It was a time of V-twins: Ducati was winning the World Superbike Championship with its beautiful 916, Harley-Davidson was selling its cruisers faster than it could build them, and many bigbore inline fours were too powerful for their tyres, and too peaky for enjoyable street riding.
Honda launched the VTR1000F Firestorm as a street sportsbike: a sporty but not cramped riding position, a grunty V-twin powerplant, a
