The Bloodline Of The Honda Fireblade (CBR900RR)

[advrider]

It was 1992 when Honda released a superbike that changed the world of motorcycling forever.  Many of the manufacturers were immersed in a horsepower war.  But as the horsepower continued to rise, so did the bike’s weight until the machines were big, powerful, and slow to turn.

More important than horsepower?

Enter Honda project leader Tadao Baba.  He thought differently than the other Japanese manufactureres and believed that lighter weight was more important than outright horsepower.

So with his Honda team, he set out to build a lightweight superbike.  And his team’s result was nothing short of spectacular.  Ultimately, the bike’s light weight would allow it to be the class of the Japanese big four manufacturers.

Other manufacturers had more powerful bikes, but none of them had the speed and handling precision of the new Honda Fireblade (CBR900RR in North America).  Soon, heavy superbikes would become a thing of the past as the other Japanese manufacturers tried to catch up.

3 decades of Fireblades

To celebrate the Fireblade’s 30th anniversary, Honda brought the Fireblade’s project managers together to discuss the last three decades of Fireblade superbikes.  In this video, you’ll meet several of the Fireblade’s chief project managers and gain an understanding of how the Fireblade’s father, Tadao Baba, changed the superbike category forever.

You’ll learn how crucial saving weight was to each project team and how they went about trying to shave every possible ounce off the Fireblade.  The video is an interesting view, and I think well worth the 15-minute video length.

I may be a bit jaded because I was fortunate enough to own a 1995 CBR900RR.  But it really was a game-changer for its time.  It was comfortable to ride for its genre and oh so easy to ride.  So if you believe the “light is right” ethos, this video is for you.

Without giving much away, do you know how much a body panel decal weighs?

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