Friday 2nd May 2003 was the day I picked up my new Fireblade in Blue. Now, from the first time I had suggested that I'd get a new Blade most of the group had thought me to be nuts as the Y2K Blade was so good. True, it was a fantastic and very forgiving bike, but there was a new one and so I had to have it. Simple.

As soon as the bike was home and in the warm sanctuary of my garage I proceeded to fit the rearsets I removed from the Y2K model plus the steering damper. Both fitted easily, so I was well chuffed as that meant less expense to get the bike to the spec I required. The steering damper unit sits about 1 cm closer to the tank than on the Y2K model, but it is still far enough away not to hit the tank. The rearsets are perfect and sit better on this model than the last, particularly in relation to where the rear brake master cylinder fits onto the brake pedal itself - it is slightly further away from the swinging arm. Just got to fit my crash mushrooms and titanium exhaust hanger when they arrive from Harris Performance.

The bike looks great in blue and black, a change from my usual yellow schemes. Anyway, time to put some miles on the clock. For the first 200 or so, I minced around making sure the engine was spinning freely and not being stressed or laboured at all, as that seems the most sensible way to run an engine in. All was fine and the Blade was ready for its first proper Sunday bash.

I felt that taking the bike to 6000 revs through the gears shouldn't hurt, so I could at least hit speeds of about 90 mph or so to keep the tow with the rest of the group on the back roads. This proved to be about right. The other thing I was really interested in was the suspension and general road manners of the 'flighty' Blade. In the past I had ridden Mark's when he was having trouble getting his suspension setting right.

Happy to report that the bike is bloody lovely!! The steering is excellent, not as neutral as the Y2K, but a bit quicker and handles directional changes with consummate ease. The mid corner stability associated with the Y2K is still there and the forks felt fine. The rear shock only gave me slight concern when changing direction quickly on two occasions as it felt like it was taking a fraction too long to recover from being compressed, but seeing as the new bike is on standard road rubber (Bridgestone BT012's) and standard suspension settings, I thought that generally it handled extremely well, better than I expected in fact.

TWEAKING

After a bit more riding and a trip to the Ardennes with Rennsports fitted on the rims I decided a bit of tweaking was needed. The rear felt a bit nervous at times and the front needed stiffening up - when changing direction quickly the forks were taking too long to unload which I guess meant they were too soft and had too much travel.

So I've added half a turn of compression at the back, and firmed up the front with a touch more of everything, including preload. It now feels much firmer and responsive, better on the twisties and does not wallow about when changing direction quickly. But it does feel bloody hard on bumpy roads until you get a decent speed on.

Goes to show you then, Mark has wasted his money on an Ohlins rear shock .....maybe? The rear end on mine still feels nervous and I guess that's due to lack of compliance in the shock giving the rear tyre a hard time. I'll try going back to a 190 when I've worn out the 180 Rennsport.

Bit of a nightmare on Sunday. Stopped at a junction and noticed clouds of steam coming from the front. The rad had sprung a leak and was spraying coolant all over the front tyre! Lucky I stopped, coolant is as slippery as oil when it gets on the tyre. Further investigation showed that a stone must have been thrown up by the wheel into the rad. A can of Radweld fixed things, but is this a weak point on the Blade? Andy had the same problem at Spa on a track day. Unfortunately he didn't spot the leak and crashed, wrecking all the plastic. Hmmm ....

After a July trip to the Ardennes, which included a lovely afternoon at the Nurburgring, I felt the front end of the bike wasn't quite right. It seemed fine at the Ring, but on the road it seemed to pogo too much for my liking when entering corners that had little more than a ripple of tarmac causing a bump that most vehicles would simply ignore.

Not being an expert on suspension by any means I turned my attention to a bit of surfing for some settings to try. I found the a site at http://www. honda-fireblades.co.uk/ that had some road and track day settings listed for each model of Fireblade ever created, so I picked my model and tried what was suggested, but I preferred to use the track settings for the road. When comparing mine and the suggested settings for the front, the compression and rebound damping were within half a turn of each other, but the pre-load setting I had was a full 3 turns further in making the spring more compressed, hence the pogo effect perhaps. So I set my front end up as suggested and gave it a try and to be perfectly honest, I was suitably impressed.

The bike now rides the bumps much better, but may be a bit too soft for the Ring. However, the beauty is that I know what works best now for both. The rear suspension was only one setting softer on the pre-load, compression and rebound the same, so I left that where it was. Besides, the only problem I have had was from the rear was the rear tyre, not the shock.

By the way, if you're a Fireblade owner, the above site is worth a look for various Blade info.

TYRES

The Blade came fitted with Bridgestone 012Rs front and rear. A very good tyre for a standard bike on standard suspension settings. After about 700 miles, I took them off and fitted a pair of Mettzeler Rennsports, an RS-1 on the front and an RS-2 on the rear. Now Rennsports are excellent tyres and grip 'til the cows come home and then some. But I was never convinced that fitting a 180 rear was a good idea to the RR03 model Blade as it never seemed totally settled at the back. Mid corner and leant right over the bike was fine, but upright it did not feel right at all.

I'd never had this trouble with the RR-Y Fireblade, so it must be something to do with geometry? Anyway, once the rear was worn out it was time for a change.

Pirelli had now brought out the Diablo Corsa that everyone raved about, so I thought I'd give them a try. Called Dave at FWR and he sent me a pair the very next day. I had reverted to a 190, which is standard fitment, and I must say it was the right choice. The rear end is now much more settled indeed and I haven't changed any rear suspension settings at all.

Now that I have competed about 500 miles on this Diablo rear, I have worn out the RS-1 front, so have fitted the Diablo Corsa up front too. The first thing I noticed is the steering is slower, but now the tyre is scrubbed in, and I'm more used to it, I don't notice it as much. The grip feels fine, but the suspension seems more springy again too. This must be something to do with the construction of the tyre, but it's not enough to make me lose confidence in the bike as it feels so stable on the road again. I just can't wait to try these Diablos out on the next trip we do in mid September to the Ring.

Or not. It seems that Diablos and tracks are mutually exclusive, so if you don't want to wind up with a major polishing job, fit something more suitable ...