To this day, over two decades later, it all seems a bit mad.
Motorcycle makers – or at least some of them – were locked in this power race for the bragging rights attached to having the world’s fastest production motorcycle.
In 1996, for the 1997 model year, Honda snatched the gong with its CBR1100XX, aka the Super Blackbird.
It could claim a legitimate 290km/h top speed, a little quicker than Kawasaki’s reigning ZZ-R1100. A couple of years later, Suzuki wandered in and trounced the lot of them with the GSX1300R Hayabusa.
Never mind the power race, there was something else going on: The Blackbird marked a significant step in the progression of the sophistication of big performance motorcycles. Perhaps greater than we realised when they were first launched.
In the engine room, you scored a 16-valve liquid-cooled four fed by a bank of 42mm CV carbs. Those carburettors were replaced with the firm’s in-house injection for the second-gen bike, in 1999. Meanwhile the transmission was a six-speeder with an hydraulically-actuated wet clutch.
That lot added up to compelling if not revolutionary stats: 164 horses (112kW) for a dry weight of 223kg. Plenty of urge in a package that was pretty trim, given it was in fact a reasonably civilised two-seater.
With revs on board, in carburettor or injected form, this is a fast and ultra-smooth powerplant that seems to keep on giving right the way through to its 10,000rpm peak power point. In fact, tied with capable suspension running very much road rather than track rates, this is a deceptively quick motorcycle. It’s all too easy to hop on and very soon discover you’re travelling a whole lot quicker than intended.
Of the three editions, the first will long-term be the most collectible, while the second is my pick as a ride – ultra-well sorted, still with full power, and a traditional analogue dash.
Those of you with an interest in aviation will spot the bike has styling cues taken from its namesake, the record-breaking Lockheed SR-71 spy plane.
The Super Blackbird was a landmark model for the brand and has the huge advantage of a sexy name with a good derivation. Late-nineties motorcycles aren’t generally on the radar of collectors just yet, but they will get there. In the meantime you’d have something that is a truly good ride.
