2021 HONDA CBR1000RR-R FIREBLADE SP
R I D E R E V I E W
P82
The six-inch wide rear wheel size has been
boosted from a 190/50 ZR17 to a fat ol' 200/55
ZR17, which helps with not only tire selection
but also minimizes the geometry changes when
switching to track rubber.
Those familiar with the Ducati Panigale V4 S
will recognize the suspension in the 43mm Oh-
lins NPX Smart EC 2.0 electronically adjustable
units up front, matched to a class standard TTX36
Smart EC shock at the rear.
Honda has utilized a six-axis Inertial Measure-
ment Unit for the 2021 'Blade over the five-axis
unit on the 2020 edition, and the Ohlins system is
the same Objective Based Tuning interface (OBTi)
we've seen on the Panigale. You can get abso-
lutely lost in the OBTi system. There's three auto
modes and three manual modes, each with their
own default of Track, Sport and Rain. The damp-
ing is controlled by the IMU and the ECU, and
riders can store three combinations of individual
settings from across all the modes—like having
three track settings, if you wish.
The OBTi system doesn't work by traditional
preload, rebound and compression. Instead, in
Auto Mode, it's Front Stiffness, Rear Stiffness and
Braking. If you switch to the Auto Track mode, you
also get Acceleration and Cornering as an option.
Need more stability under braking? Dialing in brak-
ing. Squatting too much on the rear under throttle?
Dial in acceleration. You get the idea.
The three manual modes are the old school way,
with front and rear compression and rebound adjusted
via the dash (but only with pre-selected numbers, and
C-spanners/wrenches used for preload adjustment).
Honda has also fitted the revised electronic steer-
ing damper, with three settings available to you in soft,
medium or hard. Honda has been a firm believer in
the electronic steering damper setup, going way back
to the mid-2000s to find the original version.
The brakes are now the vastly superior Brembo
Stylema four-piston calipers clamping 10mm larger
discs at 330mm and matched to a Brembo radial
master-cylinder. ABS is given Sport and Track
modes, although neither mode allows you to disen-
gage ABS on the rear caliper, which incidentally is
the same single piston unit as on the RC213 V-S.
Honda gave us
a run on the old
girl 2020 edition,
which proved
there was some
life left in her yet.
