Hayabusa - love it or hate it?

[connorling]

States whether u like or dislike hayabusa and why.

[Roger Explosion]

You didn't say please.

[Ninja250]

i hate it

[rharris]

Ugly looks like the F350 of the bike world

[Gippo]

Love it, feels as fast as a ZX14, drops into turns much more crispier and can be a little smoother to ride.

Downsides, knees touch my elbows without rearset change, shins touch the fairings when I put my feet down.

Overall thumbs up.

[PBF]

Subtle "what should i buy next?" thread?

if you go through all the options and buy the one with the best response i will be impressed.

[Captain Starfish]

ohai

I've owned a few bikes over the last 20 years or so. They were all enjoyable/appropriate etc for what I was doing at the time, but if I had limitless cash there was always some other bike that I would have preferred to be riding. Except one. When I had the busa and someone asked "Forget money, etc, ideally what bike would you get next?" the answer was "another one of these".

The busa can be a very comfortable long haul tourer. Plenty of leg room, plenty of storage space (on the gen1 anyway), not too aggressive a seating position. At posted speed limits the engine hardly even works, it's just ticking over and loving the road.

When that touring gets you into some twisty stuff, though, the busa can go round the bends - not like a 600 of course, but far more aggressively than a cruiser or ST1300, BMW KT/LT, ZX14, blackbird or the like. The brakes are awesome - and they need to be, to balance out what happens when you open the throttle wide and let rip.

So it can be a very sedate, comfortable and lazy bike (6th gear @ 40km/h? No worries).

Or it can be a fucking animal with all the bad manners in the world.

When I bought mine (I was getting out of an ST1100) I did the righty and tried the BMW, the Blackbird, the ZX14 and a few others. I was underwhelmed - none of them did anything for me. All comfortable and confident big bikes, but they stirred absolutely nothing in my soul. Then went to test ride a busa. It started up and sat there, barking and snarling and looking mentally hideous like that wanker at the pub everyone agrees is ugly as fuck - but who still ends up taking the girls home when the rest of the lads are forever alone.

It spoke to something deep inside me. What it said was "Come on, you little bitch, let's go and play. Let's go and do something... naughty."

Love 'em, can't wait to own another one.

[big j]

I hate it.

WHY - It's big, ugly, and looks like its got cancerous lump on it.

[Ninja250]

i hate it because the cops think its ugly and cops are cool

[Tiger1]

I don't hate it but it sure is ugly. Give me a 2012 ZZR14 anyday

[chew]

Not into hyper bikes anyway.

But on looks alone, not a chance. Everyone I know who has one or has ridden one likes them though.

[Screamin TE]

Captain Starfish, good sell on the Busa. I still think they are as ugly as sin though.

[Captain Starfish]

Oh, I'm not defending the looks at all. It's an alien, organically curvy ugly that I know a lot of people don't get and, considering the "normal" gsxr/cbr/yzf/duc/mv/bmw/zx styling certainly is a bit different. I prefer the gen1 styling over the gen2, where they seem to have given up a lot of the original uniqueness and half caved in to the cadillac driver's idea of what a bike "should" look like.

Don't forget that they were pretty much the only production bike to have its fairing designed with the assistance of a wind tunnel and what an amazing job that fairing does (at 300km/h the busa just squats down and sits on the road, rock solid and stable).

Personally I like the look - I find it very "fuck you, I don't care how I look because all you're going to see is my tail light anyway", but I totally understand why most don't like them.

[Ferris]

Being late to the busa owner club, not having owned a Gen1, but starting with the 2nd of the Gen2's, I'm in complete agreeance and echoing of *fish. Its looks, while subjectively ugly, appeal to me. It looks huge, but that bulk disappears when you get moving and your feet are on the pegs. Excellent brakes, excellent engine with plenty of power across the entire rev range. It just lopes along at all normal speeds, with no fuss whatsoever. Get upto light speed, and it just tamps down and gets on with it. No fuss, no nervousness. It's happy to sit at stupid stupid speeds all day, no drama, no abuse. While not as agile as my XB9R was (and I didn't expect it to be) it's not the "only good for straight lines hur hur" bike that people make it out to be either. It's got a bit more weight to it, but it is rather flickable for a big bike. I have no dramas moving this thing around. It just takes a little more effort than the 1000s do.

The thing that appeals to me the most about the 'busa is it has the performance to back the hype, but the good manners to be a mild mannered pussycat if you want it to be.

[FJ Steve]

It's so fucking ugly, it's beautiful.

Not pretty, but as CS says, @$3.00 who gives a flying fuck how it looks.

it's in my top 5 "must have before I die" bike list.

[Ninja250]

well, a serious response from me for a potential busa convert

i have owned a wide variety of cars, boats, bikes and gadgets over the years, use them for a bit then sell them when i'm over it. The busa is the only thing i have owned that makes me feel content and completely satisfied. The only way i'll get rid of it is to trade it in for a gen III.

I personally like the look. Its a mans bike. Not as manly as a harley but its like a harley crossed with a ufo.

I would prefer a litre bike in my teens and early 20's but as people age, litre bikes look like little boy racers trying to relive their youth. I cant explain it. When i see a teenager or 20 something on a litre bike, it looks cool. When i see a grown man on a litre bike, it looks wrong to me.

The busa is a solid practical bike that will take you around australia in comfort, style and ease.

Open the throttle and you got your own personal roller coaster.

Its all round the best bike ever created by mankind.

[Thirsty]

Not just that im a Kwakka man and picked the 14....(cos im not a dedicated brand man.. though i think id struggle to buy a current yammie or suzuki) I really really dont like the rear hump on a busa. Looks slightly better with the seat on. The Gen1 looks better with the hump on than gen2 does... um have I said the hump is ugly? On the Gen 2 the whole back end just has weird lines... it has a huge arse...that slopes down and falls off the edge of the planet with limp dick sticking out for a tail light.

The 14's rear could be better too.... but atleast like a nice pair of beasts, it points upwards.. The tail light looks silly when the bikes sitting there, but have a cool angry smile face when running at night time. I dont like the restyle theyve given it for 2012... i like the headlights, but nothing wrong with mine either, but theyve squared up the lines of what was already a chunky looking rear end. I think it was trying for a 'crisper' look, but its gotta flow, which the original 14's does better.

[milesiles]

I used to covet a Hayabusa when they first came out and I started to see them down at the strip. My 99 R1 at the time was an animal and I used to flog them to about half track then they would pass me like I was standing still. My thought was always "I want one" but being a Yamaha fan boy at the time and then other bike getting in the way I've never gotten around to it. Yet. Perhaps one day? They are ugly as sin, but I still want one.

[connorling]

Subtle "what should i buy next?" thread?

if you go through all the options and buy the one with the best response i will be impressed.

already have my 2011 busa, i think busa is one of the "love it/hate it" bikes.

i love it but my work mate (R1 rider) thinks otherwise.

if i have spare money, i would like to have another busa (Gen 1, since i got gen 2 now).

[Ninja250]

save your cash for a gen 3 in 2013