Dyno Run

  When a group of us get together we often get round to talking about the power of our motorbikes. Its been on the cards for a few months to go and do a Dyno run over at Projex in Cradley. Col booked us in and myself and Col went over. Matt, Jon and Rich all have plans to give it a go.....one day!
  

Black Blade    vs    Red Blade

  It was our first outing on the bikes of 2015, bad weather had scuppered any plans on all other weekends so a short run to Cradley sounded like a good plan.
 I arrived at Col's to find his bike on the drive gleaming after an earlier wash. We set off to Cradley with a petrol stop required as we thought fresh petrol would help produce more power out of the engine. I have always been a fan of Shell petrol and as coincidence had it that was the fuel the garage was selling. We pumped the tyres up so that both the bikes were the same.

  We arrived at Projex and the guys there started to get interested when they saw two identical model Honda CBR1000rr Fireblade's that have the same exhaust system and with similar mileage, so the competition started. Its the Black Blade  vs  the Red Blade.

  We checked online what the bike produced from new.......172BHP at the crank.
Kev told us to add about 11% to the reading we were going to get as his machine measures BHP at the wheel.

  Col's Black Fireblade got strapped in and then he put the bike through its paces, doing the same test 3 times. Then the average would be worked out. Kev had lots of good things to say about the power delivery and how smoothe it was running.

  When he was done the printer fired up and printed a graph with the number we wanted to see............
Black Blade....149.4BHP  add 11% is 165.8BHP approx at the crank a loss of 6.2BHP in 10 years. Not bad...

  We had a cup of coffee and Col told me with a grin over his mug, he had sneakily put the higher octane petrol in at the garage.  I felt robbed, how was my bike going to compete with that? We mentioned it to Kev who told us it wont make a noticable difference so the competition was back on.

 My bike was strapped in and Kev started run 1, he shouted that he thought Cols felt slightly smoother at low revs. Again I thought the Black Blade was getting all the good vibes.
 Run 1 done and Kev hid the screen.Run 2 he came off shaking his head and Run 3 and the printer fired up, we waited.........
Red Blade....152.62BHP  add 11% is 169.4BHP approx at the crank a loss of 2.5BHP in 10 years.

  Obviously it would be wrong of me not to bring this up from time to time : )

 It seems people spend lots of money to make the bikes have more power, when really unless your a racer your not going to see much benefit on a Sunday morning ride. So if you want a faster bike than your mates for the road and leave money in your pocket, gain some teeth on the back cog.

If / When any of the others give it a go, I will add it to the competition.

If you have done a Dyno run and want to add it to our site, contact me here for details. 

Watch / hear our dyno test video here:-

  DYNO RUN's

Col's   Honda CBR 1000rr Fireblade 2004 - 149.4 BHP          lost 6.2BHP
Phill's Honda CBR 1000rr Fireblade 2004 - 152.62 BHP         lost 2.5BHP

Mark's Kawasaki ZX10R 2004                   -  152.43 BHP        lost 11.8BHP

Honda CBR 1000RR Fireblade 2004

 This is the 2004 Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade.

 The Black version is Col's and the Tri-colour (Red one) is Mine (Phill's)

  Col bought his in 2013 with 11000 miles on the clock from a local bike shop after spotting it on Ebay. We called into the shop one Sunday morning in January and as soon as we saw it Col decided it was the one.
 The snow fell and stopped him from collecting it for 2 long weeks, but eventually it arrived and he turned up on it the next fine Sunday morning. 

 A cold Sunday morning in late January 2014 myself and Col visited Streetbike for a look around the latest bikes and a coffee. A Honda Fireblade had just arrived as a part ex against a newer bike, so I gave it a look over and booked a test ride. Streetbike refitted the standard rear shock as it had a lower one fitted and fixed a few little problems and I collected it the first weekend in March with 16000 miles on the clock.
 I have enjoyed every ride on the Fireblade, the performance, rider comfort and handling suits me fine. 

 The 2004 Honda Fireblade was the first of the totally new design Fireblades and the 1st that was not designed by Tadao Baba the designer of the fireblade from the original 1992 model. It was designed by the team responsible for the 2003 Motogp bike RC211V and shares some lines and technology from the swing arm and rear shock. The model stayed similar until 2007 only with a few cosmetic changes to the front around the headlight, slight geometry changes to the frame and improvements to the engine and a larger rear sprocket.
 Personally we like the smoother lines on the 2004-5 version to look at. 

The Honda 2003 Motogp winning team was Nicky Haden and Valentino Rossi.

  
Controls
  The Instrument display has a rev counter and a digital read out of the current speed. The select button scrolls through 2 trip counters,the Odometer and displays the time. The brake lever has an adjustable postion, The bike has twin headlights of which only the one side illuminates when the engine is running and cannot be turned off, the other side comes on when man beam is selected. The rear section of the seat lifts off to reveal a compartment big enough for the tool kit, a rag and a bottle of visor cleaner, but don't think of putting any thing to eat in there as it will get very warm having the exhaust silencer right below it.

  Riding it
  
  The seat is nicely positioned, but is firm, and  the reach to the bars is comfortable. The foot pegs are quite high and back giving it an agressive feel. On longer journeys or sitting in traffic can cause wrist and shoulder/neck ache. Out on the road the bike has a lot of punch when you open the throttle, turns quickly, yet feels stable at the same time. When I have ridden it, i thought it felt as though 70mph was its happy speed, where the engine picked up instantly.  The default suspension setting are a little soft so we adjusted them to a few clicks stiffer.
 Since owning my Fireblade we have noticed that Col's bike uses more petrol than mine roughly working out at an extra £1.50 per tank. A service may help.



  Stats

• Engine size  -  998 cc
• Top Speed  -  178mph
• Power  -  172 bhp
• Weight  -  176kg
• Fuel tank capacity  -  18ltrs
• Av MPG  -  35mpg
• Tank Ramge  -  135 miles
• Ins group -  17
• Tyres  -  F 120/70/17   R 190/50/17
• Suspension  -  Fully adjustable

The Original Exhaust

The New Exhaust

  Modifications.

  Both bikes have got Scorpion exhaust silencer's fitted, these take about 2 hours to fit as most of the rear of the bike needs to be removed. We opted for them as we liked the look better that the other brands available at the time. They have the option of removing the baffle which makes it sound racier but not so loud to give you a headache. They also look better and weigh a lot less than the standard type.

 Common Problems.

Check the Fireblade owners forum for information that may help solve any issues you may have.

 Problems this bikes has Encountered

 When Col bought his, the breather pipe to the fuel tank had come off, so it leaked petrol when the tank was full.
The stator packed in on Col's, Honda have now released a fixed version that stops them from burning out.

Our Photo's