I look forward to a spin when I get a test ride. My main comment is remember when reviews were this good?! The reviewer actually had an opinion! I may or may not agree but I like that he spoke his mind. Too many ‘reviews’ now are clearly just promo services. Consumer first! 👍

he wants to hate it but can't haha long live the v twin

I am glad this review was made but I do think the reviewer may turn some possible owners off. As I write this, my 2001 is 16 years old and I love it. Very important to possible buyers is to understand the bike does have some traits you just have to accept. The engine does not like to be lugged. It is fairly high strung. i raced a Buell for years, that old Harley engine only knew idle to 6800 and then the rev limter kicked in. This is no Harley engine. At low revs it says "turn up the throttle", as below 3,000 there isn't much, but once you hit 4,000, this little gem will make you giggle as it races to redline! Almost Aprillia sounding! The bike is criticized in this article for only having a 120 mile tank. Believe me, after 120 miles you will need a stretch! Be happy that it doesn't go 300 miles on a fill! As far as a race track, yes track days are possible, but this machine is a typical Honda, meaning it has to find a medium ground. On the race track the suspension will wallow about. You can adapt to that, but this is no track weapon. It is a fun machine to hop on and enjoy a stint in the saddle. Twins are not inline 4's! Take and appreciate each machine for what it is and you will have years of enjoyment!

I club raced, dispatched and passed my bike instructor tests on mine. Loved it. I found by dynojetting it slightly leaner (185 mains iirc), I could eeek out around 135 miles before fill ups when touring. progressive fork springs seem to suit the storm. Best moment: She burned off a load of 916's and race specced machines in a supertwin race at a club race round in 1998 and finished 4th out of about 30 bikes. I expected to come last. I gave the old girl a big pat on the tank that day!! It got smashed to pieces the next meeting though...

I sold my silver storm after going to fast everywhere on it too easily. After leaving my brother in law on his VFR behind, doing twice the national that was enough. I just couldn't control myself. Bought myself a Guzzi V10....

I had one. Excellent bike. 90 degree V twins "by their very nature" do NOT shake a lot. Perfect primary balance and very good secondary. What you feel is the power impulses. I also did not experience the chugging. It was dead smooth from idle to way too fast for me!

I fell in love with mine from the off,and 4 months later,I still do,it's great for embarrassing 989 and 999 riders.The most important mod that you can make is to bin the Honda auto cam chain tensioners and fit manually adjustable ones.

You hated it for first few hundred miles? Man, I bought this bike last year and I love it from first ride.

I picked up a 98. A little rough needs a few things here and there. Previous owner fitted an SC shorty single making it loud as hell, but it sounds superb and I actually like it. The harley guys appreciate it as well. The torque is nice and who cares about the mpg when the bike puts a smile on your face

I have a 97 with 24k on it, it has Maxton shock and fork revalve, standard cans which I've de baffled. It's an absolute road monster, I adore it.

lol every biker should test drive one and I can assure you this bike is fantastic and best of all the motor pulls like a "tractor on steroids"

I've had one since '02 (Red, bought new) Combination of torquey motor (with surprising lack of vibration- Most of my bikes have been strokers), nice turn in and stable turn characteristics (I raced an NSR250 and an Aprilia RS250, so I have some idea what I'm talking about) make it a great tourer. Range is a problem- you have to plan your trips pretty carefully. However, I once got 360km out of a tank (19L, Christchurch, NZ to Dunedin, NZ) with the bike running dry at the top of the hill into Dunedin. Fortunately, there was a fuel station at the bottom... Big let downs are (as mentioned) range and suspension, which is very cheap. Fork springs are particularly ill suited, being set for a 62KG rider, while the shock is set for an 87KG rider. Set of (in my case Racetech) correct fork springs makes a world of difference. Oh, and keep an eye on the Camchain tensioners. One of mine went at about 25k km, another at about 50k km. After the second one, I put manual ones in, adjust every warrant (6mth). Sweet as.

I never had one new & I could only afford an old GS550, I've been building one up from a Frame & Engine using Blade 929 Forks & it's nearly finished 🤞🤞🤞

I’ve had my 2003 SuperHawk for 3 years now and love it. I only have 6500 miles on it and don’t get to drive it as much as I would like to. I’m getting 40 miles to a gallon. I agree that it does not like to run below 1500 rpm. I never had a vtwin bike before this. It’s a comfortable rider too.

I had a 2002 until stolen, now a 2007 cbr1000rr, which would smoke it. It was a great bike, esp in town. It loved low-mid rpms nearly as much as the highs. More than a 120 mile tank, approx 40± mpg. The suspension properly tuned for weight is more and better than most of us will ever get. With a good set of sport touring tires, you'll enjoy a long way. Excellent for hauling around passengers too. This litre vtwin is nearly perfect, Id def get another one. and at top speed 145-150 it become extremely smooth an quiet as if I were in a bubble. At 150 my cbr is still windy and shakey. Go figure..

I grew up on 2 strokes(RDLC 125/ 350) and loved the VFR 400RR But this machine Beats the CBR 600 inline four, it has power in EVERY GEAR LOL:)

I have both Super Hawk and an RC51 I love both of them

What a stellar review.

Excellent review. You touched on most the big points, positive and negative. (There are more of each, of course…). Well done.

Thumbs up for the Nakano helmet.

Spot on review really. I have a 1998 model and the Vtwin took some getting used to for me coming from a triple and several inline fours. However, the more I rode it the more I loved it. It's got a ton of character and heaps of torque!!! The handling is quite awesome as well. This is a canyon carver for sure but not a flat out speedster.

I owned this bike... And I've sold it. And you know what? I really miss that bike. It's one of the few bikes that I wish I had kept. Even with it's shortcomings... #1 being short range. If I could have any bike back that I've sold - it would be the Superhawk. (The US version)

120 miles before the light comes on lol try 80 :) This bike is so underated, Fucking use 100% of the bikes power all the time, its a monster i love it. Best bike ever. Buy one and ride it hard as possible, they take a while to get used to but they are amazing. just top out at 144 :(

My first bike was one of these. Lots of power, but in my opinion not enough handling!! It used to kick around a lot in the corners though, I had a very violent tank slapper going past my local one Saturday. Great fun bike though, miss mine.. :-)

The firestorm is a bike that I LOVE THE need for speed and THE 1997 version is a fantastic machine and I dmit it is a machine that need speed:)

Always liked the idea of these but waited until now to get one. They're now a bargain bike in Britain and I love 'em. Fuel light comes on at 125 miles but never managed to get more than 13 litres in the 19 litre tank at fill up, so easy 150 miles on mine. As he says in the video...the speedo sucks and should have swapped places with the rev counter. It's old school, with carbs and no anti lock or traction control...but that's fine by me...never owned anything that fancy. Cheap thrills and I've found it attracts a lot of admiring attention.

This is great bike for highway touring at 6 th gear and 130 km/h its economy AF 5l/100km with my 97 :D

If you don't like the V twin, but the CB900f Hornet.

Can anyone recommend a phone mount for the firestorm?

Why does my VTR pop pop pop when I'm off the throttle little backfires I was told for the exhaust that is on the bike it was totally normal but it's annoying at this point and I always thought backfires were bad for your valves isn't that correct?... I absolutely love the bike though I love the way it delivers the power I originally bought this bike because I got a good deal on it and I like all bikes so I'm not going to pass up a good deal but dang I ended up really liking the bike like I said Power delivery is awesome and it's not slow that's for sure I've definitely rode much faster but there's just something about this V-Twin torque that I like

Great review. What he said is very true of twins.

Best low budget and reliable bike on the market. , but be sure to install some manual cam chain tensioners. Love this bike... but the bellypan is really ugly.

6:22 DOGGO!

3.34 minutes in and I'm switching channels, so far slate, slate, slate. That's all I've heard, only just got my vtr (always been a 4 pot biker) but this is different and fun, torque is immense and the "inherent vibration" is lost when you acrually get into the bike. No fuel injection? If it ain't broke don't fix it, fuel injection may make it smoother but at a cost of some character (for character read "vibration" apparently) end of the day its horses for courses.

120 miles is good!

Good review , it's put me off.

I just picked one of these up yesterday I like it pulls hard .. I want to get that rear seat cover I've looked not much success anybody got a link thank you

Had one and didn't like it. Far reach to bars made it uncomfortable. Heavy feeling at slow speeds and liked to fall into the turns. Never really got comfortable with it.

Ive had 3 vtrs id say pefect allrounde r

best honda ever

great bike except 3 stuff= drink alot according to what people and test say 🤷🏻‍♂️ , have llil to sporty position fix be lil i never version still lil to much lesnforward and 6 is overgear which i dont reallly like last csn be easy fix be add 2-3 teeth at rear sprocket but than you have lil to strong 1 gear with 350 kgf at backwheelll at 60 km/h what generate masivve whellly 👍🏻 unless rider be very heavy than such setup be even better 😉👍🏻

V-twin is vibration? Bullshit! V-twin is good sound and torque.

PS on mday i used to ride by the seat of m pants lol:)

Problem in this bike was all weight on the front!to difficult on the close corners

? Honda used to rule the top in motor sport. lol Honda Music they called the high revving engines

I would just like to say, GENERALLY IN TODAY'S Motorcycling THE ABS AND ANTI this/or that TEETH and the electronics are a fucking laugh:(

Not so much a review, as the most of the "review" is about what he doesnt personally like. Its 2024 and reviews have changed, for the better ! 👍

biggest tit reviewing of THE best bikes I've owned.....and rhats 40 bikes.

I bought a 2001 vtr1000 superhawk geez people don't understand how quick they are look at the quarter mile 10-second quarter-mile these bikes are not slow by any means freaking blast to ride they handle amazing only one problem with them 30000 Mi they're done and I can't believe the Hondas okay with this no recall at 30,000 miles on these bikes the timing chain tensioner goes out for sure they do and then it blows your motor up Hondas okay with a 30000 mile bike it freaking drives me up the wall now that it happened to me it really shines a light on it why is there not a recall Honda Honda Honda Honda recall the superhawk the timing chain tensioner goes out at 30,000 miles you all know this why is there not a recall I spent $3,500 on the bike gear another $2,000 put new tires front and back on the bike another $400 it literally ran for fucking one day the day after I put the new tires on it change the oil head for the mountains smiling from ear-to-ear then all the sudden clack clack clack clack clack clack clack clack clack clack clack clack freaking Honda 30000 MI Motors down and Honda's perfectly okay with selling us a 30,000 mile bike look it up that's what they're known to go for 30000 miles if you don't change that...... So Honda do a recall and change that I'm freaking believable you think we could have money just to throw away why would anybody buy a motorcycle that only runs for 30,000 miles and this is not a fluke it's all over the internet that's how long they last 30000 miles