New Firestorm Owner
Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2019 11:27 pm
Hi guys,
Bought a 1998 Firestorm from a dodgy guy in Liverpool a couple weeks back. Everything seemed OK and at 35K miles I thought that was good for a 20 year old bike. The bike started easy after opening the choke a little (hadn't been ridden much recently) but the guy said he'd let the front tire down so thieves couldn't roll it out the back. Made sense considering the area (if you're from Liverpool you know what I mean). Checked it over and apart from some wear n tear didn't spot anything obvious. He pumped the tire up and I went for a ride, all good. Passed last MOT just an advisory on noisy exhausts.
When I got it home, the next day I realised the front tire was flat. So it was a slow puncture not an anti-theft strategy as advised. The next day the headlight bulb went and I noticed the indicators were incredibly dim and the LED ones he'd put on back were 50% dead. Took it in for a service the next day to get it all up to scratch, asked for new sprockets and chain, oil and filter, fluids etc. They found the header bearings were worn down to the point the bike wasn't safe to ride and somehow the front wheel had been put on back to front. Ended up paying almost £600 to get the bike in working/safe order including new parts. Then a further £230 on new tires so not a cheap venture.
Despite all that I love the bike. The V twin sounds incredible especially with the after market exhaust system it came with and it rides like a freight train. It's my first liter bike. My last bike was a 2015 Tracer 900 and before that a 2006 ZX6R. I am OK with general maintenance and the most complex thing I've done was replacing the stock exhaust on the ZX6R with an Akropovic slip on. I want to get to understand this bike inside and out and maintain as much of it's operation as I can so I am learning.
Thanks
Bought a 1998 Firestorm from a dodgy guy in Liverpool a couple weeks back. Everything seemed OK and at 35K miles I thought that was good for a 20 year old bike. The bike started easy after opening the choke a little (hadn't been ridden much recently) but the guy said he'd let the front tire down so thieves couldn't roll it out the back. Made sense considering the area (if you're from Liverpool you know what I mean). Checked it over and apart from some wear n tear didn't spot anything obvious. He pumped the tire up and I went for a ride, all good. Passed last MOT just an advisory on noisy exhausts.
When I got it home, the next day I realised the front tire was flat. So it was a slow puncture not an anti-theft strategy as advised. The next day the headlight bulb went and I noticed the indicators were incredibly dim and the LED ones he'd put on back were 50% dead. Took it in for a service the next day to get it all up to scratch, asked for new sprockets and chain, oil and filter, fluids etc. They found the header bearings were worn down to the point the bike wasn't safe to ride and somehow the front wheel had been put on back to front. Ended up paying almost £600 to get the bike in working/safe order including new parts. Then a further £230 on new tires so not a cheap venture.
Despite all that I love the bike. The V twin sounds incredible especially with the after market exhaust system it came with and it rides like a freight train. It's my first liter bike. My last bike was a 2015 Tracer 900 and before that a 2006 ZX6R. I am OK with general maintenance and the most complex thing I've done was replacing the stock exhaust on the ZX6R with an Akropovic slip on. I want to get to understand this bike inside and out and maintain as much of it's operation as I can so I am learning.
Thanks
