R6 Verse Storm

[Pete.L]

Last month little Bro (33) turned up on my doorstep. Lid in hand and a big grin on his face, he said to me "Come on out. I've got rid of the Blade and I've just picked up my new toy"
So, grabbing my slippers and pipe, I wandered up the garden to see the new bike. He stands next to it resting a caressing hand on the tank and says "Well? What do you think?"
"Corr! Ant it tiny. How many miles has it got on it?" Were the first words I blurted.
"53, and I did those bringing home from the shop"
There it sat. A brand new spanker Yam R6, fuel injected and all the trick suspension, fancy digital clocks, lap timer and even a little light to tell you when to change gear.
Needless to say all the right words were said and correct exclamations made that we boys do so well. Correct running in procedures were gone over, the seat was tested and the suspension was bounced. Little Bro left happy and promised to return for a ride out as soon as the new boy was run in.
Last Sunday, as good as his word, we meet at the end of drive. Leathers donned and fags burning we stand in the early morning sunshine going over the final details of the planned route.
"Fancy doing a swap?" He slips into the conversation as we start pulling our gloves on.
"Sure" I said rather tentatively wondering what’s the catch.
So I amble over to his bike, thumb the starter button and carefully take it down my street to the main road. Stopping at the junction I shout across to him "What revs can I take it to?"
"All the way. Its done 1100 miles and you can ride it like normal"
A big grin crosses my face and I think to myself "There is no catch. This is going to be fun"
Gently I ease away onto the main highway. The clutch is lovely and smooth and the engine is soo quiet and vibe free I’m wondering how can I be moving forward? Is the engine still running? Obviously it was. My eyes keep darting to the digital temp gauge...65c...68c... Hee Hee Hee not long now I think to myself, don't rush it, let it warm up, don't make this your first and last trip on this little beastie. He'll take it away from me if I piss him off too soon.
I carry on across the town towards the country using my time to accustom myself to the elbow in the air seat and weaving to try and obtain some feeling of the handling. The breaks are sh!t hot. After touching them for the first time I realize I had better try a few emergency stops just incase I have to do a real one. First attempt nearly locks the front wheel, these puppies are really sharp. A quick glance in the mirror (My God! I can see behind me!) Little Bro is well back; lets speed up and try a proper one. A steady roll on up to seventy is a bit disappointing. I keep adding more throttle but the bikes not really doing anything to excite you. Actually it's more than dull. Anyway I wake myself up, recheck the mirror and just using my index finger I start applying the brakes. The nose drops and instantly the pressure on my wrists and forearms is tremendous. Holy Sh!t!! My first stoppie and I only needed one finger.
Braking curiosity satisfied I recheck the temp...72c…75c good enough for me. The back lanes are just around the corner and I’m starting to get twitchy dawdling around town. Final roundabout negotiated and it’s off into some high speed sweepers, nothing too crazy Little Bro’s still shadowing me. 80mph into the first followed by a quick left right, gently rolling on the throttle so I’m exiting at a steady 90, then backing off to legal speeds for a long straight away to the first village. The bike feels really tidy, tracking through the bends exactly where I pointed it and flip flopping from left to right without even the slightest tug of the bars. Steady through the next Village and then off into some really good tight and twisties.
Throttling up to the first set of bends is again smooth but boring. I just can’t stress enough how crap the roll on is under 6 thousand Rpm. Coming out of the first bend, if I had been on my Storm, I could have dropped it with the lack of power when picking the bike up but as it was so small and light it was only a moment of uncertainty and a mental note to drop an extra gear for the next set of bends.
This was starting to get fun now. I was getting a good feel for the bike very quickly and was amazed at how good the front end behaved straight out of the crate so to speak. The back end wasn’t quite right I had very little feel from the tire and couldn’t really tell if was just me not used to the ass in the air position or a little twiddle of the fully adjustable suspension was in order.
Concentration level up I press on into some really good (empty) B roads and everything just started to flow, the hedges become a blur and it’s just me and the road ahead. My enjoyment was paramount. Bugger the Highway Code, bugger the thought of any ramblers stumbling out in front of you, bugger farmer Giles on his tractor and bugger Plod, never seen him out here anyway, and… Oh Bugger! Forgot about little Bro lumping my Storm around somewhere behind me, He better not fall off trying t keep up. A quick glance in the mirror confirms my suspicion. He’s gone. Damn! Knew he had too much respect for the road. I found a good space to stop, just off a bend with a good straightaway ahead of me and sat and waited.
Not a minute goes by and the familiar view of my headlight comes round the bend, well led over and a scrawny little knee poking at the tarmac. “Ah! Now he’s getting used to it” I think to myself. “Not ready to change back yet” I wind the revs up to 6 grand, shove my head over the yokes and flare the clutch adding power all the time. The bike shoots off and I just pin the throttle hard against the stop. Acceleration is building, as the bike hits 8 grand power really starts to build, at 10.5 the front is lifting, I’m grinning from ear to ear and I got a 15k redline to reach. Mission accomplished the bike snicks smoothly into 2nd, 3rd, and then 4th before I realise I had forgotten to watch for the gear change light. Oh well, stupid idea anyway. Throttling off I headed onto the agreed switch over point.
Jumping back onto the Storm was like relaxing into your favorite chair in comparison. It wasn’t until then did I notice my wrists were aching and it felt like my a$$ had just been placed on a cushion. What I had first thought was a vibe free engine had been playing havoc with the old piles and I’m sure the wafer thin seat pad hadn’t helped either. That said I must admit it’s a very sharp tool. The handling and braking can’t be faulted but as a road bike it would drive me mad having to keep the revs around 8 thou to make it move the way I would want it to. As a direct comparison to the Storm I don’t think you can fairly do it, they are just too different.
After the switch back we carried on off into Wales and every bend left the R6 further and further behind, the stomp of the V-twin romping all over the poor midrange of the Yam, then a change of tone from the Yams engine and little Bro’s keeping the revs up and he’s pressing me on every new curve and I can’t do a thing about it.
“But who wants to ride it like that all the time for normal riding” He says to me afterwards” Yours is amazingly easy to ride quickly and much more relaxed”
Little gem isn’t he. Trying to protect my feelings like that. Don’t care. I can still kick his ass when ever I feel like it.
On the way home I picked up screw in the back tire. Didn’t know a thing about it until little Bro flags me down saying “there’s green sh1t coming out your back wheel and it’s making a mess of my new paint work” inspecting the tire a 1¼inch woodchip screw has not only made a mess of the tire but it has also ripped a piece out of my hugger before it pushed itself flush with the tread. Basterd!
Having gone out to test a R6 against a VTR I never thought I would be sat here compairing Slime against Ultra Seal. So here goes with the sort version. Ultra Seal good, Slime sh1t. I've used Ultra Seal for years and it’s never let me down. Three stops for air later we’ve finally made it back to Chepstow, a thin trail of green snot left everywhere I had been. Sat in the Chepstow garage I fill the tank and fill the tire and make a mad dash back to England, well pissed with how the day turned out once the old bridge is out of the way a little 150mph cruising is in order (kill or cure as the saying goes).
Motorway over with, (amazing how quick it runs out at 2.5 miles a minute) I head off for the ring road to get home, Little Bro, fed up with green snot on the outside of his lid, has dropped back and left me to filter through the traffic on what is now a real dodgy back end. We meet up at the traffic lights on the start of the ring road.
“Fancy a quick razz” I scream whilst blipping the throttle at him. He Nods and the lights turn green even before I turn back to look at them. He’s gone.
Ripping the throttle open I drop the clutch and manage to pull away just keeping the wheel hovering all through the rev range. As I change into 2nd the front wheel lightly kisses the tarmac and raises back into the air again at the same time the bike hops sideways as the rear rubber protests at the abuse in its present condition but never mind I’m along side little Bro and passing him rapidly now …Yeehaah!
Head down on the tank elbows in, and hard against the stop my first glance down is at 125, snick another gear 135, snick into top 145 Ahh! Gunna have to think about braking very soon. Then whoosh the sound of an aerated wasp with its nuts being squashed and little Bro comes flying past me as if I was standing still.
“Flash get” I say to myself as I hit the brakes. Stopping at the next round about I can see through his helmet he got a big cheesy grin and his chest is puffed out, he looks fit to burst.
Never mind Ay. It’s a great little tool but in the right places and normal day to day riding the Storm still beats it hands down. I just wish the VTR came with suspension that sorted.

Pete.l

[RQ]

Ever think of writing for "Two" or "Bike"? Very informative piece of script Pete, I was cringing at certain stages of the story thinking you were leading to saying you binned it!!

From that read, I can gladly say I'm happy with my grunt all across the rev range, and hey if I want acceleration at 145, well I'll just strap on a rocket or something!

[RAINMAKER]

Bloody good yarn, Just got back from round trip to Plymouth nearly 700 miles.........god is my butt sore.
There must be some solution to sore butt syndrome, seems once it sets in your buggered. (no pun intended)
PS David silver spares just quoted
kill switch £20
Reg/rect £79
Starter Motor £451.87 bloody hell........hope problems the reg/rect not the starter.
Ps did I tell you got 50.88 mpg on one tank full........well I'm telling everyone.

[iggy1966]

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ............................has he finished yet???

Work a little "slack" today????

Seriously, you should sent that to one of the mags...you never know

[scottVTR]

I concur, my mate's got an '03 R6 and me a '98 Storm, we swap occasionally and I find it takes about 10mins to get used to it. Then when I swap back it takes me a while to settle back to my bike. The brakes are awesome I nearly went over the bars the first stop I did.

I've ridden a few inline fours from a CBR250R to a Z1000 but none give the satisfation of the big V-twin.

[Pete.L]

Thanks guys,
did wonder if someone would be shouting "what do we want to know about R6's for. This is a Storm Site"...(some folks can be quite narrow minded)
Well now you know what to do if one's on your tail. Give it everything you got and prey you know the roads better or....Don't bother and just be to cool to take the bait

Did I hear someone got 50mph out of their Storm

Hope they use that tenner they are giving to themself to buy a new calculator
Iggy ; Cheeky Monkey. Take took four attemps over two days just to put the page together.
As for the Mag Bits...Naaa1 but I wouldn't mind being a test rider. Fancey getting paid for thrashing all those new bikes

[RQ]

50mph? no wonder the R6 left you for sh1t on the motorway, ya gotta use all the gears!!!!!!!!!!!

[Pete.L]

Ha Ha
Not me RQ, Paul(NHR2259574y54)
http://www.abercon.co.uk/vtr1000/phpBB2 ... 8&start=15

Don't even want to think about fuel consumption on my outing

pete.l
Hmmm!... NHR(could that satand for National Health Risk )

[RAINMAKER]

you plonker Pete, not 50 mph............50.88 mpg. but you knew that you wind up merchant...........national health risk..........like it!

[Pete.L]

Paul Said

you plonker Pete, not 50 mph............50.88 mpg.

Whoops! My bag

Mee. A Windup Merchant

Pete.l

[MDJ]

So Pete lemme get this right ...
He chopped in a BLADE? for an R6? ............... ok,

I do not understand, does not compute even an early blade is preferable in my opinion still if he's happy...

I'll keep my Storm fer know, if anyone wants to swap a blade.....I've got a lovely Storm......

[tattie]

Good Yarn Pete,
That was a better compiliation than any of the bike mags I have read this last while.
Had a good blast down Loch Ness side to Fort Augustus last Sat night.

Cheers

A.M.

ps. Iggy& nhr22259, I have had to cancel my proposed trip to Cadwell,
mainly due to a, backlog of work and lack of response from the (I would'nt mind going to that brigade up here) never mind there is always next year.

Cheers again

A.M.

[iggy1966]

Pete,

Well could'nt resist

Tattie

No worries mate turns out the Girlfriends band has been booked for a big blues festival in Colne lancashire that weekend so will be on "roadie" duties by the looks of things.

[Pete.L]

MDJ said

So Pete lemme get this right ...
He chopped in a BLADE? for an R6? ............... ok,

I know
Couldn't do it myself. He's not even got the excuse that he couldn't ride the blade or didn't get on with it. I can't imagine the R6 is cheeper to run and definatley not a comfort choice.
Still, its his decision so I just let him get on with it.

Pete.l
Hmm. It might be sexual. His eyes do glaze when he talks about the R6 and the other day he was sat staring into space with a blank look on his face and I'm sure I saw druel on his bottom lip

[firestorm_al]

Is this a good time to mention that I didn't quite make it back into FireStorm ownership

I got all pipe an slippers and nationalistic and picked up a Triumph instead!

Al.