More power, less weight
Honda have been losing at the power war for the past 10 years as their rivals have relentlessly boosted the bhp outputs from their bikes. While we still don’t expect the new Fireblade will be gifted with class-leading power, we do expect around 180bhp at the back wheel.
While this power figure isn’t going to trouble class leaders like the 195bhp BMW S1000RR and the 200bhp
Kawasaki ZX-10R, it’s still going to be a tangible step forward over the 175bhp of the current bike, and with a rumoured weight loss of around 8kg the new bike will feel a lot lighter and livelier than ever before.
A huge ram-air system featuring a new headstock air intake, a redesigned airbox, a revised fuel-injection system and a lot of work to reduce engine internal friction will also help to boost power. The airbox modifications are substantial and have been done with both road and track performance improvements in mind.
Another key change to the new Fireblade will be the introduction of the full suite of Bosch electronic control systems to replace the weighty Honda C-ABS system. The Honda
C-ABS contributes more than 10kg to the Fireblade’s overall mass, whereas the latest Bosch 9.1 MP ABS weighs 3.5kg and offers more finely controlled ABS, traction control, anti-wheelie and the revolutionary cornering ABS, too.
Changes to the exhaust system, vital because of new Euro4 regulations, may add a little bit of weight thanks to a denser catalyst, but this will be completely offset by the losses elsewhere.