VTR Firestorms - are they any good?

[CHIEF]

Crikey these are getting cheap now, loads for under 2k.

Seem a very competant road bike that seems to do everything. A guy up the road from me has one and god knows what he has fitted but it sounds like a Duke 996 with termi's - sounds awesome.

So anyone ridden or owned one. I dont need it to be some razor sharp sports bike just a quick all round road bike

What are they like?

Cheers

[y2blade]

ive not owned one but ridden a few yes very good no issues (its a honda) great engine...alot of fun to ride

100mile tank range was the only downside (but newer ones had a bigger tank though)

try and get a go on one...if you like it buy one

happy hunting


PS the black ones are quicker

got me looking at them now!
http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/bikesforsale/sea...

Edited by y2blade on Thursday 24th April 16:15

Edited by y2blade on Thursday 24th April 16:23

[Chilli]

A mate had one and she loved it. Never had a bad word to say, and she enjoyed a spirited ride.

[y2blade]

Chilli said:

A mate had one and she loved it. Never had a bad word to say, and she enjoyed a spirited ride.

a bit to much info



have you still got her number?

[RizzoTheRat]

Mate of mine's got one that he bought heavily damaged and repaired. It's since been down the road a few times and been used as a daily commuter for more than it's tank range (nutter) and my overriding impression of it is that it's very hard to kill. They vibrate a fair bit and are heavier and less powerfull than some of the competition, but it does the job and is cheaper.

[ChasMill]

Great bike - lots of torque, unburstable engine with a great noise (with Art end cans).

Downsides are tank range (as above post) and some reckon the forks are a bit spongy.

[black-k1]

Excellent bike for the money. Quick enough to ensure good fun on the road and has loads of character. Easy to ride both quickly and slowly (in town etc.) and comfortable enough that I’ve done several 500+ mile per day runs on mine. As stated, main problem is thirst/tank range. 100 miles was a realistic fill up range though that could be reduced to about 80 miles with heavy use of the right hand and increased to about 120 miles if ridden carefully. (Mine is a ’98 so had the smaller tank.) I’ve fitted a larger Harris tank to mine to address that problem but I know the 2000 on bikes had a slightly larger tank as standard.

The only other issue is that the suspension was pretty ‘budget’ but most have had the rear shocks replaced and a re-valve of the forks also works wonders.

[avaminit]

I work for Honda. Avoid the VTR like the plauge. Why do you think they stopped making them in 2003 despite the odd ones around on later plates.

They have terrible brakes and a front end like a pogo stick.
Crap on fuel and look pants to mention just a few defects.
I had one on demo @ work and hey, nobody wanted to try it. I braved it and it nearly had me off when riding quick. BOING BOING. Maybe I just expected it to be better. I parked it in the garage and took it back to work in the van some 2 weeks later.
Revolution Racing can mod the front end for about £150. So if you must then this is a must...

[slim_boy_fat]

avaminit said:

I work for Honda. Avoid the VTR like the plauge. Why do you think they stopped making them in 2003 despite the odd ones around on later plates.

They have terrible brakes and a front end like a pogo stick.
Crap on fuel and look pants to mention just a few defects.
I had one on demo @ work and hey, nobody wanted to try it. I braved it and it nearly had me off when riding quick. BOING BOING. Maybe I just expected it to be better. I parked it in the garage and took it back to work in the van some 2 weeks later.
Revolution Racing can mod the front end for about £150. So if you must then this is a must...

Ignor above clearly he knows the square route of fook all when it comes to the VTR.

Work for honda, what selling lawnmowers.

Chief you will read my post else where regarding them.

Edited by slim_boy_fat on Thursday 24th April 22:56

[black-k1]

avaminit said:

I work for Honda. Avoid the VTR like the plauge. Why do you think they stopped making them in 2003 despite the odd ones around on later plates.

'96 to 2003 - 8 years production with only 1 minor model review sounds like a pretty good run to me for a bike that is apparently so crap!!

[bean455]

Had a Suzuki TL 1000s then a Firestorm,loved them both,awesome wheelie machines,honda was a little softer to ride,a bit thirstier,but what a buzz.Buy either,but watch the occasional wheelie -tank slapper.

[odyssey2200]

avaminit said:

I work for Honda. Avoid the VTR like the plauge. Why do you think they stopped making them in 2003 despite the odd ones around on later plates.

They have terrible brakes and a front end like a pogo stick.
Crap on fuel and look pants to mention just a few defects.
I had one on demo @ work and hey, nobody wanted to try it. I braved it and it nearly had me off when riding quick. BOING BOING. Maybe I just expected it to be better. I parked it in the garage and took it back to work in the van some 2 weeks later.
Revolution Racing can mod the front end for about £150. So if you must then this is a must...

Glad to see you have so much faith in your employers products.

I suspect you do not work for Honda UK.

I did!

And I had a Firestorm and loved it.

Yes the tank range is not good especially when riden hard.
there are loads of bar stol heros who will say that the front end has problems but I never found it wanting , even when lapping the IOM.

I loved mine so much (one of the earlier ones with slightly more sporting riding position) that when I replaced it I bought the SP-1.

I would highly recommend one.
They are fast enough, easy to ride and comfortable.

IF I had a complaint it would be that road dirt get thrown off the front wheel straight on to the engine and it starts to look pitted and needs cleaning regularly.

[outlaw biker]

Police use 'em...can't be bad.

[WBC]

I had one for a couple of years and loved it. Not the fastest or best handling bike but to be honest who can extract all the performance from a bike (legally) on the road anyway. Went on two trips to the ring and it was perfect, comfortable on the motorway and fast enough to keep up with more 'sporty' bikes on the twisty stuff. As people say the tank range is not the best but when touring with other bikes we all needed to refuel at similar times anyway so it wasn't too much of a problem. When out for a fast ride on A or B roads range was about 80 miles until the reserve light came on. Interestingly on a blast down the autobahn, rarely going less than 100 and often cruising at 120+ (including an indicated 170, redline in 6th, probably about 155 actual) we travelled just over 100 miles and the reserve light didn't come on when we pulled in to get some fuel. I loved the V-twin soundtrack, mine had Blueflame pipes with the baffles removed and it sounded superb. In about 15,000 mile riding I had no problems apart from the rectifier AKA rectum-frier going up in smoke (a common Honda problem).

As you say a real bargain. If I was to have another bike I would be tempted to have another 'Storm. There is a Firestorm website that is worth a look at if you are interested in more riders opinions. I sold mine on that site about one hour after advertising it!

[odyssey2200]

http://folk.uio.no/joakimt/vtr/vtr.html


enjoy!

[catso]

Had one for a while, good bike overall downsides as above; tank range is crap due to a combination of poor MPG & small tank but you can get bigger tanks (later ones had a larger tank, I think), front suspension was a little soft (for my 15ish stone anyway) but this can be easily sorted, brakes OK but would benefit from some improvement, such as braided hoses etc, gearchange a bit notchy (although may be freed up a little by now) and looks are not to everyones taste as they're a bit bland TBH, but otherwise a good all rounder with a strong, reliable motor, sounds good on race cans, good handling, comfortable for long trips and not bad for a pillion, good for wheelies (allegedly) and they crash well

IMO a good bike but not a great bike but at the right price, you won't go wrong.

[Beemer-5]

They are a good value bike now.
Overshadowed by the competition when they were selling, but a softer, more practical bike than many.
Heavy on fuel and i don't really know why.

[catso]

Beemer-5 said:

Heavy on fuel and i don't really know why.

I think part of the reason is that they use large carburettors which are not very efficient, particulary at lower RPM and especially on big cylinders, as a comparison my (fuel injected) Ducati 916 despite having more performance (but not a lot more) is far less thirsty than my old Firestorm was.

Edited by catso on Friday 25th April 10:48

[y2blade]

CHIEF said:

So anyone ridden or owned one. I dont need it to be some razor sharp sports bike just a quick all round road bike

What are they like?

Cheers

perfect for your needs....seriously good and underated, get a test ride on one if you can

also Yamaha TRX850 might be worth a look too!

[Kawasicki]

great bikes. A couple of mates had firestorms. One had suspension tuning, the other standard. The bike with money spent on forks and shock rode very well, but even the standard bike was fine for very quick riding. It was my mates first bike and he had no problem keeping up with more credible bikes.

The engine has a lot of torque at low rpm, which makes it easy and fun to ride on a day to day basis.

shane