I have to admit that I'm deeply infected by the CBR1000RR bug. Even though, I own an old geezer 2005 CBR1000RR that has lived a life as an eye-candy in trade shows, she is now owned by an owner (me) who will take her out to stretch her legs. Honestly, I'm not a track person and have chosen not be a track person even though I respect and look up to you track guys. Mind you, I'm into torquey cars, like my 2018 BMW M3. But, I have to admit that I have never been on a vehicle that exhibited the CBR1000RR characteristics: its razor sharp crispness in handling corners, its trustworthy brakes, its unending torque well all put a smile on my face every time I ride on it. If ever I get another motorcycle, it will be another CBR1000RR. I think I'm hooked, even though I do start to develop a backache when riding more than 40mins, it's worth it. What are your experiences?
Its nice to hear you feel that way about it.. to me its just a bike.. but then I'm a miserable fucker who doesn't get excited about anything
Never meet your heroes as they say! Back in 1995 when I was a 16 year old just getting into biking via my little AR50 the Fireblade was the bike to have. I still recall the feeling of excitement every time I saw one. Have wanted one ever since and fast forward circa 20 years I finally got my hands on the one I wanted, an RR6. My tales of mechanical woe I have mentioned before, boring myself with them now. Suffice to say it spent all last week in the garage, I got it back on Saturday, nice ride out Saturday afternoon, all is well in the world. Sunday morning, up bright and early for a days riding, wouldn't start, again. So if you want a cure for CBRinitus you're more than welcome to purchase mine, guaranteed to put you off Blades for life. Biggest pile of mechanical junk I've ever owned and from someone who's had 3 Rovers in the past, that's some going.
I’ve had 4 08+ blades. My first big bike was a cbr600 and like you I was hooked on the fire blades from the first ride. I can’t imagine not having a fireblade in the garage. Currently have a 2015 and it’s the best I’ve ridden.
He's not the only one. I had 2 Rovers and 2 Minis. I too suffered head gasket failure with the Rover dealer telling me that the green water in my oil was condensation.... Never seen head gasket failure apparently.....
To answer the OPs question, yep they get under your skin, 6th Blade over a 20+ year span, and now right back to near the beginning with a 94. Lost track of the miles I’ve covered well in excess of 350K, probably over 400K, and the only grief has been with the ABS bucket of shite, apart from that abomination, they have proved super reliable and a go anywhere track, commute, tour bike, and there’s not many superbikes that can do that. On another note, been fortunate enough to own a whole string of performance cars, and if I could have my E46 M3 back I would, one of the great driving cars IMO, and hearing that engine scream at nearly 8K revs, addictive. Fooking expensive to maintain and 15 to the gallon was common and depreciate faster than a whore drops her draws, but it’s one of the few cars I would get up for early and go for a drive over the bike.
I have an RRV 918 with 40,000 on it and a RR7 with 15,000 and they have never been a problem ,,,,, both keepers, ,,,,,, ,and if Mrs selmer50mark let's me I will get another
There is no cure i've had 4 in a row after having kwaks, yamaha and suzuki and won't have anything else now.
Build quality simple as that. i used to commute all year round doing 20k a year and out of all 4 japanese manufacturers the blade was the most bullet proof - that was a 929 at the time. 40k miles on it and never had to do anything other than service it and tyres/chain/sprockets. Not a touch of corrosion at all and all i did was wash it occasionally. It's a bike I should never have got rid of but at the time foolishly thought I was giving up bikes for good The worst was Suzuki - a gsxr srad 750 got utterly murdered by winter commuting. Wiring loom completely rotted and had to be ripped out and replaced and numerous other issues all because it couldn't handle rain let alone winter crud. That was all between 10 and 20 years ago and build quality has only gone downhill due to manufacturing cost cutting in the last 10 years - my 2015 blade was the least best built of my blades as it had paint corrosion on the engine cover at only 5k miles and 3 years old. It's why I went back to an RR5 and now on an RR4. I also had a CBR 400rr 25 year ago and had that for 5 years and thrashed the nuts off it and once again was utterly bullet proof. That set my mind from early on so everything else I had after that had to match the Honda reliability/quality.
