Used Bike Guide

The ‘stubby nose’ Blade is on the money in more ways than one...

When Fast Bikes tested the 2008-2011 Honda Fireblade back in the day, we described it as ‘like a comfortable pair of slippers.’ While this initially seems a derogatory comment about a top-level litre sportsbike, in fact it highlights what a great machine this generation of Blade actually is. It may not be the most powerful litre bike of its day, and it lacks the pizzaz of Yamaha’s unique and headline-grabbing crossplane engine, but the Blade is such a refined and balanced overall package – it’s the bike you return to at the end of the day as it just feels so good to ride. Like your comfortable pair of slippers, you may experiment with alternatives, but you always return to what you know suits you best...

Honda has always had an uncanny knack of making its Fireblade a wonderful all-round road bike, something it sought to improve on when it completely revised the model in 2008. Despite the ‘underseat pipe’ generations (2004-2007) being generally well received and packing lots of MotoGP-derived technology, they didn’t quite cut it against the competition, so a rethink was required. And a major one at that!