2020 Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade and Fireblade SP bookings open in India

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd has today commenced the bookings for two of its flagship supersport offerings, the 2020 Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade and Fireblade SP. Both these motorcycles are being brought to the country through the Completely Built-up (CBU) route in India. Hond had showcased these motorcycles at EICMA 2019, wherein it was mentioned that this iteration is the most powerful Fireblade made by Honda ever. The deliveries will start from end of August 2020.

The highlight of the new motorcycle is its power output of 217.5PS, delivered at a stratospheric 14,500rpm that's over 10PS more than of its inline four-cylinder engine powered rivals. Peak torque produced is 113Nm, produced at 12,500rpm. Another highlight is the bike's kerb weight of 201kg, with all fluids in! Clearly, after years of lying low in the litre-class superbike space, Honda has come up with what is one of the most powerful and tech-laden superbikes on the planet. Effectively, the 2020 CBR1000RR-R Fireblade is more powerful than the Ducati Panigale V4 which produces 214PS.

The 2020 Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade has the rear monoshock mounted directly onto the rear of the engine

The new Fireblade is inspired even further from Honda's MotoGP machine, the RC213V race bike in terms of the design, while the new engine is based on the road-going version of the MotoGP machine, the RC213V-S and uses the same bore and stroke. The additional R in the bike's name denotes even more raciness the bike gets winglets on the side, seen first on production superbikes like the Aprilia RSV4 1100 and Ducati Panigale V4 R along with sharper bodywork, significantly better aerodynamics and a set of headlights that are much smaller, sharper and allow greater weight savings. The bike is more compact overall as compared to the outgoing version and in fact, even the fuel tank sits 45mm lower now, to allow the rider to tuck himself better behind the fairing at high speeds.

On the electronics front, the previous five-axis IMU has made way for a more advanced, six-axis unit on the 2020 bike while launch control is standard. All information can be accessed via a new, 5-inch colour TFT instrument cluster that's even more detailed now.

The 2020 Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade gets a new, 5 inch TFT display along with an updated electronics suite

Honda has also made the ignition keyless, in a bid to remove the obstruction that the keyhole is usually for the air intake, thereby improving intake efficiency by channelling fresh air in directly. Just like before, Honda also has an SP version of the 2020 Fireblade which uses semi-active electronic suspension at both ends, just like many of its new generation rivals, which are top of the line Ohlins, while the standard CBR1000RR-R is suspended on Showa's Big Piston forks and Big Piston mono-shock which is mounted directly onto the rear of the engine now. The rear tyre is a fatter, 200-section unit as well, unlike the 190-section rear tyre seen on most current generation superbikes. The new Fireblade also benefits from the addition of better brakes ? bigger, 330mm rotors have been employed at the front and while they are gripped by Nissin Monobloc callipers on the standard version, the SP gets the top of the line Brembo Stylema callipers.