4 with a slipper lol it doesnt dive and holds its line well. the rear on the sp was waay too hard and would have me out the seat on dodgy surfaces, but the blade is smooth as fk, can barely feel the bumps lights - i found the standard bulbs ok tbh though ive only had a few proper dark night rides, but i'll be popping a set of 100s in when i can be bothered... they made a nice difference on the sp so should be even better on this. i even like the oem tyres, though im not usually a great lover of kerbstones still not got its first service done yet though - it's booked in saturday coming, though it's had 2 oil changes already (i dont pay for it so i do it as often as i cba) the original run in oil came out at 630 and it was black as fook, i did my usual flush the sump with a litre of diesel then changed it for castrol1 liquid gold. changed it again about 900 miles and it was still clear, with no oil loss - i'll see how it goes but i did break it in hard so it should be bedded in nice. imo the reason people end up with oil burners is cos they baby the engines instead of loading them to bed the rings in. so yeh - all in, i love it to bits. apart from the build quality is shit compared to the sp.... but i suppose thats what you get if you want a lightweight bike oh and i keep hitting the hazards instead of high beam lol - not 100% used to the ergos yet!
Great write up, glad you like it. I had an SP1, every now and then it used to catch me out on fast bends ! used to run a little wide. Loved the looks of it though, looks like a bike should IMO, then again I am also old lol.
Brilliant write up VVTR. Not a day goes by when I don't think of that wonderful day in April 2000 when I picked up my brand new SP1 from CJ Ball in the Hales near Norwich. It sparked a love affair with the Honda SP range that I just can't shake or replace. I adore my new blade it's everything I need in a sports motorcycle but if a low mileage pristine SP1 or 2 came along (if I had the money and the wife gave me the nod) I would have it. Post 2004 Honda motorcycle paint is rubbish, before that it would never haze on the tank like it does now. Think the plastics on my new blade do not ooze quality like they used to as well.
ive had both the sp1 and 2 and the 2 is worlds apart from a rider's point of view... tbh when i got the sp1 after my (much modded) firestorm, i was like "yeh.... and?" bit disappointed tbh. im sure people are wowed by them if theyve just stepped up from a 600 but in all fairness my storm was faster, lighter, out handled and outbraked the sp1. the sp2 wasnt that much quicker unless it was ridden very hard, but i always felt like i was going to break it by spanking its arse. the sp is smoother, lots more power - mine dyno'd at 135 with just akros, k&n's, flapper mod and a custom mapped pc3, compared to just 119 on the sp1 - my storm came in at 118 and weighed about 60 kilo less! great bikes if you manage to find a good one, and they do draw a crowd, theres always someone comes over ogling. and another thing you notice is when youre at the lights, cagers wind their windows down to hear you pull off! that's a sure sign that your bike sounds mint even up to the day before i got the blade, i was thinking mmmhh do i really want to do this, as i loved my sp2 - if i couldve kept it i would, but it had so many problems it wasnt worth hangin onto. tbh i secretly prefer the blade. but dont tell anyone i said that - the vee fans will lynchmob me lol i know what you mean about the plastics - theyre so flimsy now! but if you go down the road theyre fkt anyway so whats the point in carrying the weight of all them 6mm thick abs panels? all theyre there for is styling and aerodynamics. the main thing that lets the sp down btw if youre thinking of getting one - is that honda contracted out the wiring looms to magnetti marelli - so dont fool yourself into thinking you wont get the exact same electrical problems that plague the likes of ducati, mv, benelli etc! the only bonus is the switchgear is well made, usual honda durability, but its let down by the shitty connectors and wire made from robot pubes :/ the overall build quality on the sp is second to none though. next time you see a nice one, have a look at the attention to detail, the swing arm, chain adjusters, the yokes etc... no other bike (imo) has ever been put together so well no wonder Honda (allegedly) lost money on every one they sold. if you do go poking about looking - make sure you ask the owner first lol, theyre a right funny bunch!
I enjoyed both of those write ups. Thanks VVtr. I tried an SP1 while I had a Ducati and fell in love with how it felt so similar but turned up to 11 but without the sense that it would fly apart at the slightest provocation, and I've had a soft spot for them ever since. Now when are you going to do your Tommy Cooper bit.
good write up, bang on on the quality note. I found the kit supplied not that great, heavy clutch, poor brakes and not much low down umph in standard form but then thats me coming from a V that had plenty of trick bits so I think I was slightly spoilt.Thats why I think after a year and a half back on blades I have caught myself spending more time on the bike add's than I should but then the wife would probably pack my bags for me if I changed bikes again so soon.
I followed a triumvirate of an SP, a ktm Duke and a ktm Supermoto for a while today. All making progress and all on naughty pipes. Absolute big banging symphony! I congratulated the SP rider on the sound at a set of lights. 'That's why I love it, man!' Brilliant.
