Portsmouth Honda have got an open day on this weekend and they have most of their range of bikes available for testrides. I booked a go on the Fireblade and the SP2.
First out was the 'blade. It is turbine smooth with loads of roll on power. Anything more than 2 gear is pointless on the B road route that I went on, although I did hit the limiter in second. Oops.
It is deceptively fast. You feel like you are going quickly (obviously) but when you look at the speedo you can add another 30mph to what you "thought" you were doing.
The Steering damper is excellent. So much so in fact you don't notice it. At low speed there is no damping but as soon as the speed builds the damping increases. There were absolutely no headshakes, but the front wheel does like to lift under power
It is not much larger physically than my 600RR, and is just as easy to move around on and tip into corners, unless you are really tanking it. Then it needs a bit more muscle.
A very very nice bike, but strangely uninvolving. I love riding my 600RR and it's a thrill. The 1000RR feels too sanitised. Damn fast but you can't "feel" the speed.
Would I have one. Yep, but I would like to try an R1 first.
Next up was the SP2. Now I really like the look and the idea of the SP2. A litre twin. Ye.......es!
However, I was gutted. I really, really wanted to like, no love, this bike......but I didn't. Sure it is good, but it is no way worth the £500+ premium over a Fireblade. The 'blade is a far more sorted, developed, faster, smoother, lighter, more, more, more of a bike.
You have got to really want a twin to have this bike over the Fireblade. In fairness, I think their may have been a fuelling problem with the bike. It felt flat and the power really tailed off towards the end of the rev range.
When I got back to Portsmouth Honda, I was talking to the techs and they said they thought it was running a little lean.
The throttle was horribly snatchy as well. From a closed to on throttle it was awful. Really difficult to have smooth control with throttle alone. With a bit of clutch you could iron it out but it wasn't nice. The Honda tech said it could be sorted with a Power Commander PC3 and some dyno time. Not what you want to hear when you have spent well over 9 large on a new bike.
Overall I have fallen out of love with the SP2 and am not totally convinced by the 'blade although it is a very nice bike. What I have decided though is that my next bike will not be a twin. Sorry.