"Don't they explode all the time & fuel tank like a fizzy?"

[fourelms]

VTR's, quite misunderstood at times.

Had an interesting chat with a bike mad customer about VTR's and he commented on how they are "a grenade with the pin pulled" regarding CTT's. I did comment that there are more out there that haven't self destructed yet, yes its prudent to do, that a pair of CTT's is all that is needed and from little I know the rest of the engine is bombproof, maybe the rectifiers with Honda's.

Also, he said "don't they have a fuel tank the size of a egg cup?"....well I think 16l actually aint far off what most of my sports bike have had in the past and it's a real world useable figure, why tug fuel around that you aint gonna need, weight is the killer and fuel is located in a not too favorable position.

......my SRAD's have/had 18 litre tanks but I could never get the last 2 litres in anyway unless I wanted to BBQ my knackers, my GSXR-750WN oil-boiler holds a ridiculous 21 litres but I would never fill that, no never, that's around 4Olbs up top and who wants to ride for more than hour on one of those without having surgery to extract limbs. R1's are 18 litres, Aprilia Mille 17l, SV-1000 17l, Fireblade 18l, Duke 749 15.5l......and none of these old tubs have the fuel economy of a Honda Cub, I can get 25mpg from my 600-SRAD.
So the old chestnut of VTR's having a tank smaller than mini-moto is a bit churlish I think. I should add I never tour on bikes, mainly track days, the odd bit of roadwork but then if I wanted to go touring I'd buy a big trailey what with the state of the roads.

We were talking about the power of the internet and its 'potential for exponential rumour mungering'.

This lead on to the, "well a couple of CTT's isn't as a bad as":

Hinckley Triumphs and their appetite for starter sprag clutches....remove engine and split cases.....now that's gota hurt

Aprilia starter sprag clutches....spendy parts and lots of labour and special tools

Yamaha Virago series sprag clutches...spendy parts

Kawasaki 4 pot head gaskets....ouch

Kawasaki 4 pots dropping 2nd gear...big spendy

Yamaha R1 gearboxs...big spendy

Yamaha R6 cracked blocks and gearboxes...big hmm spendy

Yamaha oil consumption on 4 pots...you live with it

BMW oil head boxers....head gaskets and porous heads...spendy

Benelli Tornado (my dream bike ) erm where do you start?

Beta/Gas Gas/Sherco/SWM/TLR/Fantic/Bultaco/Montesa/Ossa/Armstrong....well any trials bike clutch, are all crap, stick like Barnacles and drag like a plough...we both do trials I should add

I think only Suzuki got away with any big wallet busting issues, the 'delicate' finish excepted.

Anymore "they all do that" come to mind?

[fourelms]

ohh I forgot

Any Honda cam chain tensioner

[popkat]

CCT NOT CTT


All bikes have thing they suffer with, the firestorm has a few but less than some, the trouble is people don't know the damage a failed CCT can do to the engine, CCT's can fail on all bikes* but for example on an IL4 it's unlikely to cause major damage unless flat out at the time, the tend to rattle at first giving plenty of notice and then when they do they are more simple to change.
*my VFR750's will never have CCT failure Honda got it right on that


GSXR750 SRAD models were prone to high speed CCT failure which could do much damage.
GSXR750WN, crank failure, it will happen, probably already has.



.

[sirch345]

Well said Fourelms
At the end of the day a Firestorm is a lot of bike for the money.

Honda Fireblade's that drink oil is another one for your list, although I understand it was only certain years that had this problem,

Chris.

[Mav617]

Any 5 valve head Yamaha like a TRX850 or FZR600/1000 - use mucho oil - a litre every couple of thousand miles is not unknown....

Honda CB250RS (lovely, light, not slow) rotting fuel tanks and rusty exhausts....

Yamaha RD250/350LC - so easy to ride faster than you thought was possible - they often were and ended up in hedges, ditches, oncoming Mini Metros etc....

Suzuki - mainly biodegradable, but tempted by a SV1000 before I decided to get another 'Storm

Kawasaki - either loony tunes or boring, other than the ZX9R

[bigtwinthing]

i had a lovely ZX9 it was just faster than my eyes were somebody had done bits to the engine only, i went like fook, but the brakes, triple pots but butt were nor good and always felt wooden. it used to blow my mates R1 away. it had had head work and carb stuff done and other bits. the suspension was bad too. but, it was great. it had been dyno,ed at 139 at the back wheel.

[bigtwinthing]

here it is

[alanfjones1411]

I used to have a ZX9 b4 with the big bore kit fitted taking it to 986cc.Great bike but not as light as the later models C's and onwards.Still prefer my firestorm though.

[VTRDark]

here it is

Dont let Lloydie see that he will get a hard on. Looks cut out and put on a diffrent background that pic, or is it doing a little wheelie. What's the delivery in the big box.

[Mav617]

here it is

Yep, they are lovely and if I wanted an il4 that's what I'd have for sure.

[Wicky]

Almost got one in 2001 from Parkies the local Kwacka dealers - but eye was distracted by red Firestorm and the rest is history...

[bigtwinthing]

here it is

Dont let Lloydie see that he will get a hard on. Looks cut out and put on a diffrent background that pic, or is it doing a little wheelie. What's the delivery in the big box.

thats an actual picky, no photoshop crap, i aint that good on a comp

[bigtwinthing]

it was a minter but fecking mad.

[freeridenick]

Well said Fourelms
At the end of the day a Firestorm is a lot of bike for the money.

Chris.

True enough. Mine stick with much newer machines today. Admittedly I'm in the novice group but not much got past me except some guys who should have been in inters and a ZZR1400.

I think Popkat's said this before but the handling is where the Firestorm wins. Bloody great mid-corner.

[bigtwinthing]

you should see Poppers on an old VFR 750.