Old school rider from Utah, 60k+ on my blade. I have been riding motorcycles since I was 14 mostly dirt bikes and cruisers back then. My first purchased motorcycle was a GS550 and I loved it! Wish I still had it, but it got jacked (still have the title, but never found) I took professional riding courses in England when I was 15, and then Utah when I was 16, and knew a lot of the old-school racers/ riders from the 90's and 2000's, but have lost touch with most over the years except for the the two Italian brothers who inspired me to buy my 900RR and my Fiat Spider Pininfarina . I also own a handful of other bikes and even bought an old race bike from the VP of Ducati, but it's a closed circuit track only bike, and it's the Fireblade that I love and ride the most. It still blows away the newer CBR1000's which is baffling and always makes me laugh because I'm on a 25 year old machine, so maybe my tuning and riding ability might have something to do with it. I did grow up riding with racers and some well known's like Shane Turpin whom I took pride in creating his professional race resume to send out to potential sponsors (I worked with his mom at Franklin Covey, and she asked nicely plus he's a cool guy and a good racer). I bought my 1994 Fireblade off the showroom floor from Monarch Honda in Orem Utah on Christmas Eve, and rode it home in the snow ruts so I could put it next to the tree. Talk about a first ride experience, a sports bike in the snow day one!

It was only recent, (last week) after riding this machine hard for 25 years, that I finally pushed my bike to its limits and it couldn't give me anymore power and actually cut out a lil riding hard triple digits, which is really scary when you're going that fast. I thought I broke my bike for a sec. but honestly think it was just my fuel filter, lines, pump, or jets sucking something down and that I need to clean my machine a bit better. I have had that happen from the hoses bending too much before creating a kink, and a lil spurt lag and had to replace my fuel lines with new ones as they soften over time. I most def should check the condition of the inside of the tank, and clean it out. I never run ethonal gas, that corn will gum you up bro so don't do it, and I use fuel treatment if I park it for awhile. I'm super happy with my blade and even after wheeling it over 20 years back and taking a chunk out of my engine I welded it back together and it's still running after everyone said it was impossible to weld the cast aluminum engine blocks back together. I wanted to buy a newer Fireblade, but this one still out preforms most everything I encounter including other newer Fireblades. I'm on my third OEM body, but parts are getting harder to find. I still go down every once and awhile, mostly from wildlife. I've had a deer hit my bike an inch from my kneecap which would have seriously injured me, all I could do is let go of the handle bars and lean back, watching as its head was right where my head would have been, but instead of killing me it hit my bike and launched me over it's body as it jumped Superman'n me off my ride in the middle of a Utah canyon up by Fishlake/ Wayne county at 2AM on the lonely highway on a Sunday. Needless to say nobody drove by in the five hours I was there with broken bones picking up all the pieces. I had to repair my bike and then pick it up one handed with a leg squat and butt into the gas tank pushing it into the edge of the lip of the road, then ride into town which didn't even have a hospital lol good ole' Loa, they had a clinic in Bicknell and set my bones well enough. I've cut jackrabbits in half going triple digits leaving a blood "S" in my path, and it's the wildlife and unexpected rocks that will mess you up at night so I've learned to chill out especially night riding when I'm by myself. I've hit rocks rippin up Zion at 120 in the middle of a corner that made me catch air and land off the road with barley enough pavement left to grip and still pull the corner, but when you launch and land four feet away while cornering and almost lay your bike down to pull the corner it's quite dramatic. My advise is one I should take, always wear your full leathers when riding hard, and slow it down at night to watch out for rocks and critters! Because if you own a Fireblade, I know you're cruise'n at 120, and hit'n the corners as fast as you can

If you're down for some hard Utah riding let me know. I have another bro-there with a 93' Fireblade that rides just as hard as me if not harder, and these bikes, despite their age still out preform what I've encountered on the streets. They just don't make 'em like they used to! Although it would be cool to have modern features like a gas gauge, as I've run out of gas in some bad spots in BFE and forgot my reserve was already on, it happens. [shrug] Oh a word of caution, make sure your hardware it tight on everything before you ride and check when you stop. I have had half my cowl explode with a shotgun bang and cut my leg up from the newly created sharp edges from fairing cowls having too much play and flexing on the road, just add crazy speed and it will be poppin' for real so button everything down tight!

I'm sure nobody wants to go ride with me now after saying all that, salgud I'll see you on the streets if you're round this way. Or HMU if you need some help, these bikes are easy to work on. I only take mine in for Dyno tuning every couple of years or so.

 

Enjoyed the read mate.
95 blade in my garage with 50k on the clock and she still sounds very sweet. 20 years of fun on her and love riding it. Very easy to go very quick and reassuring handling.
Good ole ‘Blade !