CBR 1000RR First Trackday

20th January 2013 marks the special occasion of being my first track day with the Fireblade. It has been a long time since my last track day because 2012 was a busy year for me and I was buried under tonnes of work at the office.

I was a bit nervous since I only had a few short rides to Genting with the new bike. The pit was packed with riders, some of them are my buddies and I know they are fast. That make me more nervous..hehe, but at least the weather was great.

The Fireblade copes well with my nervousness though. The first few laps I kept making mistakes (missed braking point, braking mid corner..you get the idea) but the bike never protest and throw me up in the air. The bike remain stable, calm and composed in the hand of nervous rider and that gave me confidence as I got familiar with it.  I entered the pit after 5 laps for a quick drink and my buddy Dino told me that my line is good but I should increase my corner entry speed. Thanks for the advice friend!!

I went out again and tried what he told me. This time trying to be smoother with the throttle and brakes. Even with extra corner speed (as I dare) the bike is still extremely stable...and I haven't made any adjustment to it's suspension since I have it! That proves that the Fireblades is a very capable bike. It is so easy to ride. To me the strong point of the bike is it's brakes and how it accelerate. Whilst they may not have the out and out horsepower I'm sure 99% riders won't need that or be able to use it.

As some people say, " You can't ever go wrong with a Fireblade"-they got their reputation for a reason.

New year, new bike..welcome new adventure

My new pride and joy

It's been a while since my last post and there are many things that have changed. Yes, I' m back with Honda after two years with  a 2006 Yamaha R1.

I was one of those guys who viewed new Fireblade as an ugly bike when it was launched in 2008. It doesn't look aggressive enough, swelling upper fairing looks like it's just being punched hard. It looks more like a cruiser compared to a sportier and sharper 2007 model. That obviously explain why I opted for Yamaha R1 after selling my CBR600RR..well, apart from limited budget at that time :)

Of course it was almost five years ago. As time goes by, the looks that I once hate begins to grow on me and after years of listening to people praise of Fireblade as being super user-friendly, the best trackday weapon, excellent midrange etc etc I decided to join the bandwagon of the Fireblade ownership.

As my previous bikes, I bought this Fireblade pre-owned. My approach is always to hunt for a low mileage, well taken care bike with some accessories fitted - buy them cash - use them for two or three years while saving up for next upgrade. The problem with the Honda is they keep their value well, even better if they are limited model like the Repsol-coloured. That means this time around I have to fork out more money on top of cash from selling the R1 to own this beauty...did I just say beauty?  To me it is worth it as the bike come with some mouth-watering goodies such as Leo-Vince GP Pro exhaust, Pazzo levers, Lightech rearsets, afermarket undertail and mudguard, Zero Gravity windscreen, wavy disc, frame and swing arm sliders. Since most of the accessories are there, I only decided to fit HEL steel brake lines and Yoshimura engine case cover and still waiting for the passenger seat cover to be painted to complete the bike.