CBR1000RR-R

Fireblade

2020 CBR1000RR-R Fireblade on stand at Motorcycle Live 2019 at Birmingham NEC

CBR Fireblade logo

There can be few sports bikes in the world that are as recognisable and famous as the Honda Fireblade, and it's continued to evolve over the years since its introduction in 1992 to keep it ahead of the competition. As well as being a sensational and incredibly desirable road bike, the Fireblade has also been the base for an extremely competitive race machine that's had masses of success on short circuits around the world as well as at the legendary Isle of Man TT races.

Of course, no successful manufacturer with such a legendary product can rest on their laurels and take the market for granted. That's why, this year, Honda has decided to look forward to where the Fireblade needs to go in the future by launching two brand new versions of the bike for the 2020 model year. With a large amount of involvement from the Honda Racing Corporation, 2020 brings us the all-new CBR1000RR-R Fireblade and the CBR1000RR-R SP Fireblade.

2 2020 Honda Fireblades in black and red & blue

This isn’t a refresh or a repackaging of the existing Fireblade for a new model year by any means. The 2020 MY Fireblade is a completely new bike that's been built from scratch from the ground up by drawing a lot of inspiration from the chassis and engine technology of the "street-legal MotoGP bike," the RC213V-S, and the aerodynamics of the awesome RC213V MotoGP bike.

So, with a new engine, a new chassis and an aggressive new design for the Fireblade's fairing design, the 2020 CBR1000RR-R about as "all-new" as a bike gets. While some model year changes can be purely aesthetic at times, that's certainly not the case here. Although the new fairing certainly makes the 2020 Fireblade look even sleeker and meaner than it did before, which is an achievement in itself, the real aim of the redesign was to deliver class-leading drag coefficient when the rider is tucked-in under track conditions, and to restrict lift under acceleration at the same time as improving braking stability.

2020 Honda Fireblade ridden by rider on race track
CBR Fireblade find out more here

At the heart of the 2020 Fireblade is a new engine, which is new inline four-cylinder unit that's compact, has a short-stroke layout and shares the bore and stroke of the RC213V. It also features a semi-cam gear train, finger-follower rocker arms, titanium con-rods, the internal friction reduction technologies of the RC213V-S, piston jets with a check ball system, and a built-in bottom bypass passage for the cylinder water jacket. All this translates into delivering 113Nm of torque at 12,500rpm and peak power at 14,500rpm of 160Kw, or more than 214bhp if you like it in "old money."

2020 new Honda Fireblade engine

The Throttle By Wire system that's become such an intrinsic feature of the Fireblade has also been improved and enhanced for the 2020 model year. It now boasts an improved feel, and the system has three default riding modes that make changes to the Power, Engine Brake, Wheelie Control and the optimised Honda Selectable Torque Control (HSTC). The electronics package of the new Fireblade also now includes an adjustable Start Mode. 

This all-new Fireblade also boasts a new aluminium diamond frame where the rear of the engine is used as the upper shock mount, while the swingarm is no longer based on the design of the RC213V-S. Because of the increased output of the new engine, rigidity balance, weight distribution and steering geometry of the bike have all been carefully adjusted to deliver the right levels of front and rear grip and overall feel.

One of the changes Fireblade fans will notice right away with the new bike is the way it looks. The 2020 CBR1000RR-R now borrows some of the slippery aerodynamics of the Honda's RC213V MotoGP bike, such as the winglets that increase downforce and improve the braking stability of the bike. Another change comes with the riding position, which is now much more compact than it was before when the rider is tucked-in during track conditions.

The standard CBR1000RR-R now features Showa’s 43mm Big Piston Fork, which is matched to a Showa Balance Free Rear Cushion Light. However, the race-focused CBR1000RR-R SP gets a new 43mm Öhlins NPX front fork instead of the NIX fork the previous model utilised, and there's now a second-generation Öhlins Object Based Tuning interface at the rear that delivers finer control of settings.

As well as differences to the suspension setups of the two bikes, there are also differences when it comes to the brakes. The brakes on the standard 2020 Fireblade are 330mm disc with radial-mount 4-piston Nissin caliper at the front, with a 220mm disc with 2-piston Brembo caliper at the rear. On the SP, there's a 330mm disc with 4-piston Brembo caliper up front, while the rear brake is the same as the standard bike.

Both bikes will come with a 120/70-ZR17 tyre on a 17-inch x 3.5 rim at the front and a 200/55-ZR17 tire on a 17-inch x 6.0 rim at the rear.

Key changes

When a bike is "refreshed" for a new model year, it's easy to be able to point out what the key changes are, but it would be easier and a whole lot quicker to point out what isn’t new about the 2020 CBR1000RR-R. Let's be honest here; even the name has changed because there are more "Rs" in it than before, although the new bike is still very much a Fireblade as we know it in every way.

2020 CBR1000RR-R Fireblade front side view

So, the 2020 CBR1000RR-R has a brand new frame; a new, longer aluminium swingarm; a brand new engine that's more powerful and more compact than its predecessor; improved aerodynamics and plenty more besides.

2020 CBR1000RR-R Fireblade rear side view

Even the bike's electronics have been improved upon, with the engine control system that was already extremely advanced being updated with the addition of Honda Selectable Torque Control and an adjustable start mode. For full and even more intuitive control of the Fireblade's systems, the full-colour 5-inch TFT screen is now bigger, has a higher resolution, and is fully customisable so the rider can choose to see exactly what they personally want and need to see.

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Fireblade History

To say Honda's Tadao Baba and his team came up with a real game-changer of a bike when they unveiled the first Honda Fireblade in 1992 is something of an understatement. The first model was the CBR900RR, and the idea behind it was to produce a bike that could beat Honda's own RVF750 on the race track, which itself was already the lightest and most compact bike in its class. 

Tadao Baba

Although originally developed as a 750, the inline-four's displacement was increased to 893cc instead, while at the same time retaining the 1405mm wheelbase and 185kg dry weight of the 600-class. The result was a bike that left its rivals trailing behind in terms of handling and acceleration, and the Fireblade became an instant classic.

Just a couple of years later the Fireblade was updated as Honda brought the world the CBR900RR, which along with a slight power increase, also got a revised front cowling with a new twin headlamp design that gave the bike a new nickname of the "Foxeye."

The start of the new century brought the third incarnation of the Fireblade, which was the CBR929RR that featured an all-new fuel-injected 929cc engine, but this model was then replaced little more than a year later by the CBR954RR. The 954 is widely regarded as the best Fireblade up to that point, especially as it had some of the very best road manners in its class at the time.

The Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) took over Fireblade design duties from Baba for the development of the CBR1000RR that made its debut in 2004, which also helped inspire the RCV211V racing bike to compete in the Superbike World Championship when the new 1000cc regulations kicked in.

Thanks to HRC, the link between the professional race bikes and the retail Fireblade continues to this day, and the very latest Honda Fireblades are perhaps closer to the full-fat MotoGP bikes than they've ever been. Being lightweight, compact and powerful is what the Fireblade has always been about, and the very latest models are taking this philosophy to even greater heights.   

Ride the new Fireblade at Honda Ron Haslam Race School Experience
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