One for two wheeled enthusiasts!......

[Towpack]

Well, I don't know how I missed this, the Honda Fireblade is 30 years old this year! Fireblade 30th Jeez, it seems like yesterday. I stepped off a GSXR1100 onto one of these and what a revelation! Giving away 230cc to the big Suzuki it was down on outright power and grunt but some 35kg lighter with short(er) wheelbase, steeper geometry and 16" front wheel made it handle like a bike half it's size. I remember a quote by Superbike Magazine (IIRC), "A light bike doesn't need lots of carbon fibre or exotic alloys, it needs lots of nothing" . The first models were far more road bike than the heavily racing biased bikes of today. I had three back in the '90's, thrashed them all mercilessly and never even changed a light bulb on any of them, fantastic relibility!
Here's my '95 in "holiday" mode!

 

[Shayne]

30 years shocks me to where did the time go ?

That looks like Douglas prom ?

Only once I rode a CBR , 600 i think it was and i knew within a mile i'd kill myself trying to find its limits , or be banned for life . A dirt bike with not for road use tyres suited me much better nervous twitchy and slippy made it a beast to be tamed at every turn

 

[DH.120]

Still got my R reg CBR900RR Fireblade and love it. One of those vehicles that grab you and don’t think I’ll ever get rid of it

 

[Towpack]

30 years shocks me to where did the time go ?

That looks like Douglas prom ?

Only once I rode a CBR , 600 i think it was and i knew within a mile i'd kill myself trying to find its limits , or be banned for life . A dirt bike with not for road use tyres suited me much better nervous twitchy and slippy made it a beast to be tamed at every turn

Douglas Prom, ready for the return Ferry to Heysham.
Dirt bikes + knobbly tyres + wet tarmac don't make for a relaxed ride! I have a FE570 Husaberg for green laning duties which is an absolute blast on the rough stuff but I've been off it twice on wet roads, thanks to a mix of poor adhesion, bad throttle control, too much "enthusiasm", too little skill and slow reactions in varying degrees. . Not funny at the time though!

 

[Higgy]

That GPz brings back some happy crazy memories for me in the late 80s.... Mine was a C reg... Still holds its own to the modern sport bikes..... The Japanese made some cracking Bikes in the 80s and 90s...... Well to be fair they have always made cracking Bikes.... Jut noticed the LDV Sherpa/Pilots in the back ground...All Ex post office by the looks of them.... Had one of those Too

 

[Dave_S]

Jeez - 30 years. I passed my test on a KE100 when the Blade first came out - a mate owned one, and let me take it for a spin literally a couple of days after I'd passed - that was an eye opener! I had a series of Japanese bikes over the following years - CBX750, GPX250, ZZR600, Harris Magnum Z1... happy times

TT was a lot more fun back then too - still had the original Bushys and the cops turned a blind eye to people doing burnouts, doughnuts and impromptu drag racing on the prom.

 

[Towpack]

That GPZ belonged to a late friend of mine. Every so often a bike comes along that raises the bar somewhat and the GPZ900R was one of them. In '85 I built a Harris Magnum 2 from a rolling chassis bought from the Harris factory and sourced a used Z1000A1 engine which I rebuilt with 1105 Wiseco HC pistons, oversize valves, Jim Wells cams and Mikuni 33mm smoothbore carbs which gave it over 120bhp at the rear wheel. It was the fastest bike I'd owned to date and loved it until my mate got his GPZ which was 25mph faster on supposedly less power! WTF!
I ended up part exchanging it for a GPZ1000RX which was the follow on model from the 900. That Harris cost way more than a proddy bike to build at the time and I decided from then on that if you want a faster bike it's probably cheaper to buy one that's faster straight from the crate!

 

[Dave_S]

Agreed TP - though the Harris was a hell of a laugh up to 100mph - especially as mine had flat track bars on it LOL!

 

[Shayne]

So much has changed , not much point in visiting the Island now on anything faster than a mobility scooter

Remember the Pullyman used to write articles for the local rag , I was supposed to be in school when i broke my leg racing around his garden in Greeba on a 250cc road bike he had put nobbly tyres on for us kids to play

 

[Jake the Peg]

@Towpack Lovely “Burpin Tiger” all my big road bikes have been Fireblades, been super bikes and made going fast easy. Unfortunately this one just collects dust and it’s the Africa Twin that squashes the flys now

 

[Towpack]

Bikes like the Honda AT and the whole adventure genre have taken over in sales numbers and popularity from Sports Bikes like the Fireblade which were No.1 sellers back in the 90's. The performance of adventure or dual sports bikes has also improved vastly over the years, that coupled with the fact they're so useable, comfortable and practical probably goes a long way to explaining that. Dare I say they also hold more appeal to the older rider. My most recent acquisition is one of the new Triumph Bonneville twins which is now my go to machine for everyday riding, sporting a heady 65bhp (gasp!) The 200+ bhp ZZR barely gets an outing these days but when it does it reminds me that I can't part with it.

 

[bones]

So much has changed , not much point in visiting the Island now on anything faster than a mobility scooter

Remember the Pullyman used to write articles for the local rag , I was supposed to be in school when i broke my leg racing around his garden in Greeba on a 250cc road bike he had put nobbly tyres on for us kids to play

The clowns have put a temporary speed limit over the sloc again, I think it is 50 now. No idea why as no bugger crashes up there anyway, well maybe the odd bike and Michael Dunlop a good few years ago testing with a problem he had.

 

[Shayne]

Thats what you get when police have a budget of 150k per head of population and no crime to fight other than the rampant illegal drugs trade , yet they can't afford a sniffer dog at only two regular points of entry .

 

[Higgy]

Towpack, The adventure bike has taken over the sports performance bikes because of one reason....... 'The state of our roads'.... Most bikers i meet up with all say the same Its just not safe anymore to be on any Bike.. Clare and i were out Yesterday and its shocking on the A or B roads.... Pot holes every where... Makes my piss boil I feel for the lads on the sports bikes, all the gear and the expensive Bike.... No wonder they sit out side a cafe all day Drinking Tea.....Too Dangerous on the road. ....

Oh and just been out to take the last Photo's of my 80 before its collected and Gone... This nice little sticker in the back window.. 1998 the last of the best decade.

 

[bones]

Thats what you get when police have a budget of 150k per head of population and no crime to fight other than the rampant illegal drugs trade , yet they can't afford a sniffer dog at only two regular points of entry .

Nothing to do with the police, it'll be some nob in the government showing that they are justifying their job. Went along Douglas prom last night and can't believe what they have done, yet again some nob sat in at government offices that woke up one morning with a random thought and then decided to redesign things that didn't need it. What a mess they have made, very walker friendly, bugger all parking spaces and getting past the trams in a car is a joke.

 

[Shayne]

They are happy to have you believe its incompetence, that way you won't ask why it needs doing again or why every single Government project in my lifetime came in at least 3 times over budget and 2 out of every 3 million vanishes .

 

[RBG21]

Urban Tiger colours!.

I started riding in 2000 and my first proper bike after doing my test was an RVF400 which was such a brilliant bike!, got a couple of years on it under my belt and thought I want to upgrade to the legendary Fireblade and got myself a 1995 one, it was quicker in a straight line but I remember thinking it was a bit of a pig in the corners and never really got on with it!.
Next bike was a 2003 954 Fireblade and wow what a motorcycle!, still to this day one of my favourite bikes I’ve ever owned!, after that I had a 2006 1000RR Fireblade with the under seat exhaust in red/black which sadly got written off when it was a year old by a friend, and there ended my ownership of Fireblades sadly.

This is my current toy.