Thirty years of Fireblade magic: Special edition to mark the bike that changed our world

Honda are working on a special edition Fireblade to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the original model. The CBR900RR FireBlade launched to critical and commercial acclaim in 1992, ushering in a new era of superbike that combined the power of large displacement machines with size nearer to that of a 600.

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Created by Tadao Baba, it was also much lighter than the competition, weighing less than 2kg more than the CBR600 and 34kg less than its nearest rival, the Yamaha FZR1000. To honour that machine Honda are believed to be releasing a special edition CBR1000RR-R SP with an homage paintscheme.

The original Blade made just over 109bhp, so it’s nearly doubled in power in its 30-year life and has also got 4kg lighter. It’s got an awful lot more expensive in that time, too – the original cost just £7390 in 1992 – and with the current SP costing £23,499 this limited edition will likely set you back anything between £25,000-£30,000.

Mechanically it’s unlikely much will have changed, especially with the main components, so we can expect 214bhp from its 999cc inline four. The electronics package is likely to be the same too, so expect more safety aids than you can shake a stick at, all of which will run through the 5in full colour TFT.

As it’s the SP model it already has lots of flash components, including semi-active Öhlins, Brembo Stylema brakes and lightweight wheels. However, there’s a good possibility things might get even fancier in this department.

Three years ago Honda Japan unveiled a special edition HRC version of the then top of the range SP2, which had Nissin brakes, lightweight OZ wheels and carbon fibre bodywork. It’s possible we’ll see something similar here for the Blade.

Of course this isn’t the first time a classic paintjob has returned, nor is it Honda’s first anniversary Blade. The firm released a 20th anniversary model in 2012, which cost just £12,000 (those were the days eh?). There was also a return of the famous ‘Urban Tiger’ paintjob in 2014.

There’s been nothing official from Honda, but sources in Japan suggest we’re likely to see this bike unveiled in the coming weeks with order books opening soon after.