At last, a Firestorm owner!

[Stew1000]

Hello everyone - finally found a beautiful 2001 - bigger tank! - model in in Pearl Flash yellow and rode it home on Friday.

Even in the short ride home, I can tell this is a keeper. Amazing torque and even more than it was cracked up to be.

Now, I am not the best mechanically, so may be asking some very stupid questions in the next year or two, so bear with me!

Couple of questions already- I might invest in a belly pan and get it on it for season - is the Pyramid one a good colour match? It says Pearl Flash yellow on their site, but just wondered if anyone can vouch for them - quality looks great tho.

Also, one thing that did worry me for a bike only having covered 13k miles was that the clutch is almost fully out before engaging. Is that normal for the Firestorm - or is it about to pack in! Would changing fluid help? ( See, told you I hadn't a clue.)

Thanks!

Stew

[tony.mon]

The clutch is self adjusting but is not easy to bleed, so perhaps the previous owner didn't get that right.

[sirch345]

Welcome aboard Stew

Regarding the clutch, as Tony suggested worth bleeding it just to make sure there is no air in the system.

As for the belly-pan, the yellow paint on these bikes are very difficult to match, so I doubt the one from Pyramid Plastics will match your motorcycle colour. Not wishing to put you off getting one, just making you aware as you did ask

Chris.

[Kev L]

Well done. Welcome to the club

[Stew1000]

Brilliant - thanks chaps, replies much appreciated! I've ordered some clutch fluid from fleabay and will have a go at bleeding clutch and changing fluid at the weekend - with chum who does know what he is really doing overseeing entire operation!

Belly pan might have to be bought unpainted then - aforementioned chum who also had a Fire Storm got his rear cowl painted at a place in East Kilbride - I can find out name if anyone needs a good body shop up here - and they did a great job at a great price, so that might be best bet for colour match then. Powerbronze one does look good as well, just found some photos of that tonight, so might have a hunt for one of those, like the way it fits close to upper fairing.

Must get a photo up when it's done. Just wish it was better weather...torture looking at a new bike knowing I'm a month away at least form giving it some welly! ( fair weather man, me!)

Cheers

Stew

[alanfjones1411]

Hello and welcome to the forum Take a look at the ride out section as they have a meet up in Scotland in August.

[tony.mon]

When bleeding the clutch, even after the fluid runs clear and there are no bubbles, just keep going and the clutch will operate properly. It takes me about 20 minutes to get it right.

The usual reason why it needs doing us because a po has taken the clutch slave off without removing the clutch lever first, this allows air into the slave cylinder as a spring extends the piston out past the seal.
Removing the clutch lever stops this happening.

Personally, I just put a cable tie round the slave to hold the piston in, but others prefer to remove the clutch lever.

[Stew1000]

Thanks Alan- will definitely check that ride out - and Tony, that's great advice, will be having a go at that at the weekend, think I'll follow your lead and get a cable tie. Will let you know how it goes - and what a brilliant forum this is, feel quite overwhelmed lol!

[sirch345]

Brilliant - thanks chaps, replies much appreciated! I've ordered some clutch fluid from fleabay and will have a go at bleeding clutch and changing fluid at the weekend - with chum who does know what he is really doing overseeing entire operation!

Belly pan might have to be bought unpainted then - aforementioned chum who also had a Fire Storm got his rear cowl painted at a place in East Kilbride - I can find out name if anyone needs a good body shop up here - and they did a great job at a great price, so that might be best bet for colour match then. Powerbronze one does look good as well, just found some photos of that tonight, so might have a hunt for one of those, like the way it fits close to upper fairing.

Must get a photo up when it's done. Just wish it was better weather...torture looking at a new bike knowing I'm a month away at least form giving it some welly! ( fair weather man, me!)

Cheers

Stew

You might be better off getting one painted in a different colour, something that compliments the yellow. A very good friend of mine spray painted his lower fairing in gun-metal grey similar to the early engine cases, that worked quite well IMHO,

Chris.

[Stew1000]

Thanks Chris- that's a thought, for sure - just bought a second hand yellow one today by complete chance! One came up on ebay - we'll see what it looks like but I definitely have my reservations on colour match,

And my first mechanical misunderstanding appears already....! Get what you mean now Tony, just bleed the bloody thing for 20 minutes, no slave cylinder carry on, I think you mean the actual reason it is like it is and not engaging until lever is nearly fully out is because someone has removed slave wrongly before and a lot of air has entered system, so if I am not touching that, I just get stuck in and bleed clutch as per usual? Hope so!

[lloydie]

hello and welcome . re bleeding the clutch I've found it easier back bleeding it with a large syringe but removing the air from the syringe first via filling it up and capping it off , holding it vertical and pulling on the plunger to create a vacuum you'll see air bubble inside and tapping it to release them .
keep doing that till all bubbles are gone . its a little trick i found when doing my push bike brakes and works really well .

[Nosepicker]

Hi and welcome

[tony.mon]

Thanks Chris- that's a thought, for sure - just bought a second hand yellow one today by complete chance! One came up on ebay - we'll see what it looks like but I definitely have my reservations on colour match,

And my first mechanical misunderstanding appears already....! Get what you mean now Tony, just bleed the bloody thing for 20 minutes, no slave cylinder carry on, I think you mean the actual reason it is like it is and not engaging until lever is nearly fully out is because someone has removed slave wrongly before and a lot of air has entered system, so if I am not touching that, I just get stuck in and bleed clutch as per usual? Hope so!

That's correct, you don't remove the slave to bleed it, just a pint of fresh fluid and keep bleeding.

[Stew1000]

Thanks for welcoming words and suggestions chaps, will take on board, much appreciated!

Now, I have been looking at belly pans until I am blue in the face - keep looking at Pyramid, now looking at P&P one from a firm in Dorset that probably a lot of you have heard of and then a Powerbronze - so I am thinking, right it's between these three - , now found this photo somewhere on here and I think it looks the business! Does anyone know what it is and where you get them?!
This bike is becoming an obsession...!

[lloydie]

yeti has the moulds for that set might be worth contacting him to see if he still making them