Sorry for not updating the thread for a few days guys... what with Xbhp being updated to vb4 and me being busy at work, didn't find time to update.

Yep. True that.
On the highways, if driven sanely, the Fireblade should reach the prescribe 41 mpg (17 kmpl) limit. I cannot expect anything beyond that, even if driving at 80 kmph on 6th gear

I will describe a horrible situation I had on my bike 3 days ago on the thread. That will tell why I got a mileage of 7 kmpl...

You are welcome brother. One of the benefits of owning this machine is feeling the love and affection of other riders when they come and admire your machine and ask questions about it.

Many times, I am stopped by other prospective super bike owners and I dont mind it one bit. I sincerely point them to Xbhp and ask them to go check out the SBK forum there.

To be honest, we are planning our first "LONG" ride next weekend (almost 600 km.) I will be able to give a fair report then. But she has travelled with me for long durations on the bike and has reported no back pain or discomfort. I am sure with the R1 she would have hopped out every possible time because of the excessive lean angle as well as the under seat exhausts.

Thanks man. I buggered you with questions on the "R1 / CBR" issue earlier on. And I followed the one advise you gave (you other explanations/justifications also helped me no end) "Follow your heart"

Although the teenage part of me wanted to go for the R1, my heart (which had matured over the years) pointed straight at the CBR. And I am happy.

And thanks, s/he does look fantastic in red.

Every bike has its own place mate. I also started down this adventure on my first bike; the original "definitely male" Pulsar 150. Had a lot of fun on it (and my share of accidents too; because of reckless driving.) And I don't regret starting off on a 12 bhp bike. If I would have started off on a 1000 cc, I would not lived to see this day.

And thanks... may the SBK gods shine down upon you and land you the FireBlade.

Thanks :P And thanks for the ratings guys... really made the effort worth it.

Yep. Honda's focus through the 20 years of launching the CBR has been that, "total control" and biker friendly ness. I will post some more photos after I add the bling (surprise) and once I have come back from the long weekend trip.

Thanks

Agree... The more I ride the the more I notice the subtle additions which Honda has done to the power delivery of the bike. The other day I was riding on a lonely part of time (quite late; so almost empty road) and I started noticing the amazing intake induction "music" which the bike makes. I was simply in love with it. So much so that I kept on accelerating up and down just to hear it I think this sound is more musical than hearing the exhaust flapper open up :P

Damn bro... thats awesome. Where do you get Speed 97? I live in Koramangala and whenever I ask people for the same, they look at me as I am speaking french. But the mileage is damn impressive.

And thanks To be honest, mileage was only one of the things which I considered when deciding against the One. 1) C-ABS 2) No under seat exhaust.

Glad I could be of help. Just make sure you are prepared to feed the elephant once you get it home. As someone very wise (on Xbhp itself) had written, it will cost approx. Rs 8/km to maintain and run the bike. Thats a lot compared to the other bikes (because of the tire cost, fuel requirement, etc.) But yes, you will be young only once in life. So tread life so that you have no regrets later on. As there is no Ctrl+Z...

For me, it was very simple. I was tired of going through the motions of life and playing the game of appreciation depreciation. I wanted a change and I effected it. But my next purchase is a house for sure. The rents are becoming astronomical in Bangalore.

Sorry I made you miss your lunch :P Glad you liked it... and thanks

Wow man... SBKpinch :P

Yes, the 28 was a limit set in my bucket list for getting a SBK. Check! And thanks...

The feeling you get in your stomach every time you start a ride on this is worth the money spent. 10x over.

Thanks mate... that totally made the effort worth it.

So folks, as promised, a little update on my SBK adventure.
I have now inching close to the 1200 km mark (can't believe I have driven so much in so less time) and my first service is due tomorrow (HMSI has sent the engineer to Bangalore and he is making a home visit tomorrow.)



Overall a very positive experience. Right from going to the super market for grocery shopping to fulfilling duties of PPS (Patidev Pickup Service; a term which my lovely wife coined); the bike is doing really well. I mean, who would not love to be picked up from work on a SBK, right?

But I had a horrible experience 3 days ago. As a result of a bus strike in Bangalore, my wife was having trouble getting a ride back home (to Koramangala) from her office in ITPL. Being the gentleman that I am, I volunteered PPS to which she gleefully agreed.

What ensued was torture worse than water boarding.

The distance was 18 km one way, through some very narrow roads. I was hoping that by starting relatively early, I would be able to beat the traffic. But that is not what god had planned for me that day.

I had to make my way across 9 grid locks, 12 situations with a guy trying to take a illegal u turn from the left side of the road thus blocking the entire traffic, 25 signals (I didn't get a green pass on any one of them) while making the journey back and forth. The return trip was even more arduous as I had to balance my wife (55 kg) on my bike while twiddling the throttle on 1st gear with the clutch pressed in 70%. The heat being given off the bike was incredible. On top of that, I didn't wear my normal riding jeans and instead went with gym trunks which did an awefull job of shielding my legs from the sheer heat.

The 36 km distance took close to 3 hrs to cover and I had burned through almost 5 lt of petrol (I was expecting it to be close to 10 lt; but thank god.)

Needless to say, a big lesson learnt. A SBK was simply never meant to do this. Thank god it was a CBR instead of a R1. Otherwise my wife would have a very bad time on the return trip because of the under seat exhaust. And the additional weight of the R1 would have made my nightmare even more livid. I will stick to my skirt for such fun adventures from now on.

Oh and, I made a video last night just before I started the cleaning. Sorry for all the dirt; I had ridden the bike during rains to test its ability to keep a grip the night before and it got really muddy at times.

CBR1000RR "FireBlade" Rev-it! - YouTube

So far I had been afraid to rev the bike so high as I was afraid something might simply break. But the bike's character has dramatically changed now. It is very very rev happy and the vibes which I used to notice earlier during revving are no longer there. Please listen to this on a good sound system (with large speakers capable of reproducing low frequencies.) Sorry, your phones don't count. Enjoy

You have a very good sense of humor which gives nice taste to your posts. And thanks for putting up a video of the exhaust sound. Nice sound changes!

Congratulations. Like the blade and if i ever had to pick a litre class ( i just dont like their small confines coz i push 220 pounds with leathers ) this would be it. Very useable power and will not scare you on WOT. Ride hard , ride safe.

Wow...this is just amazing. Loved the write up to the very last words. Amazing.
And loved the pics too, never really liked the red colour of the 2012 blade, but im kinda feeling different now, just like how i dint like the looks of the post 2008 model blades, but i guess it kinda grows on you.

Enjoy mate, keep riding, and munch miles, hope you take it to a visit to the tracks also.

Cheers
ride safe
Krishna

Amazingly narrated..!! Loved each word, sentence of it.. The initial acquisition chronicle almost made me smell the possibility too of owning a sbk, Someday.!
Till then ride safe & keep us treating with this beautiful narration & the hot pix of the blade.

Fantastic write up...must have taken some time and thanks for sharing this with us ans seeing a dream come true. Enjoy the rides my friend and may it get better as time passes by.

About the body pain while ridding sportbikes, its mostly because we put a lot of weight on the hands while ridding. keep the elbows slightly bend and try to hold the bike with your inner thigh, this will help you relax the upper body and take the weight off your wrists and shoulders. You will have to put a conscious effort to keep reminding yourself to do this, once habituated it will be easy. Hope this makes sense

Like someone else pointed out, the way you narrated it I could feel as if I am going through the process myself.

Wish you lotsa fun miles on the blade, ride safe,have fun and stay young.

Thanks mate I have another video at the end of this reply. I bet you will like it even more...

Same... but I choose to go for this instead of something like a Hayabusa (bigger, more powerful, muscular) as I always wanted a 1000cc bike.

Thanks. The red-white-black combo goes really well

Go for it mate. Don't wait too long though, as all the petrol might run out

Thats good advise. I have been doing it for a while and really notice a difference. Keeping the hands straight and transferring all the weight straight to the hands is a big mistake. Bending the elbows lets them flex and help absorb the weight (due to the hand muscles.)

Thanks

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And now for the new pre- and post- exhaust flapper mod video. Prashant Nair (a fellow Fireblade owner) had come to my apartment and we got our first service done together. We ended up revving them sky high together... also took some good pics, enjoy

CBR1000RR : Sound Character after First Service and Exhaust Flapper mod - YouTube

Few photos from the day of the 1st service:

A quick recording from my GoPro: First GoPro trial - Capturing colourful Koramangala Bangalore in HD - YouTube

Planning on using this on the trip ;D

Congrats dude and yeah Ride safe.