Staffordshire Honda Open Evening
Hello and welcome to staffer Honda we’re here for this evening’s open event and we’ve got a lot going on to get involved with we’ve got Road sensation Nathan Harrison and bsv Champion Tommy Bridewell here for Q&A session not only have we got some top Riders we’ve got some top motorcycles inside that
Building right now we’ve got Mike Hood’s 1966 World Championship winning RC 173 we’ve got the RCV road-going Moto GP bike but even more exciting than that for the first time in the UK inside that building right now we’ve got the 2024 CBR 600 RR and the all new fire bade
It’s really exciting and I can’t wait to get involved let’s go and take a Look hello yeah I’m Bob Sheldon from uh staff J here in STO content Newcastle under line and uh owner of Staff your Honda the Honda franchise brings um it it’s a it’s a company of a size that we’re we’re not used to and we’re still
A gasp with how big the product range is um and everything that Honda stands for and and brings with it the range is just incredible and it’s taken a little biger than you used to um but we’re getting there now yeah it brings all those learner Riders on board uh all the way
Up to the flagship Gold Wing range that we’ve got in the showroom now so fantastic Yeah we’re here this evening at Stafford J Honda opening evening and we’ve got some really special bikes here on show display tonight um I want to just a big thank you to Bob Heath for allowing us to have this machine with us this is another other than Mike Hood RC
173 um Championship machine from 1966 now Mike achieved six podiums six wins in 1966 on this incredible machine that not a lot of people have seen on a day today basis and like I said this hasn’t been out on show I think for probably 10 15 years so quite a nice
Special thing here for tonight and you know looking at the bike here now with the dealers and a couple of the people just looking at the intricacy of some of the machine building and the parts that it’s taken to do this going back to 1966 it’s pretty phenomenal bit of
Machinery here I mean it’s a 350 70 horsepower six-speed engine um we were just talking earlier about you know the throttle you’ve got to open it and close it it’s not like the conventional throttle where you open it and let go and it closes you’ve got to work it both
Ways um like I said it is a a real real nice piece of work and uh we’re very very privileged to have that here with us this evening so this is it the brand new CBR1000 rrr Fireblade SP and what a fantastic machine it really is now the
Fireblade has seen a few updates of the modern era but arguably none more and none more important than this one here now so as soon as you get on the bike the first thing you’re going to notice is how much more room you’ve got see what Hond realized in the R&D department
Is when a lot of people are buying this bike a lot of them are taking it on track and that’s evident in the super stock Championship from last year now what they’re doing is they’re changing a lot of basic parts to start with so they’re changing the clipons and putting
Lower clipons on uh they’re changing the rear sets putting higher rear sets on so Honda thought to ourselves well why are we having a half warehous with a standard road bike but that’s exactly what they’ve changed now don’t get me wrong you’re not going to get nt100
Levels of comfort this is still a full blooded super sports bike but what they have done to improve the ride of comfort is they pulled the bars up and they dropped the pegs down and what that done is it’s opened up that Rider triangle giving you so much more Comfort on the
Bike from the showroom now staying on board the bike and the flight deck if you like we can talk about the tech within this bike now we don’t have the keys for this bike to turn on this Dash and to show you it in full we’ll have to
Do that in a later video what we can do is tell you is something they’ve uh developed into this year for this bike is a really clever system now the Fireblade has always been fantastic as a bike that you can ride to a track day through your track day and then ride
Home and what we’ve done now is we’ve improved that so within this system we have as setting where you can actually measure your weight on the bike and set the bike up accordingly so what that opens up is that you can ride to the track day with the bike in the most
Comfortable setting for you arrive at the track hit a few buttons and you’re ready to go no preload setting no race sag you’re good to go have a fantastic day at brand or Donnington and when you finish you turn those settings back to basic and you ride home in Comfort
Visually the Fireblade has always been an attractive bike and it hasn’t changed much for this year with the addition of new winglets on the front which are increasing our down force and they’re also improving your by 10% and looking to the back of the bike we’ve still got that RCV inspired
Swinging arm giving us great control at the back end staying at the back we’ve got the acrophobic endc can now for this year it’s actually got a full liter more capacity and what that allows us to do is that at that mid-range rev it’s so much quieter keeping you on side with
Neighborhood watch which is vitally important but when you wind the power on on your track day it’s been noted by the R&D Department that this bike is the closest sounding to the world super bike that they’ve ever had engine wise on the Fireblade we’ve still got the Short
Stroke semic cam design which develops 25 brake horsepower that’s plenty for anyone but the engine has received a bit of ition this year more so on the throttle body Motors where now they work independently on two cylinders each the idea of this is that the bike can flip
Drop two cylinders or pick up two cylinders on Corner entry and Corner exit and the idea of that is it gives the the rider much greater control on putting that power down to the ground and making it usable this is a very emotional bike for me not this bike in
Particular but fire blades you see when I was growing up my dad worked at the local Honda dealership and on school holidays and some weekends me and my brother were going to the shop and help out emptying bins sweeping up that sort of thing but
One of the jobs was to dust and polish the bikes now this would always cause a bit of competition between me and my brother we’d always want to be with one bike we’d always make a beine straight towards one bike and it was always this
The Fire Blade we just wanted to be near this bikee it was phenomenal and now this bike in its 32nd year still makes me feel like a school boy I’m itching to get a duster and some Polish and just spend some time with it so this is much
More than a bike to me this is memories of summer holidays spent with my dad in the bike shop learning the industry that we’re all so privileged to be a part of and motorcycles have the ability to stir emotion inside of us like nothing else
And for me nothing hits a spot like a fire Blow it I think everything just coming together um motivation Fitness um confidence and yeah uh I laed I think it was like nearly a second quicker than I have done previous on just me my dad and my brother and didn’t even change anything on the bike so I can’t wait to
Get going on the 2024 B the team have been sending me pictures and sneak P they don’t show me the whole thing they just show me little Snippets of it just teasing me um but yeah know I really can’t wait to get going only a couple of
Weeks to go and like you say hopefully everyone’s hard work will pay off it it’s really it’s really difficult for us because Nathan’s dad who’s very involved in everything that he does with the racing is called deedon right so he called Dean Harrison we got a racer
Called Dean Harrison we are going to get that wrong a lot I think this year so U no well good luck Nate and um great to have you here thank you for coming all the way over from the ISA man today really brilliant to have you here in Staffordshire thank you thanks to
Everybody else for having [Applause] Here now Tommy you know there’s been a lot of said about why is Tommy to come to Honda now and you know all the what’s his motivation hopefully you know he’s given you a good indication on that and it isn’t the money I can I can assure
You of that cuz I have to write his checks out um but clearly there’s a great cudos if you can uh defend your Championship on a different manufacturer and and you’ve obviously you we’re very lucky and we’re very privileged that you’re going to ride the uh number one
Next year which is also a big decision and obviously there’s a lot of history with that yeah exactly I’ve ran uh number 46 um everyone said says because I’m a Valentina Rossy fan and yes Valentina Rossy is number 46 um the story The the short story behind it is
The first ever race me and my brother did was you go and sign on um and what whoever’s signed on before you it just happened that ole was number 46 and I was number 47 so obviously after ‘s passing I decided to take the 46 um but
For me it felt right to I’ve always honored uh en rased in my brother’s honor um under under his number under everything I do but what better way for me to finally put the number one on it and go right you know just just for one year
I want to defend the championship but in back to 2025 if all goes to plan um I’ll go back to I’d like to go back to number 46 so that that’s the plan but um yeah it’s all it’s all aligning all aligning really well and and half um both these
Guys are going to be on the bikes as I think you mentioned very soon so tell us a we’ got two bikes here obviously the that’s the the new Fireblade 24 year model Fireblade and and the 600 is back and again you’ve you’ve uh had a lot of
Experience racing this bike lot of success with this bike um what have we got in store for these guys next week when they finally get on them so with the with the 600 as you said NE yeah that’s come back we’re bringing that back in you’ve got that uh for sale I
Think it’s what 10 49 or something on the road which is available all very good retailers in Staffordshire well this one actually which is an unbelievable price um for such a such a machine but we’ve been working with Japan with the Next Generation rules for Super Sport so what we’ve been trying to
Do is help them develop the package if you like for uh it’s called Next Generation super SW and that’s what we’re planning to run this machine in in our uh Championship with Jack Kennedy and also with uh Nathan and Dean on the roads good well and and Tom Tommy’s got
To come with us next week to launch the 600 and the Fireblade to the UK press so any of you read you know MCN or or any of those great Publications you’ll see that quite soon coming out probably either next week week after next but Tommy you did say you’re a bit worried
About riding the 600 didn’t you yeah to be honest there’s a a lot of people in this room that would be able to beat me on this bike for deite um I’ve spent my whole career on a thousand uh I jumped on a 600 a couple of years ago and I was
Just embarrassingly useless on it um he didn’t tell me this before he signed way exactly yeah got pen to paper first but no don’t worry I’m all on this one they’re just such a unique like people like Jack and and all these guys are so good at on them because you car they’re
Just such a different way riding so I rely on horsepower um and grunt from from what the th CC gives me so yeah I’ll uh I’ll I’ll stick stick with this one that’s uh get you out of trouble bike well we we’ll keep the the lights
On it we keep the hazard warning lights on it when you go around hopefully that’ll keep you keep you clear no that’s good we we we we’re looking forward to that and um Tommy you know how do you feel Nathan’s obviously going to be racing at the Northwest 200 he’s
Going to be at the TT um has that ever has that ever appealed to you and you you have got to read the small print in your contract by the way cuz yeah you’re you’re you’re you’re you’re going down bra Christ yeah no uh this this lad on on my right
Is I class a bloody lunatic but um it it’s it’s what they do you know it’s what they do for for for for everyone here would look and think what I do on short circuits you’re you’re mad whereas I look at this guy and think he’s absolutely mad but um it’s it’s weird
Because I will drive my car um at 70 mil an hour officer now I drive my car it let’s say um 100 mph let’s say um on a close circuit on a close Road um and it I it’ll feel fast to me whereas I jump
On a motorbike and do 200 mph and it doesn’t feel fast it just doesn’t I don’t get on it and think Bloody hour this is quick so when I go to the AL man or I go to the Northwest and I watch you know likees to John likees to Nathan
Like all of these guys I literally am in a because it’s just mad absolute Madness but they they have the the skill to do I’ve always found it fascinating how anyone can remember a 37 mile mile long circuit I struggle for one lap of Brand’s ACH let alone 37 miles so um
Yeah I got a memory like a Civ so I I’ll stick to the short circuits so so are you mad uh nice or or what well I was thinking that I’d love to ride around BR hatch as quick as he can um but yeah yeah no um no it’s just I think it’s
What you grew up like what what you want to do in life isn’t it like when being from the all man born into it I didn’t want to be like a motor GP Champion I just want to win a TT um whereas like like satamy and stuff they have
Different interests when they come out you’re right next to a short circuit I’ve got jby which is like an Airfield you know what I mean and um when I finish school you have like guy Mar and John coming in doing assemblies and stuff like that and you just think I
Want to be him and you’ve got an opportunity to be him when you’re on the AL man and you’re involved in bikes so um I think the terms of being mad I think we I just don’t really see it um it’s just what you we see it a little
Bit um but but it it the point is it is incredibly skilled isn’t it the point that you know Tommy’s making you’ve got to memorize 37.73 miles yeah definitely um and like you say I think being from the AL man I think that does actually help that because obviously I’ve got
Local knowledge and stuff like that but then know isn’t as hard as a few streets I say that I didn’t get around one of the corners um but um yeah no the I think being from the AL man but yeah you have to put a
Lot more effort in than you do going to like BR hatch or Donnington park because you can go around there a few Laps on a track day and you know where you’re going don’t you where is the TT the first time you get to physically go down
You can go around in the car at 30 m hour and then soon as you go down there at 160 mph the thing’s completely different and um the first time you get to experience that is the first time the first practice of the first night isn’t
It so um yeah it it is different but it’s good I mean if if you if you I’m sure lot of you in the room have been to either the northwest or or the TT but if you do get a chance um I would really really recommend it it’s just the most
Incredible spectacle the TT is really where Honda started uh you know in 19 well late late 50s Mr Honda himself was made this made this promise that he’d win win the TT um and they won it very soon after that and they never really looked back so bikes a little bit like
That one you know um are part of Honda is Heritage with the island and as you know um Nathan you know coming from the island it is it’s like Honda Island isn’t it for for for the for the month that that it’s on so yeah we we can’t wait to get over This
We Joined the team at Staffordshire Honda for their open evening with a few special bikes and Q&A from the BSB team.
