Blandness has nothing to do with ability, I've absolutely no doubt that the 2 blades I've owned were extremely capable machines, it's just that I didn't find them that interesting until I was into 3 figure speeds. Over the years I've been fortunate enough to have owned across the frame fours, V4's, V2's, triples and singles and found that the Hondas (whilst being some the most reliable bike's I've owned) have also been the most boring with the exception of a VFR750FR I had in 1994, which is probably the best bike I've owned.
My mate with the new sp took his to a drag strip day on an old airfield recently and ended u taking the bike straight to the dealer with throttle/traction issues. It was cutting power for 3 or 4 seconds over the admittedly rough surface. Hes also noticed that sometimes the bike will let him wheelie and others it wont, same settings etc but its intermittent whether or not it will let the front come up. Hes still a big fan and as much as he misses his comfy old 08 you can tell hes pleased as punch with the new one. Hopefully honda get their heads down and continue to improve the electronics, im guessing they have a bit of catching up to do to match the bmw, yamaha etc as they have had years to test and fine tune.
Are the new Fireblades, supplied to the US market, different to those supplied to the European Union market ? Are the US models experiencing the same "issues" with the new Fireblades ? If they are, then surely sooner or later there will be a lawsuit in the US - especially if someone gets hurt If the US models are not experiencing the same "issues" then why not ?
Its a very subjective subject, one mans interpretation of bland might be very different to another's. Modern bikes and cars are very efficient, powerful, smooth and refined compared to the equivalents in past years, so in a way does that make them a little bland. But then it comes down to what you're looking for in a bike, if it's just a Sunny Sunday rode out tool, then yes why not have something with that extra carachter like a Ducati or an old 2 stroke, but would you want to live with one as a daily ride in all weathers. Yes it would be nice to have a garage full of different bikes so you had the choice. But for me it's s about efficiency, reliability and fun, so I have a new Fireblade and a VFR1200 GT for touring Europe. I appreciate sp1n99's comment re riding a litre sportbike hard on public roads, that's why I do trackdays, And having had my new blade on track I do not think it's bland, refined smooth and very predictable yes but then that means I can ride fast and feel safe. ( putting the Rossi wannabe morons aside). So each to his own, if we all liked the same thing how boring would the world be.
I spoke to my dealer yesterday who has sold quite a few SP's and standard blades, they have not had any throttle issues reported. Or any other problems.
Yep that's true, I've done nearly 1500 miles on mine and 500 running in the TT Travelling Marshalls bikes and all is OK, oh the joys of social media and armchair experts getting on the bandwagon
I do not want to be having a go. From: Performance Bikes - August 2017 edition Pages: 108-109 - "Long-Termers" "A light, accurate chassis has been overshadowed by inconsistent throttle behaviour, which we believe to be either a mapping issue, or the result of the over-cautious rider aids interfering in a clumsy fashion." So what are people supposed to believe ? On the one hand there are owners who report that everything is fine - not particularly scientific - but ok, I am sure they are being truthful. On the other hand reports like the one in Performance Bikes are turning up this throttle connection issue, and providing details of their findings. Granted these things may manifest themselves when the bike is being ridden quite hard - but that's what it is for. Personally all this is not just some armchair chit-chat, as I have decided against the new Blade (also factoring in cost) and ordered a new Suzuki which will be here in a couple of weeks time.
I'm not disputing that there might be problems Mattie, just informing the forum members of my personal findings, and yes I am being truthful If I had a problem i'd be shouting about it. I have ridden my bike quite hard as I've had it on track, not as hard as Rutter would have in the PB test, but hard enough. And if there are any problems manifesting it can only be electrical and Honda will sort it out, they certainly wouldn't be the first manufactures to have throttle problems, far from it. I have a VFR1200 of which the early versions had a fueling problem, but Honda sorted it with an ECU flash, my later model had not h ad any problems, other than the driveshaft recal. As far as the magazines go, i don't pay too much attention, if you read all the mags and reviews they all say something different, some would say it depends on which manufacturer pays for the most advertising, but that's just hearsay and conjecture. The Suzuki is a great bike and would certainly have been my second choice, but they too have had problems and not so good reviews in the mags. But i'm sure you didn't buy it based on the reviews but on your personal findings including cost.
Hi all, now that my SP is run in and had it's first service I am having great fun. As soon as you get the revs up it flies but the original problem between 0 and about 5 degrees of throttle action with an unresponsive engine remains. Out on the open road is fine but as soon as you stop at junctions and have to start from stationary is definitely not good. I look forward to some form of corrective action from Honda because if this was in the USA there would be lawyer's all over the place.
Rode my standard 17 blade today for the first time, the throttle was so responsive so much so I thought I had a fuel problem, I couldn't hold a constant throttle how ever hard I tried. On the dash I had it showing what % the throttle was open at 30 mph through villages it was at 3% that is so hard to hold at that. Could just be me as this is my first bike with fbw.
Could be your Yoshi can, the fuelling is very lean so the yoshi could be making it worse, try with the baffle in. I'm still running with the standard exhaust and can hold steady throttle at 30 in just about any gear.
Listening to that video is what happened to me yesterday, traction set at 2 going out stopped for a brew changed it to 5 and when I wanted to give it some it sort of hesitated , my blade has the s21 tyres.
I thought as much hence my previous reply. My local dealer had one on a dyno, the AFR was very lean up to 7000 rpm. He has put a rapid bike evo module on a blade and an Africa Twin makes a big difference if you run a different exhaust. Most interesting was that the blade produced more BHP than the new GSXR he had on the same dyno.
I wouldn't say it's perfect but close plus it might be me as this is the first bike I have had with fbw. Lovely bike tho and that's with running it in
