Firestorm

Right - how would a fuckwit like me check this out? I'll bung some new

Had a TDM850 before the VTR - loved it but bouncy suspension and lack of
self control meant I kept chukking it up the road. The last high-side
finished it off With the noisy Pro-stock zorsts it was really punchy and
responsive.

Before that was a GSXR600 - I REALLY did love this. Nothing I threw at it
could upset it. No matter wot speed or wot mess I got myself into - it was
unflappable. Admit I did love the screaming engine too.

Was a while after TDM that the VTR came up (took a while for shoulder to
heal etc...) quite cheap from a colleague at work. Its a stunner, dry
miles, fsh, 7k miles, SP1 paintjob.

I figured I loved the low punch of the TDM, wanted a bit more top end and
better handling. I knew Gixxer top end and handling weren't on the cards,
but thought handling should be acceptable (it might be when I get new
tyres!) and a nice punchy 100bhp was a sure thing to make me smile!

I do love the bike, but giving it beans is a rather tortuous affair - not at
all satisfying

Will try the plugs - it'll be interesting to see if they're the same colour
too.

Cheers

 

Thanks. I'm sorry to hear about your bike; but I don't know the model
and so can't suggest anything specific; others have mentioned looking
at the plugs after a run - always a good indicator of health; change
them for some new ones. If they show up OK, then it's down to chasing
detail. I'm sure you'll get there. My feeling is a reduced airflow
(clogged air cleaner, old rag, mouse nest) in the air passages, or
;possibly float or petrol feed problems, but YMMV. I once took some
time to diagnose a problem on my single-cylinder bike; it ran OK at
high speed, but had the blind staggers at less than half throttle.
Eventually I traced it to the loss of the locating pin for the
throttle slide, which was free to rotate in the carburettor body.....

About the story above, a slight clue that all was not well was the
bomb-aimer's report of yellow TIs. It suggests the crew mentioned were
slightly early, or the target-marking slightly late. Bomber Command
raids ran to tight timing by the standards of the day; yellow TIs were
only used by Pathfinders for other Pathfinders to use; the TIs for the
Main Force were green or red. Usually both were dropped, and the
Master Bomber assessed their accuracy and directed Main Force
accordingly - "Bomb on the green markers to the south" etc.

The first Pathfinders over the target were the Primary Blind Markers.
Using every navigational aid (dead reckoning, GEE, H2S radar) they
would drop their yellow TIs where they thought the target was. The
Illuminators then dropped hundred of flares to light up the target,
and the Primary Visual Markers would then be able to see their
specific aiming point, and drop green and red TIs accordingly. Main
Force would then move in. This whole episode might take four minutes,
with the Main Force attack lasting forty minutes (later it reduced to
twenty).

For our crew to see only yellow TIs meant that they had arrived at
only the first stage of target marking; they should have seen a lit-up
city showing yellow, red, and green TIs. I haven't read any reports
that this particular raid ran late; so our crew must have been
slightly early; perhaps turning a couple of miles short of the actual
point over the Baltic. We'll never know, but it's interesting to make
the deductions.