It wasn't so long ago that everyone had a Fireblade. Then I bought one and everyone had an R1.

Surprisingly the Fireblade was around when I first ventured into the Superbike market, at that time choosing to retire my rather slow, however uncharacteristically reliable, Ducati 750SS for a YZF 750. Why? I hear you cry. I dunno really, I just liked Yamahas and after all everyone else had a Fireblade.

So there I was, just me and half the motorcycling population of Germany, riding around on a YZF 750 when the rest of the UK were busily killing themselves, with much coverage from the popular press, on Fireblades.

Two and a half years later, time to retire the YZF. So I go out and buy a Fireblade? Nope.

Thanks to an impressive spin around the block on Mr Whitehouse's Thunderace and being a staunch supporter of the Yamaha marque I am stupid enough to pick up the phone to Gerry at Frontiers.

What a Salesman! Two weeks later I've bought the bike which, within the space of 1 month earned me 6 points in 2 'incidents', one of which was nearly a ban, threw my rucksack off at 270 mph on the way to the Ring and then, in an attempt to make me slow down, jammed it in the back wheel. And then I reversed with the disk lock on and smashed the mudguard.

'Ere - wots he doin' on an R1? ... and who's the bird in the background?

Incidentally, don't run Dunlop 364's (forerunner of 207's) on a Thunderace and then go for a quick lap round the ring,
(a) the two are mutually exclusive
(b) the resultant handling problems do nothing for your confidence
(c) small children overtake you on the outside on bicycles … at one point even John Whitehouse showed me his front wheel.

I then find out that while all this has been going on, the above Mr Whitehouse has been negotiating behind the scenes and has got rid of his Thunderace and bought a Fireblade….. Bastard.

So after all that do I go out and buy a Fireblade?…….damn fucking right I do!

To be fair it was John that paved the way to Blade Heaven. I took one out for a test ride at the same place JW bought his - what a bike, compared to Lardyace it felt like a GP bike. God knows what I would have done if the GSXR had been around. So I got one.

Chippy's 'Blade at Brighton .. well most of it, anyway

SUMMARY

In summary, the Fireblade is an excellent road bike, has a capacious boot to put stuff in, is a good pillion ride, handles as well as most riders would ever need, is very comfortable for long rides, and plenty powerful enough. Just to upset R1 riders, the Blade actually feels lighter - which of course it isn't - this is apparently due to the R1 carrying it's weight higher in the frame.

Minus points, silly 16" front wheel is a pain to get race rubber for and the tank is very hard if you slam you bollocks into it at 30mph, however the end result can be used as a handy ash tray.

Just to put me money where me mouth is I am going to repair mine and put it back on the road.

Mega X

TOP TIPS

The biggest top tip - and it was to be another 3 years before I could reap the benefits - is to buy a pattern fairing. Remove the best bits, stick 'em in a box and bung 'em in the loft.

Fit a steering damper, although I dunno if it needs one. However as I have this habit of putting completely unsuitable tyres on me bike it's probably wise.

Buy an end can and spend at least £300.00 on having a Dynojet kit fitted. Now this is very important. If you don't, you get John Whitehouse bleating on at you as to how much faster you would have been if you had one. "Did you see how I came past you, do you know why? Do you? 'Coz mine's been Dynojetted, you know what you want to do don't you ... " So on and so forth.

Either don't run non-standard pads or don't brake too hard. The reason? The disks warp. Now recently I have found out that those in the know, usually racers, actually take out the dust seals inside the callipers as they cause the brake to stick and overheat - if you do this you have to replace the oil seals very regularly depending on usage. I actually came out of a bend in France, noticed a lack of forward momentum and discovered that the front brake was stuck on (well that was my excuse). Oh yeah, if this happens don't grab the disk to see if it is hot .. it will be, stupid.

TYRES

In the good old days there was only one choice, Pirelli Dragons. Now the world is far more complicated with all sorts of mixed compound, race, semi race etc., etc. I only really tried two makes of tyre: BT 56's Great on the road but stepped out badly twice on a track day sending me (still upright I might add) bundling towards the straw bales. Of course they have now up-rated the BT 56 so it is probably able to take more track abuse. Comments please.
Dunlop 207's. Love 'em or hate 'em. For serious track use only and that doesn't include the Nürburgring. As anyone who has ridden on them on any bike larger than a 600 will testify, 207's only have two occasions when they work, hooned right over or …… er, well that is it really. Even Scott Ingram "the Ringmeister" came back ashen faced after taking the Blade for a spin round the Ring. It wibbles and wobbles and is very unforgiving if you upset it mid corner, like changing gear for instance.