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Dropped off my flywheel and had a chat about doing the rets of the engine internals when I get to that point.

Put a different starter on it, overnight charged battery back in. Connected it up..brum brum all is good...Saved it from being set fire to...

I bench tested this starter before fitting it...Afterwards I bench tested the other two & they both spun up OK...

I think the combination of the rusty bolt & poss 53k's worth of corossion in the starter cable was just making it slow to turn over & thats done the batt.

The batts reading 14.8 when bike running so no issue with the charging...

MacV2 wrote: ↑Wed Feb 07, 2018 4:24 pm Put a different starter on it, overnight charged battery back in. Connected it up..brum brum all is good...Saved it from being set fire to...

I bench tested this starter before fitting it...Afterwards I bench tested the other two & they both spun up OK...

I think the combination of the rusty bolt & poss 53k's worth of corossion in the starter cable was just making it slow to turn over & thats done the batt.

The batts reading 14.8 when bike running so no issue with the charging...

Spinning with no load is easy, turning the engine over is much harder...

I've seen this in starter motors before

Check the brushes and brush springs.
If there's not a good connection they will spin but not under load.

So I've finally got mine on the road (yesterday, briefly) and it feels OK.

Today I sat my little kids on it and they seemed underwhelmed. Hard to impress little kids these days.

It got me to thinking: This forum and the FB page do seem to be full of people doing things to their bikes all the time. Have I bought a bike that needs constant attention, or are there lots of people out there riding Storms which just get on with it?

They don't need attention as a rule, but lots of us can't leave well enough alone.....

tony.mon wrote: ↑Wed Feb 07, 2018 10:39 pm They don't need attention as a rule, but lots of us can't leave well enough alone.....

That's good to hear. And I suppose that's the joy of an older bike isn't it, that you can actually do stuff to them. I was very guilty with my last two bikes (VFR1200s) of just riding them and giving them the occasional clean. There was very little you could do with them unless you are pretty handy and had a decent workshop to play in. I have a garden shed.

So I think it's maybe just being out of the habit of tinkering with them through necessity or for fun is making me a little nervous. Years back I had a CCM that constantly broke down and needed farting about with.

I think tony summed it up perfectly.

Reliable bike with lots of character, but it was built to a cost over 20yrs ago, so there are lots of things you can do to improve it or personalise it.
But also very easy to spend more on it than its worth to sell, although if you are keeping it a few yrs it's still a lot of bang for your buck

the problem with storms is, you dont have to work at them all the time but most of us like to work at them fixing things that arnt actually broken

fabiostar wrote: ↑Thu Feb 08, 2018 9:24 am the problem with storms is, you dont have to work at them all the time but most of us like to work at them fixing things that arnt actually broken

What he said

AMCQ46 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 08, 2018 1:35 am I think tony summed it up perfectly.

Reliable bike with lots of character, but it was built to a cost over 20yrs ago, so there are lots of things you can do to improve it or personalise it.
But also very easy to spend more on it than its worth to sell, although if you are keeping it a few yrs it's still a lot of bang for your buck

Looking at some on here that have been for sale I think I've ended up paying over the odds for one due to inadequate research/buying it on a whim. But that's fine.

Anyway. It's great to hear that reliability is generally as should be expected and I'm looking forward to getting a bit more hands-on again.

Just work through the list of recommended upgrades/mods on top of keeping the usual service itemsin fine fettle and the Storm will repay you with fun and reliability at the push of a button.

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=31345#p304638

wheels back from the powder coaters and new rubber fitted, set of metz M3s fitted for £140... do the job grand..

Chippieminton wrote: ↑Thu Feb 08, 2018 12:57 pm

Looking at some on here that have been for sale I think I've ended up paying over the odds for one due to inadequate research/buying it on a whim. But that's fine.

Anyway. It's great to hear that reliability is generally as should be expected and I'm looking forward to getting a bit more hands-on again.

I wouldnt worry mate, generally the gap between paying the "right" money and "too much" in the Firestorm world means a few hundred quid, not a few thousand....I did a little research before I bought mine but so I have been told on occasion I paid too much for mine still but ill use it for a few years and perhaps lose a few hundred quid on it, cheap riding in anyones book.

CCT and reg/rec aside , they seem to be as reliable as any other secondhand buy but much more enjoyable to ride and own than many other bikes of the era. you'll love it im sure.

i went mad and done this to my wheels