This Stunning Freddie Spencer Tribute Started Life as an ‘07 Fireblade
The custom bike maker RindPerformance has turned a 2007 Honda Fireblade SC52 into a homage to ‘Fast’ Freddie Spencer and his NS500
This might just be the ultimate restomod, as the team at RindPerformance has transformed a Honda Fireblade into a gorgeous NS500 Freddie Spencer tribute.
The bike, simply called the ‘Freddie Blade’, started life as a standard 2007 Fireblade, although, unless you dug beneath the beautiful custom bodywork, you’d be hard pressed to tell! And it’s not just been clothed in the svelte curves of one of Honda’s most interesting race bikes, it’s had a thorough revamp beneath the skin.
For starters, a new subframe was constructed for the bike, not just to carry the new custom tail unit, but also to help support the bespoke underseat exhaust. It also features a slightly longer swingarm than stock and has a trick MotoGP-style ride height adjuster for the front end. Other changes come in the form of a smaller water cooler, custom-made side panels, PVM wheels, shod with Michelin Power Cup 2 hoops, and a Power Commander and quickshifter.
Where the Freddie Blade differs widely from the NS500, though, is in the engine performance department. While the two-stroke V3, which claimed the 1983 world title for Honda and Spencer, made 130bhp at a heady 11,000rpm, the bike created by RindPerformance makes a claimed 170bhp.
The NS500 was introduced as a replacement for the innovative, but ultimately unsuccessful, oval-piston NR500. It only raced for a single season (1982 to 1983) before it made way for the V4 two-stroke NSR500. The NSR had a much longer and more successful lifespan, staying in production from 1984 to 2002, and claiming championship crowns for big names like Eddie Lawson, Mick Doohan, Valentino Rossi and Freddie Spencer.
Explaining the build on social media, RindPerformance said:
“As a huge fan of the golden era of 2-strokes, I set out to bring back that unmistakable ’80s race bike spirit -deep rear fairings, underseat exhausts, wide front fairing—the whole vibe. But I wanted to do it on a modern, street-legal supersport platform.
“The SC57 made the perfect base: classic Honda engineering, a stock underseat exhaust, and a raw, mechanical character that fit the vision perfectly. In short, I’ve built myself an NS500 for the streets.”
You can check out the bike for yourself over on Rind’s Instagram channel.
Images, RindPerformance.
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Simon (AKA Toad) has been working within the motorcycle industry for more than twelve years, and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth. Growing up around British-built single and twins, it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards, from a very early age!
