RIDEFAST SEPTEMBER

speedy 40km on it. Also note that from
Mr Honda San’s mouth, the bike is
specifically NOT made for a comfortable
ride, it is a racing machine.
As for the ride, Redstar Raceway is the
one race track that will teach you how
to corner properly, many, if not all of the
corners, have decreasing radii and forces
you to square them off and apex as late
as possible. The CBR was an absolute
pleasure and never once got out of
sorts, noting that I’m not by any means
the fastest rider out there, and well, you
know, it’s not my bike either.
I have the 2009 derivative that has
served me well for one hundred
thousand kilometres, without any
rider aids or ABS or fancy trickery.
It has also served me as a fantastic
commuter, holiday bike, weekendblitz
and track machine. I can barely
articulate the world of difference
between ten years of development.
The machine is as civil as they come,
and will not put you in a place of fear
and loathing. Moreover, it makes you
want to go faster to enjoy the rev range.
As far as what I could see, the changes
made to the demo unit we were fortunate
enough to be invited to test, had some
minor changes to the final drive and was
also fitted with the optional quick shifter
device. The sensitivity on the quick
shifter, for my technique in ‘race-shift’
setup was probably not as sensitive as I
would like to have had it, but you know,
the settings are fully customizable, as
with the steering damper.
The stopping power on the machine also
has a noticeable change in the form of
an increased 330mm diameter disc, also
thickened to 5mm, from the previous
320mm 4.5mm thick discs.
Going around Redstar in the anticlockwise
direction allows you to get
the straight along the highway on the
downhill.
The final drive ratios, for this test, were
adjusted to DRASTICALLY shorten the
gearing, to avoid the excessive use of first
and second gears in places where some
would prefer a shorter ratio, in a higher
gear. This unfortunately does not give a
good representation of the power delivery
and character as the gear ratios were
absolutely too short for the road and to
feel the delivery over a longer internal gear
ratio. According to the speedo on the bike,
I had managed to get around the 260km/h
mark, while my GPS registered only
207km/h. I can’t recall if there was a one
or two tooth smaller difference on the front
sprocket, but I know for sure that the rear
sprocket was increased by five teeth. This
works on the circuit, but unfortunately not in
every-day riding. It would be a completely
different animal on the street, say, cruising
up and down “the 22” or Franschoek pass.
The brakes are super and the ABS enjoys
different modes for street and track. The
Pirelli 55/200 rear tyre size increase also
gives a planted feel in the corners and
sucks up the traction control adjustments
like they weren’t even there.
It is not my point to compare apples with
oranges, but this machine, I believe, is
going to be tough to beat.
It has already shown promise in the BSB
and we would do well to watch the results
at the Suzuka 8hr, JSB and the WSBK
series. This is nothing short of an epic
machine and I have to make mention of
Riaan Fourie and Paul Jacobs from Honda
South Africa, Quintin Coetser from Redstar
Raceway and Glenn and Sean at Ridefast
for the amazing opportunity to review the
machine.
Thank you and watch the excellent
feedback pile in on what is nothing other
than the sharpest Blade as yet.
The long and short of it is; go sell a
kidney or re-mortgage your house and
buy the bigger box. It’s worth every cent!
www.honda.co.za
for your closest dealer
Shado Alston