This 2013 Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade belongs to James May of Top Gear and The Grand Tour fame, and he’s now offering it for sale out of his own personal collection with just 5,844 miles on the clock.
May has owned a number of motorcycles over the course of his life, but few of them would have been quite as quick as this Honda. The Fireblade is one of the most highly-respected superbike lineages of the modern age, offering more horsepower than many family cars in a package with MotoGP derived handling.
Fast Facts: James May’s Honda Fireblade
- Honda’s FireBlade began in 1992 with the CBR900RR, developed under engineer Tadao Baba. Its 893cc inline-four, compact chassis, and low curb weight helped redefine superbike handling. Displacement later increased through 918cc, 929cc, and 954cc versions, with fuel-injection arriving in 2000 before the all-new CBR1000RR debuted in 2004.
- The 2004 CBR1000RR drew heavily on Honda’s championship-winning RC211V MotoGP machine, adopting Unit Pro-Link rear suspension, an underseat exhaust, and electronically controlled steering damping. Its 998cc inline-four produced 169 bhp in European specification, and the model quickly proved competitive, winning the Suzuka 8 Hours in 2004 and the 2007 World Superbike title.
- A redesigned Fireblade arrived in 2008, followed by optional electronically controlled ABS, upgraded Showa suspension, and the first SP variant in 2014. Later generations introduced sophisticated rider electronics, semi-active suspension, and aerodynamic winglets. The 2020 CBR1000RR-R adopted an even more track-focused design, producing a claimed 215 bhp from its 1.0 liter engine.
- The 2013 Repsol-liveried CBR1000RR offered here belongs to television presenter James May, who has owned it for seven years. First registered in July of 2013, it’s covered just 5,844 miles. May reports dry storage and minor maintenance, while the bike retains its service records, owner’s handbook, and UK V5C registration document.
History Speedrun: The Honda Fireblade
The Honda CBR1000RR debuted in 2004, importantly, it was the first Fireblade ever designed with racing as a large part of the brief. World Superbike rules had changed to admit four-cylinder engines of up to 1.0 liter, so Honda dropped its V-twin VTR1000 as the basis of its superbike effort and built a new inline-four CBR to replace it. Much of its engineering drew on the Honda RC211V, the MotoGP machine that had won the previous two World Superbike Championships.
The FireBlade line began back in 1992 with the CBR900RR, a project led by legendary Honda engineer Tadao Baba. The bike started life as a 750cc inline-four meant to beat Honda’s own V4-powered RVF750 works racer at the Suzuka 8 Hours. Image courtesy of Honda.
The Honda Fireblade Family
The FireBlade line began back in 1992 with the CBR900RR, a project led by legendary Honda engineer Tadao Baba. The bike started life as a 750cc inline-four meant to beat Honda’s own V4-powered RVF750 works racer at the Suzuka 8 Hours. Baba’s team then settled on an 893cc displacement, the size their research showed would reach 160 km/h (99 mph) from a standstill as quickly as a 1.0 liter machine.
The production FireBlade put that engine into a light, compact chassis and used a 16 inch front wheel to save weight. Honda says the name is a loose English translation of the Japanese word for lightning. Anyone who’s ever ridden a FireBlade will tell you that the name was well chosen.
Displacement grew to 918cc for 1996 and then to 929cc for 2000, the year fuel injection, an inverted fork and a 17 inch front wheel arrived. The 954cc model of 2002 was Baba’s last, when he left the project, Honda retired the capital B in “FireBlade” in his honor, and the 2004 CBR1000RR was the first to carry a lowercase letter. It was an unusual distinction from the Japanese company, one they’ve very rarely bestowed on anyone, and a clear sign of just how important Baba was.
MotoGP Technology For The Road
The CBR1000RR went on sale in Japan on April the 20th, 2004. Honda’s team, led by large project leader Hirofumi Fukunaga, took three ideas from the RC211V race bike. The first was Unit Pro-Link rear suspension, and the second was a center-up exhaust routed through the tail. Asked later why Honda had gone to the trouble, Fukunaga had replied, “Just because it’s really cool.”
The third was HESD, an electronically controlled hydraulic steering damper that varies its damping with road speed and acceleration, it was a world first on a production motorcycle.
The production FireBlade put that engine into a light, compact chassis and used a 16 inch front wheel to save weight. Honda says the name is a loose English translation of the Japanese word for lightning. Anyone who’s ever ridden a FireBlade will tell you that the name was well chosen. Image courtesy of Honda.
The engine was a new 998cc DOHC 16-valve inline-four with a 75 mm bore, a 56.5 mm stroke, an 11.9:1 compression ratio and dual-stage fuel injection using two injectors per cylinder. European bikes were rated at 169 bhp at 11,250 rpm.
A twin-spar aluminum frame with gravity die-cast main sections carried a 43 mm inverted fork, radial-mount four-piston calipers on 310 mm front discs and a single-piston caliper on a 220 mm rear disc. Power went through a cassette-type 6-speed gearbox, designed for quick ratio changes at the track, and a chain. The European model’s curb weight was 179 kgs (395 lbs).
HRC’s CBR1000RRW won the Suzuka 8 Hours on its debut in 2004, the first of three straight wins there, and James Toseland took the 2007 World Superbike title on a Ten Kate Fireblade.
SC59, ABS + The SP
The second-generation arrived for 2008 with a new 999.8cc engine. Bore went to 76 mm and stroke fell to 55.1 mm, and Honda rated it at 175 bhp at 12,000 rpm and 84 lb ft of torque at 8,500 rpm. Monobloc front calipers on 320 mm discs and a slipper clutch were added, and the exhaust moved back to a short silencer on the right side.
For 2009 Honda offered an electronically controlled Combined ABS, which it described as the first such system for a supersport motorcycle. The 2012 update added a Showa Big Piston Fork, Showa’s Balance Free Rear Cushion shock and new 12-spoke wheels. In 2014 came the first SP, with Öhlins suspension, Brembo front calipers and a single seat.
Electronics + RR-R
Honda revealed the third-generation SP and SP2 at the Intermot Show in Cologne in 2016, in the Fireblade’s 25th anniversary year. The SP lost 15 kgs and gained 11 bhp, and the Fireblade got its first full electronics package, with a ride-by-wire throttle, power and engine-braking modes and Honda Selectable Torque Control. The SP and SP2 added a standard quickshifter and Öhlins semi-active suspension.
This 2013 Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade belongs to James May of Top Gear and The Grand Tour fame, and he’s now offering it for sale out of his own personal collection with 5,844 miles on the clock.
The base Honda CBR1000RR, which used conventional Showa suspension and offered the quickshifter as an option, made 189 bhp at 13,000 rpm. A homologation SP2 added Marchesini wheels and redesigned valves, combustion chambers, and pistons.
The 2020 CBR1000RR-R, shown at EICMA in Milan in late-2019, changed the brief again. Large project leader Yuzuru Ishikawa, who had designed frames for the RC211V, put it plainly: “Our target was a MotoGP machine.” The engine shares its 81 mm bore and 48.5 mm stroke with the RC213V-S, Honda’s road-legal MotoGP bike.
It uses titanium connecting rods, finger-follower rocker arms and a cam drive that pairs a gear with a shortened chain. Honda rated it at 215 bhp at 14,500 rpm and 83 lb ft at 12,500 rpm, with a curb weight of 201 kgs (443 lbs). Both versions had winglets and a six-axis IMU, and the SP added second-generation Öhlins semi-active suspension and Brembo Stylema front calipers.
For 2024 Honda revised the RR-R with new valve timing, higher compression, a lighter crankshaft, lower gearing, a lighter frame with reduced stiffness and new winglets. It also gained a ride-by-wire system with two motors, one for each pair of cylinders, which Honda says was a first for its motorcycles. The SP moved to third-generation Öhlins semi-active suspension and Brembo Stylema R front calipers.
The James May 2013 Honda Fireblade Shown Here
This 2013 Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade Repsol is being offered for sale by celebrated British motoring journalist and television presenter James May, best known for his work on Top Gear and The Grand Tour. The bike was first registered in July of 2013, and it’s been owned by May for the past 7 years, having covered just 5,844 miles from new.
The bike is finished in Honda’s distinctive orange, black, red, and white Repsol racing livery, and as you would expect, it’s powered by Honda’s naturally-aspirated 998cc inline-four paired with a 6-speed transmission. It has full aerodynamic fairings, adjustable Showa front forks, a rear monoshock, an aluminum swingarm, Tokico brakes, and an LCD instrument display. It has a two-person seat and pillion footrests, while paddock-stand bobbins have been fitted to simplify maintenance.
According to its service records, this Fireblade received an oil and filter change and new tires in July of 2017 at 2,672 miles. Its most recent documented service was carried out by Read’s Motorcycles in July of 2019 at 5,550 miles, when fluids and filters were changed.
This 2013 Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade Repsol is being offered for sale by celebrated British motoring journalist and television presenter James May, best known for his work on Top Gear and The Grand Tour. The bike was first registered in July of 2013, and it’s been owned by May for the past 7 years, having covered just 5,844 miles from new.
May reports that he has carried out minor maintenance during his ownership and has always kept the motorcycle in dry storage. The orange paintwork has faded slightly but uniformly, and the bike is offered with its service book, owner’s handbook, and UK V5C registration document.
It’s being offered for sale directly out of May’s ownership, and you can visit the listing here if you’d like to read more about it or register to bid.
Images courtesy of Collecting Cars + Honda
Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
