Honda CBR 1000 RR-R SP Fireblade 30ème Anniversaire 2022 — Specifications

In 1992, while European pop was saturating the airwaves, Honda dropped a bomb on the tarmac. The CBR 900 RR Fireblade reshuffled the sportbike deck with a simple but devastating recipe: a brawny engine housed in a chassis far lighter than anything else on the road. The competition got slapped, and it would take Yamaha pulling out its R1 in 1998 before the queen lost her crown.

Thirty years later, Honda celebrates this lineage with the CBR 1000 RR-R SP 30th Anniversary, a limited edition that dives back into the original machine's colour palette. The red, white and blue tricolour from 1992 returns to dress the bodywork, right down to the blue-tinted pillion seat. The result is frankly stunning. Not an ounce of poorly digested nostalgia — the livery fits the sharp lines of the current generation perfectly. You'll find "30th Anniversary" badges on the tank and SmartKey unit, an Akrapovic silencer stamped with the same tribute, and a laser-engraved serial number on the upper triple clamp. The attention to detail is genuine.

The production run is no accident either. Honda set output at 893 units, a direct nod to the original Fireblade's 893 cc displacement. Back then, that engine delivered 124 horsepower. The 999 cc inline four beating beneath the fairings of this 2022 version belts out 217 hp at 14,500 rpm and 113.8 Nm of torque at 12,500 rpm. The leap is staggering. With a 13:1 compression ratio, an ultra-short bore and stroke of 81 x 48.5 mm, and a peak power rev ceiling worthy of a MotoGP engine, this powerplant lives only for the top of the rev range. This is not a Sunday-ride machine.

The chassis matches the ambition. Aluminium twin-spar frame, 43 mm Öhlins NIX30 inverted fork, Öhlins TTX36 rear shock — we're talking stock equipment that rivals what you find in World Superbike. The radially mounted Brembo brakes with their 330 mm discs bite without hesitation. The whole package weighs 201 kg wet, a contained figure for an electronics-laden hypersport. The seat perched at 830 mm and the tucked-in riding position are reminders that this Honda makes zero concessions to comfort. Against the Ducati Panigale V4 SP2 or the BMW M 1000 RR, the Fireblade plays in the same league, with perhaps a touch more mechanical sophistication and a temperament that demands revs to express itself. Its 16-litre tank will be drained in no time if you exploit the 300 km/h top speed.

At €27,299 and only 893 examples, this CBR 1000 RR-R SP 30th Anniversary is aimed at collectors as much as demanding track riders. Honda even slipped a "Ring of Fire" animation onto the TFT screen at startup, as if to remind us that the Fireblade flame still burns after three decades. A fitting jab at anyone who thought the Japanese inline four had said its last word against the European V4s.