My first VTR and How I May Have Made a Big Mistake...

[eatpasta]

I actually had the chance to take this thing on a proper ride last week, before the baby came.

Put about 250 miles on it for the afternoon through some great roads around here - MAN this thing has some legs on it.

I was really wondering what it must have been like to ride in the late 90's as by todays standards it's still an incredibly exciting bike to ride. I can only imagine what it was like to ride 20 years ago.

I'm not really a sportbike guy and Im VERY used to my Speed Triple so it took a while to get used to the handling. I have read up tons about the chassis and how it's strange aboot tires but it seems to handle fine all the same.

My only real objection is that the front brake is soft, even after bleeding the crap out of the system - which is something I need to address for sure. The maintenance needed to be done anyways. Next is coolant flush, hoping to find a bubble in the system to get it to run cooler.

I do see what everyone is saying about rage though. You gas up and the gauge is at half full in what seems like minutes. I think I got gas four times in 250 miles as I wasnt sure what its real range is.

Over all I really like the bike. It needs a little attention for sure but nothing huge.

Getting the renthal, dirt bike grips off will be nice as my progrips finally arrived.

[sirch345]

Thanks for the info, I've never seen it before so excuse my stupidity!! Maybe 'eatpasta' you could buy one of the European tail lights with the tag light built in?

That is exactly what I did. Found one on UK ebay (took months to arrive). With the Storm tail light and hacking off the ugly square fender the rear end cleaned up quite a bit.

Care to post a before and after pic for me?

Puhleez?

and sorry for being absent, all. I have a 6 day old baby at home



Untitled

No wonder you've not had any time to get on here

Congratulations to you both on your new arrival

Chris.

[AMCQ46]

Congratulations on the newest addition to the forum

[eatpasta]

Hey thanks guys!

It will be interesting to see whether or not my daughter will be into the whole bike thing or not.

It will be interesting to see what kind of person she is as she gets bigger...

ok just trying daughter is strange. Diaper changes are even weirder btw

[Kev L]

Congratulations on the new arrival fella.
I managed to get my Son and Daughter into bikes, daughter still has a CBR600RR7. Just working on the Granddaughters now!

[eatpasta]

Congratulations on the new arrival fella.
I managed to get my Son and Daughter into bikes, daughter still has a CBR600RR7. Just working on the Granddaughters now!

Just the idea of being a grandparent....

[alanfjones1411]

Congratulations on the new arrival fella.
I managed to get my Son and Daughter into bikes, daughter still has a CBR600RR7. Just working on the Granddaughters now!

Just the idea of being a grandparent....

It's great fun being a grandad,i have 7 grandsons and two grand daughters.They think i am a cool grandad still riding a 1000cc motorbike at 70 years old.Cue Kevl or Mac.

[Solarboy]

Thanks for the info, I've never seen it before so excuse my stupidity!! Maybe 'eatpasta' you could buy one of the European tail lights with the tag light built in?

That is exactly what I did. Found one on UK ebay (took months to arrive). With the Storm tail light and hacking off the ugly square fender the rear end cleaned up quite a bit.

Care to post a before and after pic for me?

Puhleez?

and sorry for being absent, all. I have a 6 day old baby at home



Untitled

Congratulation Man, you must be so proud. Reading some of the posts after, I've not had the pleasure of being a grandad but having two young ones of my own I know how much fun and pain they can be. All worth it though.
Reading one of you other posts, I had a storm in 98. I used to love opening the garage door and starting it up with the ART cans on, makes me smile even now. There really is something about a Firestorm that bring out the best in us.

[eatpasta]

That is exactly what I did. Found one on UK ebay (took months to arrive). With the Storm tail light and hacking off the ugly square fender the rear end cleaned up quite a bit.

Care to post a before and after pic for me?

Puhleez?

and sorry for being absent, all. I have a 6 day old baby at home



Untitled

Congratulation Man, you must be so proud. Reading some of the posts after, I've not had the pleasure of being a grandad but having two young ones of my own I know how much fun and pain they can be. All worth it though.
Reading one of you other posts, I had a storm in 98. I used to love opening the garage door and starting it up with the ART cans on, makes me smile even now. There really is something about a Firestorm that bring out the best in us.

Ohh yeah - tough but worth it for sure. I spent the morning with my 4 year old son at the zoo and he and I are just best friends. Its an amazing feeling when all the cylinders are firing.

[Kev L]

They grow up in the blink of an eye, and in doing so your life accelerates away from you. The good thing is that Grandchildren can have your full attention as they tend to arrive at a stage of your life where you are more time wealthy. Nothing better than taking them for a ride on the bus to feed the ducks and then a spell in the swings followed by emptying Grandads wallet in the local toy/sweet shop. Every day with them is a blessing and takes some of the childcare stresses from my girl.
Oi Al you old git. There you go mate, didn't want to let you down!

[alanfjones1411]

They grow up in the blink of an eye, and in doing so your life accelerates away from you. The good thing is that Grandchildren can have your full attention as they tend to arrive at a stage of your life where you are more time wealthy. Nothing better than taking them for a ride on the bus to feed the ducks and then a spell in the swings followed by emptying Grandads wallet in the local toy/sweet shop. Every day with them is a blessing and takes some of the childcare stresses from my girl.
Oi Al you old git. There you go mate, didn't want to let you down!

I new you wouldn't let me down. The other one's a bit late.

[eatpasta]

They grow up in the blink of an eye, and in doing so your life accelerates away from you. The good thing is that Grandchildren can have your full attention as they tend to arrive at a stage of your life where you are more time wealthy. Nothing better than taking them for a ride on the bus to feed the ducks and then a spell in the swings followed by emptying Grandads wallet in the local toy/sweet shop. Every day with them is a blessing and takes some of the childcare stresses from my girl.
Oi Al you old git. There you go mate, didn't want to let you down!

and yes every day seems to go a little faster.

Whats the saying? Long days, short months?

[eatpasta]

Got my Progrip's - as recommended by board members.

Need to get them installed... which shouldnt take too many minutes. I dont think it will even be a beers' worth of effort.

Going to take a slow ride with a mate of mine that is good enough to help me out by taking my CB400F out for a ride every now and then with me.

[eatpasta]

So i got the Progrips on yesterday. The geniuses glued the crap out of the old grips so I had to cut them off and clean.

The Progrips went on easy with compressed air



Im still leaking coolant though - I think it may have been because I topped off the resivour to see if it would burp the system, if I was running it with the radiator cap off...

The weird part that makes me a little nervous is that the fluid isnt coming out the overflow - its just running down the motor

[url=https://flic.kr/p/XPjDz1]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/XPjDBf]

you can see here on the left side of the bike, the block is wet and teh coolant drips to the ground from the actual motor

[url=https://flic.kr/p/X9yk3b][url=https://flic.kr/p/X9yk3b]

On the freeway it runs at about 180. in town its usually between 200 and 215..... that still seems awfully hot....

[agentpineapple]

I had a similar fluid leak, took ages to find it, I even ran my bike without the fuel tank and airbox to see if I could see the leak, as it was coming from the top of the engine.
in the end a friend found it, on the underside of the carbs, i'll ask him exactly what it was because I've already forgotten doh!!!