Well, what can I say other than phew ! Having turned my back on years of Fireblade's (for now anyway) I feel totally vindicated in making the move over to the red side. My dread was that Honda would pull an all new must have rabbit out of the hat and I would either regret buying my Panigale or have to explain to L why we are going to lose a shed load of money dumping it to buy the 2014 Blade....Looks like for once I made the right decision at the right time and I can look forward to at least a year of knowing what I have is as good as it gets. Flame away fella’s but you know I am right.
I am amazed how many ducati's have been traded infor Blades at my local dealer - think he's got about 10 in stock at present, and good value they look too Such as this 2010 1198s: (dealer text) Stunning 1198S in Ducati Corse colours. A very special bike that includes Marchesini rims, Ohlins suspension, Brembo brakes, Termignoni exhausts (standard pipes included), carbon hugger and front fender and GP-style digital instruments, sports screen. Traction control. Super Corsa tyres. Ventureshield paintwork protection. Looks and sounds wonderful £10,495
problem with pre panni bikes is the belt service that people forget about. you will find most are approaching a big service when they are sold, I wouldnt buy one as I know I cant afford to run it on my wages...but the baby panigale, I think I can stretch the pennys to run one.
yep im with you there Phantom, wouldnt consider and older bike. I think the pani running costs are on par with the other makes.. People trade the Pani in as its an animal. They fall for the looks then realise its going to kill them haha
I think (sorry FOC) they trade it in because it isn't as good as they think an 18k bike should be.... I'm sure it's stunning, and I hold judgement till I've scared myself on one. I just don't think it's the leap forward the price tag suggests...
Erm nope, there is no unsold stock in the UK, the 'std' 2014 Blade will get some of the engine changes excluding the factory blueprinting.
I'm still hell bent on getting an SP to go along side my current blade next year. I'm sure the Pani is a great bike but the price is all wrong if it were 15k for the top end model then it would be a steal which brings me to the HP4 which again is stupidly priced so much so that whilst BMW publicly are saying their waiting list stretches to 2015, privately they are offering them at desperately discounted prices to existing customers because they just aren't selling the units. If money were no object i would have one of each but pound for pound in terms of value and RTOYI you can't go wrong with a blade. Also to be fair the GSXR has not changed its shape radically since 2005/6 so Honda aren't the only ones.....
And yet in AMCN Austest gsxr, r1 and blade were all around 155-160. Late Edit, apologies. And, 144hp seems more like what the yanks are getting with their restricted models. I read one yank article where a Bazzaz Z-Bomb alone took the bike from ~140 to ~160hp. I'll try find it again.
As your user name rightly says and it's a personal thing mate but I think the proof is in the pudding bhp ain't nothin without a decent package to work with! also all these electronics just kills bhp so what's the point? All manufacturers have jumped on the band wagon it's all about power figures and gizmos! Which actually work against each other and there missing the point! When Honda has already produced the best package a perfect blend of power,useability ask Mr McGuinness and Mr Dunlop the last 12months they both smashed TT lap record for Superbike & Superstock and Fastbikes SBOTY the Blade with only a PipeWerx can! not even power commander totally pissed all over the best that Ducati,BMW and Kawasaki had to offer the Panigale R, HP4 and ZX10 and only to be beaten by the slightest of margins by the Aprilia RSV4 Factory!!!...(probaby have won but abs let the Blade down see that electronics for you) and just recently won a shootout in Superbike Magazine! Enuf said!!! Not to mention in May 2013 this bike allowed me to meet and ride with the true salt of the earth! A bunch of guys that I spent the most amazing weekend with which I have cherished memories of that was our Tour of Scotland! I for one will stay true to the Blade and will allow all bragging rights to those who are clearly compensating for something I will except any public floggin proudly in the name of the Fireblade!!! Let it commence
that review your speaking about trev it was at cadwell i think which is a very short track, they even said at a faster more open track the blade would never as done so well, wasnt a power track. but agree with what youve said.
I think the Blade is a GREAT bike, Yes its down on power compaired to the other bikes but FFS she can hande well.
The dyno figures quoted seem well down. Manufacturers usually quote power at crank and not at rear wheel . I have my bike dyno'd at BSD and I am pretty sure they do dyno testing of some new models for MCN/Bike Mag etc I know they did the S1000 RR as I was there on the same day. We all know dyno results rely on numerous factors, but those figures seem crazily low. Not just the bhp but the torque as well.
Well I spoke to my honda dealer this morning he said that the new 2014 blade is like to come in around the 13k mark so to expect the SP to be around 14.5 to 15k tops so hopefully that turns out to be true because that's happy days. I'm definitely eyeing one of those up for sure.
Yup that's what he said but said he would let me know if the prices change as soon as he lets me know I'll stick something on here probably will vary from dealer to dealer I guess...
I think it will be A mistake if the bump the price up that high for a stock bike, the 13k price tag on the then new crossplane R1's near destroyed their sales and that was a special bike when it came out.
It was Anglesey in Wales mate chosen to separate the Steeds from the donkeys! While the Duke ,BM and Kwacker electronics were tryin to sort the power for the chassis to cope with the Blade just simply fecked off! Only the Aprilia leckies worked with it but if the Blade had non abs brakes they say the Blade would have probably taken it!
