VTR1000.ORG

Hi folks just got back into the bike scene after a long time in cars. So went for a clean 2000 Firestorm with 9000 miles on the clock.
Bloody hell these things are like *hit of a shovel what have I been missing for the last 30 years?

Just love this bike, looks great, sounds awesome, handles well and best of all ITS FUN
Now down to business, have read a lot about its 2 main faults. Rectifier is a no brainer, just change it out. Not so sure about the cct’s, what’s best leave it as it is, fit new auto ones with stops or go for manuals?
Any other advice, hints or tips about the bike will be much appreciated. Off out on the bike now as the sun has just popped out, feel the need to exercise my right wrist (keep yer mucky thoughts to yerself).

Dunc

Greetings

Not so sure about the cct’s, what’s best leave it as it is, fit new auto ones with stops or go for manuals?

up to you - only problem I see with stopper mod is that you'll need to change em again when they fail, but they are cheap to begin with.

As for manuals here's an overview of your options...

http://www.vtr1000.org/phpBB3/viewtopic ... 16&t=22720

Any other advice, hints or tips about the bike will be much appreciated.

Check out the workshop knowledgebase section of the forum for an overview of all things storm mechanically related.

Plus bung some epics of your storm beastie up and put your location in your forum profile to see if any other storm owner lives locally to ya.

Welcome Dunc

- Your avatar scares the sh1t out of me - tell us you don't really look like that?

- CCTs are a serious issue, as they can go at any mileage and failure can be fatal to your motor. Read through the huge number of posts in here on the subject and make your mind up as to the 'stopper mod' a fail-safe feature using the original CCT, or go for replacement manually adjusted ones. Most people opt for manuals. However if funds and bike down time are an issue (and you want to ride now while we've still got a few good days left) you could do worse than do the stopper mod and save up for manuals and do them in the depths of winter. This is the route I've gone. Ok you get to do the work twice, but it's easy and a good intro to the motor. Whatever, but don't leave them to chance.

Enjoy

welcome, great bike to get back into the swing of things but take it easy as they can be a big old girl to control when you get it slightly wrong.

regarding the CCT's, no mater what age / milage my recomendation is the same.............just fit the stoppers to the CCTs already fitted and then ride it and forget about CCTs. cost = zero ......cost saved = £600.

hello and welcome to the forum dude...........

cost saved = £600

If your valves go crashing due to a failure not manual ccts

Welcome to the forum. V Twins are fun. Your avatar freaked me out as well at first.



(:-})

Welcome and hello :-)

Welcome aboard buddy

Welcome aboard matey

Hi there & welcome. You have it in a nutshell rectifier on pre 2001 models then its up to personal preference as to Stopper mod or Manuals. personally I prefer the manuals as they look the business, but they both work just fine. For the stopper mod speak to Bazza he makes them.

Greetings

cybercarl wrote:

cost saved = £600

If your valves go crashing due to a failure not manual ccts

Welcome to the forum. V Twins are fun. Your avatar freaked me out as well at first.



(:-})

Welcome Dunc or is it Dim ?

The reason the avatar scared Carl is because he thought he was looking in a mirror !

Welcome Dunc.

Just think of CCT mod as insurance.

I've had my bike since new - 10 years and 25K miles on original rectifier and CCT's. Lots of people have had failures at much less miles than that. Maybe luck or riding style but then again I've read that using engine braking is hard on CCT's and I use it all the time. I changed my front pads for the first time at about 23K and they still had plenty of life left as I use engine braking all the time.

Recently changed my rectifier for a CB125 finned one. Original was still fine.

Will be doing the CCT stopper mod soon. Opinion is divided about stopper mod or manuals, personally I prefer to let the tensioner do it's work and move about as required and it will never need to be adjusted. If it does fail then you will have to replace it but no damage will be done

It's worth it for peace of mind. It's generally a very reliable bike but for very little money you can get it sorted and know that the two biggest problems with the bike (failure wise) can then be forgotten.

My bike has let me down once. I stopped at a chippy on the way home from work and when I came out it was dead. Battery had died and it was only 7 years old

Dimdunc wrote: Any other advice, hints or tips about the bike will be much appreciated.

Dunc

Welcome aboard Dunc

Any work involving CCT removal make sure you set up the valve timing properly first, see link:- http://www.vtr1000.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=8326

One other very important thing is the swingarm and linkage bearings maintenance, which is quite often overlooked. Have a look here:- http://www.vtr1000.org/phpBB3/viewtopic ... 31&t=11809

Chris.