Took a test ride today...

[Houseman]

Here here, great story mate. Was love at first twist with my Firestorm as well.

[Mudfart]

i best remove it from my watchlist then. was this the low kms 2008 one?. i have read a lot about these hondas, hell i know a guy who has one and the only bad i can figure is thristy, and tyre wear but feck me its a 1ltr anyway. nice purchase.

[ynot slow]

Funny how test riding works,I thought in no order,GSX650F,SV1000,GSF1250 mostly from summer fest promo in summer 08,took the 650 out and impressed me,then went to try the bandit and sv,but the shop had no demos,I was offered the VTR1000 as a comparison to the SV,but to me the riding position was slightly different,plus the pillion seat was also slightly different,so found a nearly new bandit with pipe and 10500km and was hooked.

[banditrider]

Funny how test riding works,I thought in no order,GSX650F,SV1000,GSF1250 mostly from summer fest promo in summer 08,took the 650 out and impressed me,then went to try the bandit and sv,but the shop had no demos,I was offered the VTR1000 as a comparison to the SV,but to me the riding position was slightly different,plus the pillion seat was also slightly different,so found a nearly new bandit with pipe and 10500km and was hooked.

Your Bandit probably has a more comfortable and user friendly riding position (although the seats tend to be pretty uncomfortable - esp after 20hrs lol), but I did over 500km on the VTR last Sunday and was surprised at how comfortable it was. No sore butt and everything else felt good too. Most surprised...

[vifferman]

I had a VTR1000, and really miss it. I know what you mean about having no intention to buying a bike, but the test ride changes your mind - that's why I no longer have a VTR and have the VFR instead (and also possibly the reason I haven't ridden anything else in the last five and a half years...)

A couple of tips with the VTR: make sure the carbs are balanced every 6 months and the idle set correctly, and if you start to have any camchain clatter, replace the camchain tensioner (usually the front one) straight away. Better still, get some APE manual tensioners.

[cheesemethod]

Thanks for all the feedback folks. Hopefully will be picking up on Wednesday. Looking at getting crash knobs and a pack rack as the first couple of essentials. Then perhaps some heated grips before next winter.

Vifferman... any more info on the manual tensioners and where to get them? After doing a bit of research the last few days it looks like looking after the cam chain is a good idea on these bikes. At the moment it sounds like it's in good nick, no clatters or strange noises, sounded mint like a belt drive.

Also can anybody link me to any good threads on bike cleaning? I want to keep the paint and finishes mint on this thing cause right now it looks like brand new and I'd like to keep it that way. The GN mainly needed chrome care, and the paint on the Impulse is already shot so I don't have a whole lot of practice keeping a modern bike clean.

[crynsie]

Soory about the texts...thought you were sam who also bought a new bike this weekend...hopefully this will make sense now.

Can't wait to see it parked next to the viffer at work

You deserve it!!!!

Si

[cheesemethod]

Thanks Si. Suddenly that text makes sense. We'll have to get together with Sam and go for a ride sometime. I wonder if he wants to buy another bike now too? (the impulse)

[Insanity_rules]

And another rider falls for the charms of a big v twin! Good work, nice bike! Now go open those pipes up and really let her sing.

[R-Soul]

Yup I also fell in love with Red Sonja that way - actually fell in love with her looks before that first ride. The first ride was just the cherry on top.

You will prolly take a few months before having the balls to fully open the throttle in first gear - man its scary. Check out acceleration and VTR100F on you tube. They have exhaust tuned Firestorms doing 1-100kph in 2.5 seconds. Comparable to Hyabusas (although not after the 100kph mark).

And it has great handling (and for a liter bike, it has relatively low weight at 190kg, and is quite skinny and nimble through traffic).

You will love it. Awesome bike. Good for hooning and touring and track.

[Hiflyer]

Awesome bike! can't wait to upgrade myself, prooobably wont go for a 1000 if I don't think I can trust myself.

I've heard it's about150kms between stops ay? You'll be best friends with the petroleum transfer technicians all over the country!

[Dooly]

I brought a VTR1000 as my first bike back into my mid life crisis thingy after many years away from them.
I found it very user friendly, plenty of power, easy to ride and fun. Sounded good too with Neptune mufflers.
Godd call.

[slofox]

Decided to go and test ride a few bikes today, make some more notes, plan what I wanted next. Was at Holseshot and they had an '05 VTR1000, bright red and freshly polished. Rob (the guy with the awesome wizard beard) was there and offered a ride on it. At this stage I was just endulging in a bit of a hoon on a fun bike, hadn't really made my mind up yet. I had test rided a Hyo 650, Suzuki SV650 and a Bandit 1200 lately, all nice bikes, but didn't really put a grin on my face. The Honda sounded fantastic, has Scorpion pipes on it so makes a thunderous sound in the little alley way beside the bike shop. I took it around the block, then out onto the motorway. With nobody behind me at the on ramp, slowed down to about 30 in second, then gave it a good twist of throttle. The sensation was epic, a rush of noise and speed and excitment. The speed was epic too, had to test out the brakes just incase Mr Plod was about. Took the next exit, looped back round then blasted down the onramp again. Once I had decided that yes, this bike was fast enough, I got off the motorway and hit the streets around Takapuna. Despite being a big and heavy bike compared to my usual ride, I found it very easy to nip around the back streets on. I went around the block several times just to see how fast it can go around roundabouts. I was just that comfortable on the thing that I pulled a couple of u turns and did some slow crawl just to see if I could find any flaws in the handling at lower speed, but couldn't. I took it back to the shop and parked up. I didn't really want to get off it as I didn't want some other grubby biker fondling my new girl.

Yes, I decided to buy it. I know very little about the VTR1000 other than that they are thirsty but that didn't bother me. I hadn't riden a SV1000 or a CB900 or any other number of bikes yet to compare, but I just didn't care. I didn't care that I hadn't weighed up all the pros and cons of buying this bike. I just had to have it.

Bikes are funny things. I had no desire to buy a bike today. I've never bought anything without reading lots of reviews and comparing all the options and taking time to consider my purchase. But today I did. Because this bike did something special for me, and it had taken less than half an hour to completely fall in love with it. Money and work and debt and stress - for that half hour they just disappeared. Only the bike mattered.

So you bought it straight away huh...Disgraceful!

At least I had the decency to pretend I was "thinking about it" for a couple of weeks...

Truth of the matter is that I decided straight away too. I rode the SV home, took it out once more and then parked it up in the garage and prepared it for sale...I just knew I had to have the new bike...

Actually I was interested in the VTR's as well but the gas guzzling put me off a bit. Not that the GSXR does a lot better in reality...220km range seems pathetic after the SV's 350km...

Have a ball on your new ride!

[Houseman]

OK this is now getting seriously wierd.. I too never used to worry too much about my GN's personal hygiene. Now I have a brand new looking shiny red VTR1000 I want to keep it that way also, so spent Sat morning trolling KB to find some good info on the same. Others may have a better idea but this one was my favourite:

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...lean-your-bike

I copied and pasted the 2nd post from Marmoot into word and saved it as it had all I needed to hear. Went and bout some Meguirs next generation something or other (the one in the fancy purple box) and a few trick piece of cloth. $80 all up but 60 min later and my bike looks awesome! Had to take it for a ride straight away so went for a quiet pint with a mate who was at a pub down the road (yes just one...) and counted about 5 people stop to stare at the beast as they walked down the street.

Anyway, I guess the point of this brag-fest is that I also own a shiny red Firestorm, and the post above worked out great for me. So if your reading this Marmoot (or is that Vegiemoot) thanks a bunch!!

[vifferman]

Vifferman... any more info on the manual tensioners and where to get them?

Here's a link for them.
When I bought mine, the only NZ agent was doubling the price for the huge amount of work involved in placing an order. You may find someone in the US or elsewhere you can get them from instead. I got mine plus a Throttle Position Sensor I... um... err... broke.... from some bloke in the UK on the VTR forum there. Got them in a week, and it cost me less than the CCTs or TPS would've cost on their own.
Here's the US forum (I was a member there too): www.superhawkforum.com/
The UK one seems to have disappeared, but here's another one.