I've had the bike for over a year now, the only money I've had to spend has been on tyres and brakes.
A very reliable bike, but then that's what you get when you buy from Honda.
Being 20, I'm a bit of a speed freak and I like to give my bikes a fair bit of stick. The Honda has been fine throughout, the engine is still perfect and the bodywork hasn't aged at all.
Although it's no Ducati or SP-1, the Firestorm (or Superhawk over the pond) is still a very quick bike. Personally I prefer big V-Twins to inline 4s because of the grunt you get in any gear at any revs, so this bike suits me well!
The looks are starting to look a bit dated compared to the jagged edges of todays bikes, but it still looks good, the half fairing adds to it's aggressive stance. I love the radiators mounted on the sides, they are practical and look racy.
My faults with this bike are:
1) The nature of the big V Twin means it eats tyres and chains (had as little as 2000 miles out of a rear BT010!)
2) It gets through fuel quicker than a jumbo jet. I fill up at a cost of just under a tenner, and the petrol light is on again after 80 miles!!
I know this is partly my fault for riding it hard, but the bikes are renowned for poor fuel consumption. I knew about this problem before I bought the bike, it didn't put me off though as I think this is a small price to pay for owning such a great bike.
Re; VTR1000f fuel mileage. My '03 gives 44 miles per gallon highway at a steady 70 mph, low 30's when I'm tearing around.
I think folks complain about the VTR fuel consumption because there's nothing else to complain about. Mine gets the same mileage as any other sport bike I've owned.
I just got a VTR about a month ago, put on 3000 km, and got 200 to 225 km per tank. Seems about the same as my Gixxer 750 and my Ninja 750.
I've found the problem isn't the fuel consumption (40mpg from 1000cc is fair), it's that the fuel tank is too small which limits the range.
I bought my VTR 1000 knowing about the high fuel consumption, however as mentioned here it has been around around 40mpg most of the time, dropping to 30mpg when flogged? Happy with that.
My 03 gets 44 MPG Highway / 35 MPG Back road / 30 MPG Flogging it. Great bike with a lot of power. Gobs and gobs of torque!
Worth putting a +1 tooth front sprocket on to stretch out its legs a little.
Comfortable and powerful in ways that make you wonder why you ever rode an in-line 4.
Deliriously cheap due to a lack of interest in the open market.
Add some pyramid or shark skin accessories to go for the full fairing look. You'll have all the wanna-be bike guru's wondering if there was another version of the RC51.
I get about 160kms on the smaller tank of the 1997 model.
I ride it like a drag race, looking for any opportunity to blast the throttle as open as I dare. Because it's just SO MUCH FUN! I commute on it daily - no problems, no fuss. The huge torque has saved me by allowing me blast out of danger in a couple of situations where lesser bikes would have had to slip a gear first.
The styling is sex on wheels. If this bike was a woman, it would be Red Sonja.
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