Background: It was Sunday 17^th December 2000, the end of a 590 km long, hot 35 degree Mirboo North ride. I had just lead 14 other deviates on my ever-reliable 140,000 km young ZXR. Knackered, sitting in the gutter in Main Street, Pakenham, someone said "What’s that black line on your frame?" "Tar" I said nonchalantly. But it looked a bit unusual. On closer inspection it was found to be a crack, 12cm long, 0.2mm wide and right through the main spar, from top weld to bottom weld, around about knee level when seated on the bike. Hmm. A very serious problem. That explained the strange squeaking noise I had been hearing (through earplugs) for the past couple of weeks, and a certain vagueness in the handling I put down to worn tyres. So I rode it home.

While riding to work over the next week or so I pondered the options. A new frame was probably worth as much as the bike was worth. I tried Kawasaki, under warranty, since you could argue the frame was a primary safety feature and some ZX6’s and 7’s frames had broken similarly and been replaced, a well kept secret. After inspection by a non-sympathetic Kawasaki city dealer, the bike was deemed to have been "raced" and as such was not warrantable. It hadn’t. The only ride day was the Club Sandown in the rain last year. The race Dunlop 207’s didn’t help the cause.

The quest begins. I read as many new bike comparisons as I could, particularly "Motorcyclist" (American) which does comprehensive technical tests. The contenders were a Kawasaki ZX9, Yamaha R1, Suzuki GSXR750 (1000 not available at the time) and CBR929RR. After a while a pattern began to emerge. R1 most powerful, ZX9 best tourer/road bike but heaviest, GSXR best track bike, Honda somewhere between GSXR and R1. In most of the comparisons the Honda was either 1^st or 2^nd to the Yam.

Factors high on the wish list were, in no particular order:

1. Four cylinders (from limited observation TLs and VTRs (twins) get poor fuel consumption, TLs destroy tyres, and everyone crashes them!);
2. Fuel injection (carbies ice up, get fluffy, float levels and regular synchronising to worry about, generally higher maintenance than injectors); injection offers altitude compensation
3. Power delivery of a four - available up high if you need it, otherwise relatively docile and predictable in low and mid-range.
4. Good handling (upside down forks, light weight, steering geometry)
5. Proper wheel sizes (nine years of 16 inch front wheels on earlier model Fireblades had put them out of the question, other than to fit a CBR600 front 17" wheel.) 17" rims provide access to second hand race tyres at affordable prices.
6. Price was a serious consideration.
7. Brakes. Good ones.
8. To a lesser extent, ease of maintenance, warranty, and local dealer access.

I settled on the Suzuki and got a price. At the time they were selling like hot cakes (performance of a 1000, weight of a 600 according) and seemed well sorted for the road. Given the ZXR was probably well down on power (after 140,000 km and no head work), any new 750 would have ample power. So outright power was not a real factor. Everything had enough.

Suzuki was not really interested in bargaining whereas Honda was dropping the list price of CBR’s because they weren’t selling. Thinking the Honda was out of my price range, I was pleasantly shocked when offered one for the same price as a Suzuki by my local dealer. I preferred staying with my local dealer who offered access to expert advice, tyre changing facilities, and regular discounts. And they would trade my Honda NX650 Dominator. Sold!

The plan was to dispose of the ZXR, either by fixing it — replace frame or weld it, wrecking it, or selling as is. It sat around for six months at my parents’ house, decaying. After all, I had Christmas (Porepunkah camping), Australia Day Weekend(Walwa), Queen’s Birthday Weekend (Omeo) and Easter Long weekend (Adelaide) rides to attend to. Julie and I also sold our house in February and moved into another with all the usual shenanigans associated with moving.

On 22^nd December I picked up the new, 2001 model, yellow CBR929RR. I had ridden Ian Payne’s ’99 model Fireblade a month or so earlier and felt it was a good thing. The new one could only be better — 17" front wheel, fuel injected, 15kg lighter, more power, upside down forks, bigger brakes, titanium bits. It was really a completely new bike with the same name and styling ethos.

Sensationally lightweight (170kg dry claimed versus 240kg wet measured for the ZXR). The weight (or lack of it) improves braking, helps with changes of direction, improves acceleration, improves steering response and provides better fuel consumption. (Mind you, Rhys’s ZX9 gets 2 or 3 km/litre better economy than my CBR, is heavier, makes more power and is carburetted to boot. I think the Honda injection runs pretty rich.)

Fuel injection jerkiness: the engine is either on or off. This turned out to be partially a function of the motor being tight and providing a lot of engine braking early on in its life. The problem was particularly noticeable at low speed — 1^st or 2^nd gear, tight right-handers — eg. Mt Buffalo or Mt Hotham. Given that the "EXUP" exhaust valve (Yamaha’s patent must have run out) opens at about 2900 indicated rpm (I have read 2750rpm in magazines) with a noticeable kick in the power delivery, and there is enough power below 3000 to ride around the city all day, throttle control had to be effectively re-learnt.

Now that the motor is well and truly run in — I was thinking the other day how easy and a pleasure to ride it was, even around town - it is much easier to match engine speed to road speed, the engine speed not dying away as quickly. Mind you, the throttle response is still very sharp.

Easy to ride. Typically Japanese: just jump on and ride. All switch gear falls to hand. Handle bars are higher than on the ZXR but still provide a lean forward attitude (which suits my battered back). The bike generally handles and goes like the proverbial off a shovel.

Hinged rear seat "glove box". Best under seat storage on a sports bike I have seen. I fit a large can of chain lube, a large can of Mr Sheen, the Honda tool kit, a cleaning rag, a container of spare nuts and bolts, a sun cap, Club itineraries and wet weather pants. Magnificent.

Security ignition key. A card-reader type ignition lockout is fitted as factory standard. The key has the card built into it. The normal method to steal a bike is to use a hammer and a screwdriver to break/turn the ignition on. This method won’t work on the Fireblade. You must have the key to start the bike. It is surprising what confidence (justified or not) that this affords the owner. Eg just roll up to the footy and park it anywhere.

Automatic choke. Having to guard against the engine racing while on manual choke was always irksome. The automatic choke maintains a fast idle (2000 rpm) slowly reducing it as the water temp. rises. The motor fires first time, every time and has enough torque to ride away from cold.

Digital display. I was always taught that an analogue (needle) display was better and easier to read than a digital display and figured it would be one of the down sides in the quest for weight and cost savings. Not so. The large format digit speedo display is easier to read, particularly at speed, and with more accuracy. It seems to sample at every 1/2 or 1/3 of a second. So during acceleration or braking it is playing catch up. Two trip meters are handy as is the clock and digital water temp gauge. (The bike runs at 82ºC normally and on really cold and wet days drops back to 78ºC. The thermatic fan chimes in around 103ºC (I think) and the engine shuts down at 130ºC!).

The blinker switch is too small and sticky/stiff for winter gloves. It seems to be a common Honda switch gear problem. The high beam switch is too sensitive and is regularly bumped on when hitting the indicator switch. And the horn is pretty sensitive too. (But I seem to be getting used to these idiosyncrasies as I have not had a problem in the last couple of weeks.)

Positive neutral lockout. Having ridden Kawasakis for 20 years, and then not being able to go from first gear to neutral every time when sitting at the lights is a shock to the system. The Honda is a mongrel to find neutral on. All the usual tricks fail. I sometimes switch the motor off, change into neutral and start again! (This seems to be getting better as the gearbox loosens up.)

Fairings are an unnecessary pain to remove. Why do we have to have 4 or 5 different size screws/clips. The Kawasaki had two sizes. Apparently Ian’s ’99 model has those quick release fasteners. And the screen scratches at the slightest provocation - you can scratch it with cotton undies. I have given up worrying about it.

Fuel economy is not startling. On Club rides I average around 16 km/l hitting reserve at 230 km.

The EXUP valve rattles sometimes, but it is normal. Most noticeable at low revs.

As per modern bikes, the radiator does not have a stone guard, but at least it is mounted high and seems half as big as the Kawasaki’s (and hence half the risk of getting holed).

The mirrors go blurry at 105km and come good again at 6000rpm or 150 km/h. Annoying.

Tyre wear. Front 010’s lasting 7,000 km, onto 3^rd. Rear tyres lasting half that. Very impressive original equipment Battlax 010’s and 020’s. I was offered a choice of tyres, Michelin Pilot being the other option . Who’s ever heard of optional fitment tyres? Excellent..

330 mm monster front disks with larger master cylinder than previous models to give better feel. They actually feel spongy but are very powerful. At first I was disappointed by the sponginess but since hearing the rationale I feel much happier. Still on original pads front and rear, but rear going.

Titanium exhaust bits. The bugbear of the Kawasaki was the 10 kg exhaust muffler canister, which, due to its weight and poor mounting design, would fatigue the mounting brackets including the collector/muffler flange, and the footpeg mounting bracket. The Honda exhaust system has lots of titanium, aluminium and stainless steel and hot bits burn bright blue. It has an extra mounting point reducing the flex, and, combined with the low weight cannister, should prove very reliable.

The motor. Turbine smooth. Very responsive. Not overly powerful — or at least very controllable. Deceptively fast. Opening the taps induces a seductive rush of power. Good bottom end power (EXUP valve in the exhaust, Suzuki style flapper valve in the airbox, all helping no doubt.) Pulls cleanly from idle. Mini flat spot at 2000 rpm if you try hard to find it. Fixed by removing "spark arrestor" (cone of metal) from muffler I've heard.

Non-pressurised air box. Fantastic. Saves on air filters and plumbing complexity. The amount of dust, bugs and moths that were forced through the Kawasaki air filter had to be seen to be believed. For the theoretical couple of horsepower gain, who needs the aggro.

Suspension. Handles pretty well straight out of the box — still at original settings, though did check them against an American recommendation and found they were even stiffer than what they recommend on the front. I have bumped the rear pre-load a couple of clicks. There seems to be some changes between the 2000 and 2001 models which Honda is not advertising. For instance, the Americans think it has gained 6ps and I think they have tweaked the standard suspension settings.

Nevertheless, the front springs are right on the margin of softness, and I think the rear damping is going off, particularly noticeable two-up. Springs and oil will fix the front; maybe the Ohlins out of the Kawasaki can be made to fit. That is the future plan.

Gearbox. Very light and precise at any sort of revs above 3000. Below 3000 it is clunky, particularly first and second gears (probably savagely undercut). And the aforementioned no neutral finder. Only noticeable around town. There seems to be a fair amount of drive train freeplay as the chain slops around, again less noticeable the better the gear change.

My feeling is that motorcycles are over-serviced. According to the manual, one should check the shims at 24,000 km and also replace the plugs at 24,000 km. DOHC, fuel injected, water cooled, universal Japanese motorcycle. Bugger all to service. Suffice to say, taking this theory towards its logical conclusion, and having an off-the-record talk to the mechanics …fluids and filters. Maintenance costs are negligible compared with tyre costs anyway. Service intervals are nominally 6000 km.

The proof is in the eating. The Kawasaki proved ultra-reliable, its only vices being an appetite for fuel pumps (horrible points design) every 60,000 km, breaking muffler brackets, and an appetite for sucking stuff into the carbies resulting in regular cleaning. The Honda has proved reliable and easy to ride and live with so far. Roll on the good times.

ZXR? Eventually sold unmodified (not even washed!) with full disclosure. Apparently it was back on the road after one weekend's solid work. The frame had snapped completely through and was welded up. The original near new fairings were refitted, spare front wheel installed, odds and sods such as headlight mounting plastics repaired, carbies sychronised and battery charged. One happy owner last seen riding it to the World Supers at Phillip Island.