July 2 2001
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On Saturday Gwyn went off to do "Bikesafe 2001" this is a scheme run by the Police and local training agencies. It was specifically for female riders (is that why the Police were keen to do it? :-) ) so I could not take part. It consists of an observed ride taking in town and out of town roads. Gwyn was observed by a Police motorcycle instructor, she did around 40mls and she duly arrived back with glowing reports on her riding and a certificate to prove it! I got a phone call from a friend who was waiting for the delivery of a new Honda Firestorm to say it had arrived and would I like to go out. The weather was threatening thunder storms but off we went. I took some photos of his bike when he arrived.
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The Firestorm VTR1000F is a 1,000cc twin.
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Engine: |
Liquid-cooled 4-stroke DOHC 90° V-twin, 4 valves per
cylinder Bore x stroke: 98 x 66mm Capacity: 996 cc
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| Compression: | 9.4 :1 Claimed Power: 110 bhp @ 9000 rpm Claimed Torque:
9.8 Kgm @ 7000 rpm
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| Wheelbase: | 1430 mm |
| Seat height: |
810 mm |
| Weight (dry):
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192 Kg |
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I must admit to being a little worried when he said he had ordered a yellow one but I think it looks really good. He said there was little information about breaking in the engine in the manual. I'm surprised at this as all the bikes I've had the manuals gave strict instructions on what to do for the first 1,000mls. It may be he just did not find the right bit in the book. However we decided not to take the bike above 5,000rpm. He thought this was around 80mph so I stayed around 75mph so that if we were separated he could catch up. The riding position on the Firestorm is very Sports bike like (quite crouched). I don't think I would find it comfortable over long distances. The bike is described as a Sport Tourer and with the 110bhp V twin will probably have the torque to do it but I think the riding position is a little extreme for touring. Underneath the rear seat pod the seat does continue, the pod just clips over and is easily removed to expose the rest of the seat. Clever really! This is definitely a full blown Sports Bike. Although my friend has been riding a couple of years he had never been to Squires in Sherburn so we went there. We were lucky and only caught a couple of short sharp showers and the day cleared up and got quite warm. On Sunday we went to Sherburn again as there is a stall selling motorcycle gear there sometimes and we wanted a 2 piece suit for Jenny. Getting kids clothing is not easy where we are, there are no stockists locally and only babybiker.com on the web that we could find. Anyway, to cut a long story short we got a 2 piece leather suit for £78. Just need boots now! The returns slip arrived from M&P today so I'll send back the screen and see what happens.
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4 July 20001 |
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Well, we checked the Firestorm manual and all it said about breaking in was: During the first 300mls avoid full throttle start ups and hard acceleration. Very odd, but very easy! I received a notification of the renewal of the Fazer insurance today. If you have read "The saga continues 2000" you will know that the price last year was £500. This year they would have wanted £736.50!!! This is from a company that do not allow you to change the bike on the policy and impose an excess of £450! Bear in mind the insurance for the ZRX1200S was only £480 from Bennetts! There was also no mention anywhere of the 1 years no claims bonus I should be entitled to. This makes proving no claims to another company a little difficult if I still had the Fazer and wanted to change. This company is Yamaha Link on the certificate but the renewal stuff has Aon - Groupama Insurance Limited. You have been warned!! The phrase "Stick it where the sun don't shine" springs to mind! |
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