My Black Storm!!

[nora2004]

Went for a good ride this morning, I initially wanted just a nice relaxing ride and to get loadsa snaps, but as always once the road opened up I kicked its head in, and stopped once, and even then that was because my arms were pumped to f*ck! lol

Was truely awesome on the way back, ended up in a tangle with a group of bikes, gsxr's, r's etc the usual, and a S1000rr at the fton of them, thought this should be fun! lol

Anyway carved my way to the front behind the bimmer and sat on his butt for miles, that was untill we came onto a straight, I hit 150 on the clocks, I reckon he was hitting over 180, he left me for dead, like I was on a 125! lol But them came the corners again, eventually he relented and let me past, then I preceeded to p**s all over him!

I have no doubt in my mind if we'd been on nice smooth tarmac he woulda destroyed me, but thr roads round teesdale and high force are f*cked basically, pot holes everywhere, bumps, weird cambers etc etc!

Was an epic ride, and got my best tank range, full to the brim tank and got 64 miles till the light came on! lol Nearly wet myself when I seen the light! lol

Pics!

[sirch345]

Nice to see the photo's Nora2004. It sounds like you had a good blast.

That 2nd photo is showing how sticky that rear tyre is

I like the black and white one, I always think there's something magical about black and white photo's.

Chris.

[Pointblank]

Nice pics ,as said the black and white one is great

[nora2004]

Got back from work to find these had been delivered! Only taken 3 bloody weeks! lol

Anywho, got em fitted, havent tried them yet but there positioned perfectly me as I only use 2 fingers on the brake/clutch!

sh*tty pics, Ill get better ones tomoz!

[sirch345]

Those levers look the business Bling bling

Do keep us posted on your opinion on these.

Chris.

[benny hedges]

are they proper pazzos or the ebay copies???
can't tell tbh - they look pro

linkage pls

[nora2004]

I have no doubt in my mind if we'd been on nice smooth tarmac he woulda destroyed me, but thr roads round teesdale and high force are f*cked basically, pot holes everywhere, bumps, weird cambers etc etc!

Me and Timbo went up through that way on Saturday too, it's one of my favourite runs.
I do not hang about on that road, as Timbo will testify.

Ohh its an awesome road, way better than hartside beacuse of how bad a condition its in! lol That, hartside and kirkstone pass are my fav's!!!

What time as Im sure i might of seen you, seen a few storms out and about now I have one! lol

And Chris I will do, Il be out on the twisties some evening this week, Ill report back then!

Benny there ebay copies, Ive had a set of Pazzo's on my previous gsxr, and back then I said Id just get these in the future, there identical and extremely well made!

I went for the shorty ones. they also do std size too!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HONDA-VTR1000F-FI ... ycle_Parts

[sirch345]

And Chris I will do, Il be out on the twisties some evening this week, Ill report back then!

Good man

Chris.

[Beamish]

Nice looking Storm mate with taseful mods. Enjoy!

[nora2004]

Sooooo, after a while with the short ebay levers I can report back and say there spot on! Used the bike everyday for work and been out a few nights on the twisties! First of I noticed the clutch action was much lighter to use, better adjustability, got the clutch bite and feel perfect now!

At first I couldnt get on with the brake lever, just using 2 fingers I couldnt get enough leverage to really pull the bike down, I was having to shiffle my finger right to the end of the lever! But 2 mins with the socket set sorted it, I just moved the cylinder to the left a bit and the throttle to the right a bit, perfect positioning now! Much much better than stock, 2 finger braking with ease now, I think it gives me much more feel to the brakes now, and they look pretty trick!

Another little update, Got used to the noise it made, so did the obvious thing and cut the end cans down! lol Took 3 inches off each can and spent a few hours polishing them, I think it looks loads better, and of course it sounds much better, real deep burble, just what you need when setting of for work at 6:30am!

Anywho, went for a run up teesdale after work today and got some shots, couldnt be arsed sorting through them so ive just dumped them all on!

[sirch345]

Sooooo, after a while with the short ebay levers I can report back and say there spot on! Used the bike everyday for work and been out a few nights on the twisties! First of I noticed the clutch action was much lighter to use, better adjustability, got the clutch bite and feel perfect now!

At first I couldnt get on with the brake lever, just using 2 fingers I couldnt get enough leverage to really pull the bike down, I was having to shiffle my finger right to the end of the lever! But 2 mins with the socket set sorted it, I just moved the cylinder to the left a bit and the throttle to the right a bit, perfect positioning now! Much much better than stock, 2 finger braking with ease now, I think it gives me much more feel to the brakes now, and they look pretty trick!

Thanks Nora for the up-date on the levers

Great photo's, great bike, and by the looks of it great roads and scenery plus it doesn't look to busy with too many cars fantastic.

Chris.

[nora2004]

Small update, but no pics of anything shiney! lol

The Storm is currently front endless, buttttttt, Roger just mailed to say id have em back on Friday, cant wait!!!

Also took the chance to pop in some tapered bearings, and to my surprise when I pulled the yokes off, there was already a set in there, just not tightened correctly, thus the sloppey knocking id been getting! Oh well, might aswell pop the new ones in for the sake of it! Anyone got a guide on how to set em up, only found instructions for stock bearings so far!

So yes, I was just a bit excited, thought id post!

Anyone wishing to share their experience with rogered forks please spill as im expecting it to feel like a totally different bike now, hope im right! lol

[sirch345]

Anyone wishing to share their experience with rogered forks please spill as im expecting it to feel like a totally different bike now, hope im right! lol

My forks have been breathed on by Roger D, I could hardly believe the difference, money very well spent IMHO. It has totally transformed the way the bike handles now.

I don't want to big this mod up too much for you right now, as I'd rather you come back once you've tried it out yourself and give us your opinion.

The only downside (if there is one) by having the front upgraded is it shows up the poor rear shock even more. I have fitted a weight related Maxton spring to my standard rear shock, which does help.

Chris.

PS. I fitted taper roller s/head bearings in my Storm, another good mod IMHO. They take time to bed-in and settle down, I adjusted them 3 times before I was happy with them, apparently this is normal procedure for taper roller bearings.

PPS.Ignore the torque figures from the standard head bearings fitting instructions. I just did them up tight enough so that there was a slight resistance when turning the forks from left to right as a starting point. I found I could then adjust them by just lifting the top yoke a small amount (handlebars too), then knocking the castellated nuts around, rather than removing the top yoke and bars completely. Remember a small amount of movement of those castellated nuts with taper roller bearings alters the torque quite considerably.

The hardest job I found in fitting the new bearings was removing the bottom bearing from the yoke stem. The reason being I didn't have a new seal with my new bearings so needed to save the original. I used an angle grinder (very carefully) but, I've heard others say a Dremel is good for grinding down that bearing so it can be split. Once it's split it will then come off easy.

[nora2004]

Yayyyyyy, there back and fitted!!!!

Got lucky setting the sag, got perfect 28mm on my second guess, was well chuffed!!

Only took it out for a 5 min spin just to make sure everything was right, and straight away you can feel the difference even when doing slow speed riding, doesnt feel like it has a flat tyre anymore! lol

Hit a few roundabouts, but with cold tyres and wet roads couldnt really push it, but again I can feel the difference, tipping it into the corner it actually wants to stay there now and not tyr and push wide, the walloeyness (if thats a word!) has pretty much gone now, can really feel the back shock been sh1t now! lol

SO far after my 5 min ride im well impressed and cant wait to get up the twisties on Sunday,gonna take a while to get used to I think!

Questions though, when dropping the forks through the yokes, I set it so there is 5mm from the top of the clip-on to the retaining clip on the forks, giving me an extra 5mm of fork. 5mm is what Roger said but is my method right?

Also, something im gonna chat to Roger about is the re-bound setting, Ive set it at 1 turn from in, but what am I looking for to be able to judge if its right?


Cheers!!!!

[AMCQ46]

good arnt they

The 5mm drop is right method [although I keep my forks at standard and lift the back end so I keep all the ground clearance].

Damper screw is not linear, it does all its work in the last part of the travel, if that makes sense. I started at 1 turn from fully in, but I am about 0.75 turn now.
In theory you are looking to have the rebound to be just noticable in slowing the forks compared to fully out. I guess Roger gave you some instructions with that on it.

yup, you will now think the back end is the problem, so either get a new spring fitted for your weight, or another shock, it made a big diference to mine, but as I am only 13st fully kitted, the stad spring was way to stiff for me.