What did YOU do today......

[Bumblebee]

Riding seasons here is 11mos outta the year,could be 12mos long,but I'm a Diva and quit riding in 40-50f weather 15yrs ago lol. It's just way too hot and humid from mid-April through October sometimes November. I wear ATGATT so I'd have a heat stroke in the summer when it's 95-100f w 95% humidity with full leathers on lol

If all goes well (fingers crossed) I'm looking at 12-16wks of PT which would put me right around end of September which will give me enought time to have the Gen1 tuned and 100% for the cooler-ish weather in the Fall/Winter

Big difference from here where we get at the most 7 months of riding and a few of those months a rider has to be pretty hardy to do it.....

We probably have closer to 5 good months of riding....

[Bumblebee]

I've been familiar with all the Honda sportbikes since the late 80's, and they were always just a CBR here, followed by whatever engine displacement.
If that isn't true...then I grew up in the same alternate timeline that you did, and we somehow got here...because I'de never heard of a 'Fireblade' until a few years ago...

@oldgixxer beat me to a reply...but I concur....

[sixpack577]

Im with both of ya it's always been CBR here in the States;I used to read the popular British performance bike magazines back in the early 90s and they were the ones who referred to the CBR's as Fire blades and I believe that's how Honda marketed them in the U.K. They also had a few weird names for a few other popular bikes at the time but can't quite remember. I think the Brits referred to the ZX-11 as a Zed-X 11 and the 5-valve FZR's as Genesis (even though that was Yamaha's name for the 5-V mill)
If we wanna get technical,the 1st Honda CBR's that were released were the CBR600F &CBR1000F Hurricane's back in 1987.

My buddy bought a new '87 white/red Hurricane 600 and damn that thing was fast for a 600!!! It was just about dead even with my '87 GSXR-750 w V&H full system&jetted stock carbs w individual K&N filters(pods). That 600 had a very impressive top end for sure. Another guy w rode w had the 1000 Hurricane but it was very heavy and no match for the '87 GSXR-1100 that was also in our group

Yeah, a friend had a solid reddish/orange Hurricain, matching wheel color, 600(1988 color??)
In the mid 90's
It became the CBR600, here in '90 or '91? with the F1, then F2, and F3 through '97 or '98?
Those were some Fun little bikes, and they make Great wheelie machines bone stock.
I would still actually buy one today, for the nostalgia, and the overall ride itself, very good all around for all that it is, but very comfortable, and as said, fun.
I have had to not call about a few Smokin' Joe CBR600's on Marketplace, in the $3500-$5500 range.
I like the bright color scheme of those best, but, a friend had a solid black '97 F3, and it looked really good too.
I want one...but don't need one...but still want one...

[Bumblebee]

Yeah, a friend had a solid reddish/orange Hurricain, matching wheel color, 600(1988 color??)
In the mid 90's
It became the CBR600, here in '90 or '91? with the F1, then F2, and F3 through '97 or '98?
Those were some Fun little bikes, and they make Great wheelie machines bone stock.
I would still actually buy one today, for the nostalgia, and the overall ride itself, very good all around for all that it is, but very comfortable, and as said, fun.
I have had to not call about a few Smokin' Joe CBR600's on Marketplace, in the $3500-$5500 range.
I like the bright color scheme of those best, but, a friend had a solid black '97 F3, and it looked really good too.
I want one...but don't need one...but still want one...

A fellow I served with had the original 1000 Ninja...he wrote it off riding like an idiot so he picked up a 1000 Hurricane that he wrote off riding like an idiot......in the same year, he wrote off a Pontiac Fiero GT.....the guy was a menace...

Years later I saw him on a Gen 1 Hayabusa..........somewhere along the grapevine I was told he also wrote that off.....riding like an idiot......
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A lady down the street has a CBR600R with an Akrapovic undertail system on it....her husband has a Street Glide and she said he has fits when he can't catch her tiny little 600.....

Hers isn't a Repsol edition but it is some sort of special edition...I just can't recall which one.....

[Bumblebee]

I forgot to mention that this was the same guy that said his Street Glide would run against my Hayabusa because mine bike was only a 1340.........all that before he actually saw my bike......once he did, he back tracked his comment really quickly.......

[Bumblebee]

"mine bike" LOL.....

Typing on a phone sucks sometimes......

[oldgixxer]

A fellow I served with had the original 1000 Ninja...he wrote it off riding like an idiot so he picked up a 1000 Hurricane that he wrote off riding like an idiot......in the same year, he wrote off a Pontiac Fiero GT.....the guy was a menace...

Years later I saw him on a Gen 1 Hayabusa..........somewhere along the grapevine I was told he also wrote that off.....riding like an idiot......
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A lady down the street has a CBR600R with an Akrapovic undertail system on it....her husband has a Street Glide and she said he has fits when he can't catch her tiny little 600.....

Hers isn't a Repsol edition but it is some sort of special edition...I just can't recall which one.....

You mentioned the original 1000 Ninja. I'm having nostalgic flashbacks..so the GPz 1000RX/Ninja 1000 was '86-'88 and that was a BIG girl. Buddy had one but was the anal retentive type and refused to let me ride it. F-him lol...But do you guys remember the original ZX10 from '88-'90? It replaced the Ninja 1000 and I wanted one so bad. IIRC,that was the 1st Kawi to have a full perimeter aluminum frame. When I was an apprentice in the union one of my classmates inherited an '88 that had a Kerker exhaust on it. It was super clean. He wasn't really a bike-guy so he learned to ride on it and crashed it and ruined it within a month or so I think. This was the early '90s when the ZX-11 was top dog

[Bumblebee]

You mentioned the original 1000 Ninja. I'm having nostalgic flashbacks..so the GPz 1000RX/Ninja 1000 was '86-'88 and that was a BIG girl. Buddy had one but was the anal retentive type and refused to let me ride it. F-him lol...But do you guys remember the original ZX10 from '88-'90? It replaced the Ninja 1000 and I wanted one so bad. IIRC,that was the 1st Kawi to have a full perimeter aluminum frame. When I was an apprentice in the union one of my classmates inherited an '88 that had a Kerker exhaust on it. It was super clean. He wasn't really a bike-guy so he learned to ride on it and crashed it and ruined it within a month or so I think. This was the early '90s when the ZX-11 was top dog

I remember the ZX10.......a guy I went to school with got one after he was rear ended on his GPZ750 turbo (with a whopping 2200kms on it).

He ended up wrecking the ZX10 when a car pulled out in front of him in the rain...he broke his hips in that crash.....

They sure got their money's worth out of that original 1000 Ninja as it lived on as a Concours for a lot of years....

When I first joined the military, one of our instructors rode a then brand new factory fuel injected green GPZ1100...

[oldgixxer]

I remember the ZX10.......a guy I went to school with got one after he was rear ended on his GPZ750 turbo (with a whopping 2200kms on it).

He ended up wrecking the ZX10 when a car pulled out in front of him in the rain...he broke his hips in that crash.....

They sure got their money's worth out of that original 1000 Ninja as it lived on as a Concours for a lot of years....

When I first joined the military, one of our instructors rode a then brand new factory fuel injected green GPZ1100...

That was another bike I lusted for in my teen years. Definitely underrated HP wise;I recall either Cycle World or Motorcyclist magazine did a stock bike shootout between the fastest the Big Four had to offer in 1986 and included the GPz 750 turbo(I think an '85 model) and it was the quickest in the 1/4mi beating the GSXR-1100 and Kawasaki's own Ninja 900. Kawi rated it at 112hp I think but the magazine dyno'd it and it put down 125rwhp which was a ton back in '86 lol

I never knew that about the Ninja 1000/Concours

[Bumblebee]

That was another bike I lusted for in my teen years. Definitely underrated HP wise;I recall either Cycle World or Motorcyclist magazine did a stock bike shootout between the fastest the Big Four had to offer in 1986 and included the GPz 750 turbo(I think an '85 model) and it was the quickest in the 1/4mi beating the GSXR-1100 and Kawasaki's own Ninja 900. Kawi rated it at 112hp I think but the magazine dyno'd it and it put down 125rwhp which was a ton back in '86 lol

I never knew that about the Ninja 1000/Concours

I know the Kawasaki had the best turbo bike of them all......I don't know what the other manufacturers were thinking basing their turbo bikes on such crappy or weak engines....if all the turbo bikes were using the stock N/A engines, the Kawasaki would have still left them all in the dust.....

He was pretty upset when he got rear ended but he couldn't find another turbo bike anywhere....

When you see the 1986 Concours and Ninja together, they sure look like siblings....they made the same 1000cc Concours up to I believe 2007 unti they switched to the 1400 Concours....based on the ZX14

[oldgixxer]

I know the Kawasaki had the best turbo bike of them all......I don't know what the other manufacturers were thinking basing their turbo bikes on such crappy or weak engines....if all the turbo bikes were using the stock N/A engines, the Kawasaki would have still left them all in the dust.....

He was pretty upset when he got rear ended but he couldn't find another turbo bike anywhere....

When you see the 1986 Concours and Ninja together, they sure look like siblings....they made the same 1000cc Concours up to I believe 2007 unti they switched to the 1400 Concours....based on the ZX14

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View attachment 1711346

Oh yeah,definitely see the resemblance now.
About those '80s turbo bikes..when the Big Four had the "turbo bike wars" in the early '80s my hands down favorite was the Suzuki XN85 as it reminded me of the Katana and made some decent power,85hp IIRC? They are uber-rare I've never seen one in person I think they made less than 1200 total from '83-'85

[Bumblebee]

Oh yeah,definitely see the resemblance now.
About those '80s turbo bikes..when the Big Four had the "turbo bike wars" in the early '80s my hands down favorite was the Suzuki XN85 as it reminded me of the Katana and made some decent power,85hp IIRC? They are uber-rare I've never seen one in person I think they made less than 1200 total from '83-'85

I saw an XN85 in person at a bike show in Toronto when it was launched....it was a factory demo (not for sale) bike and getting one was going to be like getting a hen's tooth.....I got to sit on it though and it was pretty heavy.

Apparently Suzuki was toying with boosted bikes behind the scenes for a while even after the XN85......someone from Suzuki (in the day) told me they made a turbo GS1150 but it was too powerful for the platform.....

I watched the video on the Gen 3 development where they mentioned trying a boosted engine as well as a V4 and inline 6 but went back to the current engine that they enhanced....