Why are Firestorms so cheap?

StormingHonda · Post by **StormingHonda** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 9:16 am

I always have a look round Ebay for parts and I noticed that Firestorms seemed to be cheap, I just wondered why this was?. The aren't badly built, they aren't slow, yes I know the tank range isn't great, but that can be cured. But the Cam chain tensioner problem isn't a well known and the regulator problem isn't one model.

So why do people think they are so cheap, I don't see how they could be that unpopular to make them so cheap.

I've seen bike around my year ( 2002 ) at Â£2800, realisticly if I was to sell it I know I would be lucky to get Â£2000, it's one of those bikes that seems to be worth far more than its markey value.

I know my 1996 XL1200 Custom sportster Harley has the Harley Davidson badge on it, but compaired to the VTR its slow, shakes A LOT, brakes are crap and the build quality is probably only a tad better, but yet it commands a value of Â£3500, which I know it would get snapped up if I put it up for sale.

Neither are for sale by the way.

Image · Post by **Image** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 10:44 am

It's less to do with them being unpopular now and more to do with them being very popular back then. They were so popular that there were loads of them bought new, hence there's loads of them on the used market now which drops the price a tad. Back then, non Ducati vee twin sports bikes were totally new on the scene and everyone wanted one. I don't think vee twins are unpopular now but the original 'fad' has died down and many people prefer or don't mind an inline four. Still a lot of people loving vee twins though, but not enough of them to raise the demand/price of used vee twin bikes which is good news for us that love em. Personally I like being different. Fireblades and gixers are great bikes which is why they're so popular but they're so common they rarely turn heads. Now a storm with racecans does turn heads, you have to admit.

lloydie · Post by **lloydie** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 11:02 am

I think it's just because they are just wombles ugly (fugly) lol

Image · Post by **Image** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 11:13 am

Nope deffo not ugly. Brutal, not ugly.

Pyro · Post by **Pyro** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 11:55 am

I blame all those ugly slow yellow ones devaluing the handsome fast red ones.

StormingHonda · Post by **StormingHonda** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 12:04 pm

Image wrote:It's less to do with them being unpopular now and more to do with them being very popular back then. They were so popular that there were loads of them bought new, hence there's loads of them on the used market now which drops the price a tad. Back then, non Ducati vee twin sports bikes were totally new on the scene and everyone wanted one. I don't think vee twins are unpopular now but the original 'fad' has died down and many people prefer or don't mind an inline four. Still a lot of people loving vee twins though, but not enough of them to raise the demand/price of used vee twin bikes which is good news for us that love em. Personally I like being different. Fireblades and gixers are great bikes which is why they're so popular but they're so common they rarely turn heads. Now a storm with racecans does turn heads, you have to admit.

If you looked around a 2002 Honda Fireblade is Â£3500 on Average and a 2002 Firestorm is Â£2500, which is a huge gap in price.

I think theres some truth in what you say though as I remember years ago around 2000/2002 some of these bike super markets bought up huge amounts of them and sold them at knock down prices, same as ZX6Rs and some other models, so maybe theres too much surplus to supply.

As for turning head, yeah with race cans, because people want to know whats making all the noise

I don't think the model is a head turner, no one comes to look at it when I go anywhere, the Harley gets a few people come over to look, my Triumphs always got old people looking at it

MacV2 · Post by **MacV2** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 7:09 pm

Most of the Storms on here have old people looking at them as well....when we get them out of the garage.

Image · Post by **Image** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 8:08 pm

Speak for yourself.
I don't have a garage!

leevtr · Post by **leevtr** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 8:09 pm

Not because theyre ugly. Not because theyre slow.

I think that the opposite of some of the above posts. They really didnt sell that well, not in comparison to blades/r1's etc. They werent raved about in the press, and the tl1000/ducati were much more desirable in that era. I think that the reputation of being a bit average, bit of a plodder, has stuck with the bike, and they still arent really desirable. But all thats bull, magazine talk. I love duffing up latest hot poop 150bhp bikes on my storm, because in the right circumstances they can and will live with the best. Lets be honest, anything with 100 bhp is more than enough for the road. Get the handling as you like it ( doesnt mean its awful in the first place, but can be improved greatly for what amounts to pennies ), and you have to find a hell of a long straight road to make the old girl look bad. I rode a storm a few years back, after being used to my 1000rr5, and expected it to feel slow. It didnt, not by any stretch. I test rode an SP2 some years back while I had my first storm. Performance difference in the real world was negligable ( SP2 did feel way different in the handling dept though ).

I just think that because of the press, and the competition at the time, they were seriously underrated, and its stuck.

Image · Post by **Image** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 8:19 pm

Was the handling on th SP2 better or worse? Was it as comfortable as the VTR?

leevtr · Post by **leevtr** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 8:33 pm

Image wrote:Was the handling on th SP2 better or worse? Was it as comfortable as the VTR?

The bike just felt more committed, tighter, and very focussed. I've owned one since, and they are the dogs nuts, in my opinion. Could I ride it any quicker than I do my storm....probably not. Comfort wise, I didnt find it an issue, rode it to the Ring. No worse than my old storm or blade. Think what I've done to my current storm helps me in the comfort dept. Had an inch of extra padding in the seat, and combined with a shock spacer, made the seat to peg gap greater, less cramped. Puts more of your weight over the front end too, which I find better, but thats just my preference.

agentpineapple · Post by **agentpineapple** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 11:01 pm

i agree with lee, the tl1000 and ducati had the image back in the day and the storm was seen as the sensible choice. but as it gets older people are realising its a diamond in the rough so to speak. and a great performance bargain with bags of character from the v-twin lump(with race cans)
as for price....a 2002 facelift model would just about get Â£2000 but it would have to be mint condition and not yellow

i'm more than happy with 100bhp maybe with modern bikes kicking out 150+bhp the old firestorm doesn't look so good but as lee said, in the right hands it can hold its own on the road

StormingHonda · Post by **StormingHonda** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 11:09 pm

the face lift models go for a bit more than that, they seem to be rarer than rocking horse poo.

The pre facelift 2002 will go for around the Â£1800-Â£2K mark.

tony.mon · Post by **tony.mon** » Fri Jun 08, 2012 9:19 am

StormingHonda wrote:the face lift models go for a bit more than that, they seem to be rarer than rocking horse poo.

The pre facelift 2002 will go for around the Â£1800-Â£2K mark.

Only because of the tank size + range between fills, which was another negative in the sales image, with the 16L tank ones.

it gave the impression that the fuel consumption was poor, whereas in fact this was compounded by the small tank, but the mud stuck.

I often have people come up to me at meets and the first thing they say is about fuel consumption.

I guess it's about the competition more than the bike- if you were in the market for a new vee twin thou at the time, and the Suzuki offer more power, the Ducati offered more exotic-ness, you would only pick the Storm if you were cash-strapped or wasn't confident that you were able to handle lots of power from a bike with a sibling with scary handling, and also didn't want to buy an unreliable, difficult to maintain yourself and expensive Ducati.

But the Suzuki picked up most of the sales, and later the Mille.

But I don't care much what the reasons are, I've got some very cheap fun out of mine.
And like all bikes, there's a law of diminishing return on improvements, at first cheaper mods will add lots of power, after you've picked the low hanging fruit the extra bhp or two get more expensive.
This kicks in later with lower-powered bikes, so bhp gains are easy and cheap to attain with less-stressed engines.
Which is why these days you don't get an extra 10bhp just by bolting on a race can.

BigVeeGrin · Post by **BigVeeGrin** » Fri Jun 08, 2012 9:34 am

Like the views on this - all I can say is 'history, schmistory', this bike is the best I've ever had. It got me back into biking with a huge grin, it's comfy, it's engaging and, as I'm learning, pretty easy to work on yourself. I find it difficult to find fault with it at all when you consider what damn good value it is - to buy, to maintain, to insure, for kicks - everything, and I bet there's not that many bikes you can say that about. :beer:

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