Discussion
Sorry, been too busy riding it 
Had a decent morning with it, pushed it a bit harder and it really is a wonderful thing. Using the roads I know inside-out, the difference is significant. All those little dinks, bumps and imperfections in the road where I'd been perhaps overly cautious on the previous Fireblade were just gone and I was able to get on the power a lot sooner than before as well as brake a hell of a lot later, letting the auto-blipper and engine braking take the strain of it, whilst the Ohlins kept everything balanced and in-line. Just that transition between hard braking and getting back on the power is all smoothed out and inspires a lot of confidence.
Power is a pretty decent step-up over the last bike and really noticeable over 6krpm. The previous bike had a perfectly smooth delivery but, relative to the new one, it lacked the upper-end punch.
The new dash is brilliant once you've configured it to the black background. It's really clear, even in direct sunlight. Changing the settings is nicely intuitive where, on the one hand, you can flick between the 'easy mode' settings quickly but if you want to fine tune stuff, you could spend a significant amount of time pissing about with the Ohlins settings.
Now obviously I'm not a great rider by any measure and I doubt I'll ever use half of its true performance but it IS an enjoyable, smooth ride which doesn't make you poo yourself every two minutes. It's very easy to ride and, more importantly, very easy to ride fast. There are obviously quicker and more visceral bikes but I'd be willing to stake important parts of my anatomy that more people could use more of the SP's performance than they could of the Panigale's (for example) performance.
Even on day 2, I know that this bike is a keeper and that's the first bike I've had where I've felt like that. It may not be 'new' but f*ck, Honda have refined it now to near perfection.
Had a decent morning with it, pushed it a bit harder and it really is a wonderful thing. Using the roads I know inside-out, the difference is significant. All those little dinks, bumps and imperfections in the road where I'd been perhaps overly cautious on the previous Fireblade were just gone and I was able to get on the power a lot sooner than before as well as brake a hell of a lot later, letting the auto-blipper and engine braking take the strain of it, whilst the Ohlins kept everything balanced and in-line. Just that transition between hard braking and getting back on the power is all smoothed out and inspires a lot of confidence.
Power is a pretty decent step-up over the last bike and really noticeable over 6krpm. The previous bike had a perfectly smooth delivery but, relative to the new one, it lacked the upper-end punch.
The new dash is brilliant once you've configured it to the black background. It's really clear, even in direct sunlight. Changing the settings is nicely intuitive where, on the one hand, you can flick between the 'easy mode' settings quickly but if you want to fine tune stuff, you could spend a significant amount of time pissing about with the Ohlins settings.
Now obviously I'm not a great rider by any measure and I doubt I'll ever use half of its true performance but it IS an enjoyable, smooth ride which doesn't make you poo yourself every two minutes. It's very easy to ride and, more importantly, very easy to ride fast. There are obviously quicker and more visceral bikes but I'd be willing to stake important parts of my anatomy that more people could use more of the SP's performance than they could of the Panigale's (for example) performance.
Even on day 2, I know that this bike is a keeper and that's the first bike I've had where I've felt like that. It may not be 'new' but f*ck, Honda have refined it now to near perfection.
t all over it and cringe when you apply the 1st bucket of water and a sponge to the thing 
It'll be three weeks old tomorrow and has its first, 600-mile service at 8am.
This morning it only had 307 miles on the clock, mostly due to a combination of work, weather and manflu. I resolved this today and went for a quick ride around the Cotswolds. Loved it. Such a compliant, easy, friendly bike to get along with and I'm pretty sure someone who has just completed their CBT could hop on one and not have any issues.
I think I'm finally out of the habit of using the clutch, which is nice, and a couple more highlights have surfaced from the quite long ride today; the initial smoothness of the throttle is great. On the previous bikes I generally tended to avoid using 1st gear for anything other than setting off and idle pottering but with the RBW throttle and smoooOOOOooothe delivery, I'm using is far more than before. That's a good think because the sound it makes changing from 1st to 2nd with the quickshifter is hilariously addictive
The only real issue I have with the bike -- and it's totally a rider issue -- is going from 2nd to 1st without the clutch. Only about half of the time I'm positive enough with the action, so end up in neutral more than is ideal.
Apart from that, still really, REALLY pleased with, despite it being old and sh*t.
This morning it only had 307 miles on the clock, mostly due to a combination of work, weather and manflu. I resolved this today and went for a quick ride around the Cotswolds. Loved it. Such a compliant, easy, friendly bike to get along with and I'm pretty sure someone who has just completed their CBT could hop on one and not have any issues.
I think I'm finally out of the habit of using the clutch, which is nice, and a couple more highlights have surfaced from the quite long ride today; the initial smoothness of the throttle is great. On the previous bikes I generally tended to avoid using 1st gear for anything other than setting off and idle pottering but with the RBW throttle and smoooOOOOooothe delivery, I'm using is far more than before. That's a good think because the sound it makes changing from 1st to 2nd with the quickshifter is hilariously addictive
The only real issue I have with the bike -- and it's totally a rider issue -- is going from 2nd to 1st without the clutch. Only about half of the time I'm positive enough with the action, so end up in neutral more than is ideal.
Apart from that, still really, REALLY pleased with, despite it being old and sh*t.
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