Second hand "Sports" motorcycles can be a bit of a lucky dip at times, but just occasionally you can stumble across the "deal of the decade". How would you feel though about a late model, low kilometre, Honda 4 cylinder Sports bike with six speed gearbox, in outstanding colours and capable of 185kph for $7,500 on road? Well, I’ve spent the weekend with just such a bike, let me explain.

Graeme Morris kindly pandered to my whim of wanting to spend some quality time with one of the 19,000rpm red-lining Honda CBR250RR’s he has on his showroom floor.

These "grey imports" usually have around 15,000 kilometres on the clock and before they are sold, have to comply with Australian design rules. They are stripped down and have the blinkers, tyres, sprockets, brake pads, battery, mirrors, plus all fluids replaced while the body parts get resprayed (talk about your Frankenstein’s monster). This Baby Blade is no monster to ride though with balance that even allows easy "hands off" control.

The test bike was painted in the current colours of Moto GP Champion Valentino Rossi. I found that this Fireblade indeed had the similar persona of the World Champ, flashy, confident, fast and could place bigger, more experienced bikes behind it.

Honda has built some extraordinarily complex machinery over the years, not the least being some of their totally awesome race bikes. A fine example of that is the 1967 24 valve 250cc six cylinder RC166, successfully raced by two wheeled master Mike (The Bike) Hailwood.

The distinct advantage with owning the Baby Blade, is it’s small engine capacity. As a 250 it attracts much lower registration and CTP costs than it’s larger cousins, but, with 40hp (at the rear wheel), the ability to rev, plus excellent handling, you can still go out and mix it with the big boys. As I piloted this high powered missile at sharp left or right hand corners, I became more and more fond of the idea of owning one. Imagine the sight of the tacho needle whipping across it’s dial like, a finger flicking a fly off an outback pub bar, as you down-shift through the gears.

The mirrors don’t vibrate much although they are placed a wee bit close together. The clutch is light, brakes superb, but alas, the horn is piss weak. The headlights are excellent and the high beam is one of the best I’ve come across on a motorcycle. Under the pillion seat is about four litres of very useful storage capacity, while the pillion pegs are neatly tucked up under the rear bodywork on spring loaded rods.

The handling is direct, simply going where you point it and with a minimum of fuss. Bumps in the middle of the corner will unsettle you a little, but the slightly soft rear suspension on the test bike soaked up all but major corrugations.

I’ve often been concerned for the durability of an engine that spins at revolutions similar to that of a slow turbocharger, but, I am reliably informed of a CBR250RR at Singleton with 87,000k’s on the clock and still in great shape. The idea of a small capacity engine screaming it’s lungs out at up to 19,000rpm does seem very daunting though. However, by comparing the Suzuki 1200 Bandit (which has a redline of 11,000rpm) at 10,000rpm where the piston is travelling at 590 metres per minute, to that of the CBR250 where the piston is travelling at a mere 338 metres per minute for the same revolutions, it is possible to place these perceived high revs in their correct context. Therefore, with the advances in bearing and oil technology that we have today, there is no reason why the 250RR shouldn’t achieve the sorts of mileage expected from the 600’s or 1000’s. Gear driven cams will keep the Japanese screamer from getting rattley with age and also keep the engine in tune for greater periods of time.

I found the rider’s seat comfortable considering that it didn’t appear to have a lot of padding, and the riding position wasn’t cramped for my 183cm (6 foot) frame. Dave Sutherland, my 165cm crash test dummy, also found the seat height to his liking. I was chatting with an ex-racer regarding the comfort of the bike over very long distances, and he informed me that he knows of two fellows who rode them down to the GP races at Phillip Island and then up to Queensland. I certainly wouldn’t shirk at the idea of taking one for a flying visit to Mt. Panorama Bathurst and back (how about it Graeme?).

Good quality tyres cost around $300 a set, which is about the same price you’ll pay for just a rear tyre on one of the larger sports bikes. The costs of other items should also be highly competitive when compared to it’s larger siblings.

The fun factor with this pocket rocket is extremely high (on a 1 to 10 scale 9.9) and you can get to feel this every day as you travel to and from work or ride to and from the retirement village and race track.

Ah well, so much fun to have and so little time per day to do it all.

Test bike supplied by Graeme Morris Motorcycles 4 Cameron Street Broadmeadow, 49570674.

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