Why can't you learn on a Busa?

[dnc]

I've never ridden a bike a day in my life. I do plan on getting a bike soon enough though, the thing is.. I know how to shift on a bike, from what I read.. it's relatively simple.

If someones whos driven a high horsepower car for several years, and has a good feel for the road.. would he be considered a complete beginner if he were to say start on a Busa?

I mean, I know if you know how to drive a really powerful car, why couldn't you learn on a powerful bike? If that makes any sense, I mean the concept of shifting in a car shouldn't be much different from shifting on a bike should it?

So long as you don't punch it, shouldn't it be relatively easy to learn on if you already know how to drive stick?

And lastly, if you stall a bike say in first gear .. what happens exactly?

 

[busahaya]

Because you can get yourself killed or seriously injure yourself, By the way, Welcome to the Org

 

[adrenaline junkey]

it its the way the bike turns stops accelerates and handles. a little  smaller bike is easyer to learn on. as long as ya pay close atention and always keep the bike uprite stalling isnt a problem but if it gets a little of cant somtimes its hard to hold the bike uprite



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[HayaVegas]

If you have never ridden a bike a day in your life, - you should get on a cheap low powered motorcycle and ride it at the speed limit, and take some turns so you can see how friggin hard it is. You have no clue how hard it is to actually RIDE a motorcycle...nothing to do with shifting...

Just get on one, and drive it around and make some turns, and by the time you get that bike repaired and your skin grafts heal, you will be ready to pick another bike, -but hopefully you will have learned how bad it hurts to wreck a little bike as opposed to one that has as much horsepower as a family sedan.

 

[shenoyp]

I've never ridden a bike a day in my life. I do plan on getting a bike soon enough though, the thing is.. I know how to shift on a bike, from what I read.. it's relatively simple.

If someones whos driven a high horsepower car for several years, and has a good feel for the road.. would he be considered a complete beginner if he were to say start on a Busa?

I mean, I know if you know how to drive a really powerful car, why couldn't you learn on a powerful bike? If that makes any sense, I mean the concept of shifting in a car shouldn't be much different from shifting on a bike should it?

So long as you don't punch it, shouldn't it be relatively easy to learn on if you already know how to drive stick?

And lastly, if you stall a bike say in first gear .. what happens exactly?

Welcome to the board!!

..and your logic sucks. It does not work that way... example, you wont fall off your car if your wheels lock in breaking or you wont see em stars if you let the clutch out too fast in the first gear.

Do you get what i'm trying to convey to you here mate!!

 

[FL Knifemaker]

Read the above thread, then start out on a 600 or SV 650.

Then read many of the threads regarding crashes by new owners on new Busas.

You will have allot more fun starting out smaller.

 

[FJRider]

Welcome to the board. MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT THIS... There is a world of difference between a fast car and a fast bike. Shifting gears is the least of your issues. Hand/foot coordination, balance, and throttle management are the first things that come to my mind, but "judgement" of how to do all those things properly can make or break you (literally).

For someone that has never driven a fast bike, (much less any bike), the Hayabusa will accelerate faster than your mind can keep up with it. Read the newbee threads, and the "first Busa rides." Even experienced riders find themselves awe-struck by the Busa's rocket-ship acceleration.

Here's how your situation could easily go bad, and fast. First you'll find that the Busa accelerates faster than any car you've driven, much faster - but the bike accelerates so smoothly you won't initially notice it. In just a few seconds you will be reacting much slower than you should be (due to inexperience). The key to staying alive on a Busa is "control." From the get-go the bike will be expecting you to control it, but being inexperienced, you won't know how. (Once underway you'll only have seconds to learn!) Things get worse from here. You might get lucky and not get hurt or killed, but it'll be pure luck, and all the reading in the world about 'how to shift' won't help you.

Do yourself a favor. This forum has a lot of answers pertaining to whether the Busa should be purchased as a first bike. Read them carefully. Also read about those that have crashed their Busa's. In many of those cases the drivers had previous riding experience but still under estimated the Busa's performance. It's very easy to do.

While there are a few people that have successfully started out with a Busa as their first bike, even some of them wouldn't success others do it. The vast majority of riders "graduate" to a Busa, only after spending many hours on smaller, less powerful machines. I think you'll find even a 650cc machine will provide you will plenty of "wow" factor, and for several months or even years.

Besides the danger factor, the worst part of buying a Busa as your first bike is, odds are you are going to wreck. Many people do (even WITH experience). Unfortunately every time someone wrecks it negatively effects motorcycling in general and runs insurance rates up.

Both of which screws all of us.

Personally, I would recommend a year or so of dirt riding (trail or motorcross), to hone your riding skills, before graduating to street riding. Falling [which you will do] is much more surviveable in the dirt, and you won't have to worry about a fully loaded semi running you over. You can really learn a lot riding in the dirt and the experience can save your life once you start riding street bikes. Just a suggestion.

Good luck.

 

[Tufbusa]

The busa is probably the easiest most rider friendly performance bike out there. It's as gentle as a lamb as long as you don't wack the throttle on wet pavement or while leaned in a corner. The busa is not wheelie prone like the liter bikes making it much safer for a beginner. The only problem is, many new riders (Not all) end up dropping their first bike a couple of times while learning. The busa is an expensive one to replace the plastic on if you drop it. Most are dropped at slow speeds while learning to manuver in parking lots etc. If you don't mind the expense of the plastic if you drop it, then I'd say give the busa a try. It would however, be a good idea to buy yourself a cheap old honda or yamaha etc. and ride it for a couple of months before buying a shinny new busa so if you end up dropping it, no big deal. Lots of guys on here will tell you the busa is much to powerful and goes way too fast for a beginner. But if you know how to handle high performance cars, then you'll have no problem with the busa. The guys who tell you the busa is too fast for beginners and recommend a 600 or the like fail to tell you that a GSXR600 goes 160 mph. I have never understood the logic of killing yourself at 190 mph on a Busa is any different than killing yourself on at 160 mph 600?

Welcome to the board. Hopefully we'll see you on a busa in the future?

 

[BusaWhipped]

Bikes and cars are like night and day. I don't know what you consider powerful, but I have a 500+ HP car and it won't run 9's in the 1/4 or pull a wheelie at 70 MPH, but my stock Busa can. The physics involved with 2 wheels is much different than 4 wheels. For example, to make a car turn better, you lower it and put on wider tires. To make a bike handle better, you raise it and put on skinnier tires. So there is not anything you can equate to riding because you can drive.

With that said, I've found the Busa to have a duel personality. Drive it around below 5,000 RPM, and it's a pussycat. Over 6,000 RPM, it's a beast. The problem trying to learn on it is the temptation to take the bike to readline before you have the experience to handle everything that's happening when the bike is accelerating that fast.

I agree with Tufbusa that if you are going to buy a sport bike as your first scoot, the Busa is no worse to learn on than a small cheap bike. I generally recommend learning on a standard bike or small cruiser. Something with a upright seating position and not alot of top end. You can find them cheap enough that you don't care so much when you drop it and you can afford to get rid of after 4-5,000 miles (should take less than 6 months if you are really serious about riding). Then buy your Busa.

 

[Smoke_Dog]

If you don't have any common since, like to show off for the ladies, and always trying to please the crowd, don't do it! Get something for about $600 bones and practice! But, I can say that my buddy Rico, learned on the Busa, but I had to make him stay behind me, when riding. From there he went to riding by himself on the back roads of Valdosta! The bottom line is you can do it, if you approach riding with extreme saftey in mine.

Hit this site:

www.downsouthryderz.com



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[fstAZfk]

Hey smoke, that link you posted is a mailing addy. Not a website. Take the Bellsouth off the end.

 

[johnstein]

good luck!

 

[BentValve]

Go for it, just get comfortable with the fact that you will drop it at some point , nothing wrong with starting on a Busa IMO though...but frankly youd appreciate the Busa more if you started on something else first.....id say do yourself a huge favor and get something like an SV1000 for a season first....really anything at all for a season. In the end you will appreciate the Busa more if you have some previous experience on something else and get a fall under your belt as well.

 

[USMCBUSA]

There is a big differentce in a fast car and a fast bike. The biggest one is four wheels vs two. It is easy to drive a fast car it holds itself up in a corner a busa doesn't. A motorcycle can really surprize you if you don't know what to expect (hitting rear brake to hard, grabbing the front brake to hard, to much trottle going in a corner). I would start with a smaller 600. It will save you a lot of heart ache if you drop it learning.

 

[gtrpimp76]

Do yourself, your family, friends and US (mainly so we dont get jacked up insurance rates) a favor!! Take the MSF beginning ridercourse. You learn so much about riding and it may just help you to reevaluate your Busa decision. Busa is a fine motorcycle but only if you RESPECT (keyword here that EVERYONE HERE WILL PREACH TO YOU). Riding a fast car and a fast bike are TWO TOTALLY DIFFERENT THINGS!! You won't have that "safety net" on a motorcycle if you make errors. At least with a car, you won't fall over and hit the pavement. Learn about the different types of accidents (lowside, highside, broadside) and how they are caused and could prolly be prevented. Let us know how things are going and welcome to the board!!

 

[zukracer]

I have a buddy that is in your *exact* situation and said the *exact* same things .... actually, since he now owns a busa, I'm pretty sure this isnt Rik postin here is it

He was hell bent & set to get a busa for his first bike. We danced and danced on this one, ultimately I said where do you want me to send flowers. He was like, huh?

I said again, where do I send flowers cuz you will be dead within 6months if you get a busa for your first bike. Finally after he kept up with I'll keep it under control, I can just be gentle with the throttle, I wont rip it up, etc etc, I said, ok, if you can insure it with full coverage and *no experience* I'll drive you to the dealer. Now keep in mind, the dealer when they learned of his lack of experience, said they would not sell him the bike. The GM of the dealership said, you can sue me if you want but I cannot be a part of this so you'll have to go elsewhere to purchase a busa. All of that combined with his insurance agent laughing at him when he asked about insuring the busa, well he finally buckled and got the 600 katana that we had all suggested to him. He wanted the full fairing bike, so the SV didnt appeal to him and the insurance co said nothing bigger than a 600, so he couldnt get the 750.

I will tell you, after a year of riding the katana, learning on it and putting about 9k miles in on it, he got a busa. The one thing though that he said after getting his busa .... "thanks man" I said for what, " for making me get that katana, you were right bro, if I had got this for the first bike, we wouldnt be here now talking, so thanks"

So take it for what its worth.... I have heard HORROR stories of guys getting the bike and being dead within 2hrs, and that includes lunch along the way

I'm sure they were going out there trying to show their butts & did .... just like I know there are folks here that did just fine with a busa as their first bike. I obviously wouldnt suggest it, however it is a very good bike to ride.

From the car world, it could be compared this way:

I can drive a car, I can shift, I can turn, I can haul ass in my C5 corvette. A corvette is a high power sports car that handles with some of the best of them. The difference is this thing isnt the corvette of the motorcycle world, its more like the enzo ferarri of the car world. A vehicle that flat out *expects* that you know how to make it turn, that *expects* you know how to feather the clutch when you start to haze the tires on hard accelleration, that *expects* you know what to do when it drifts through a turn.

If you decide to get a busa for the first bike, my advice, take the riders edge course , take it way easy and get some good gear. And then get with some existing busa riders and learn from them

 

[theemrrdkill]

uhmm .. 2 words.. ----> ( Panic Situations ) if yah cant handle them ...or have @ least a good responce to them .. ( Good Luck ) <-- comes to mind ..

 

[gsferrari]

Man...you must be brave and gifted with oversized cojones if you are considering the Busa as your first bike...to learn on

I've been riding all my life:

Bicycle
25cc engine on a bicycle
50cc engine on a bicycle
50cc moped
100cc Yamaha RX100
350cc Yamaha RD350
350cc Royal Enfield Bullet
500cc Royal Enfield Bullet
175cc Yamaha <forget model>

Ive taken two MSF courses (beginners and advanced) AFTER coming to USA despite riding all these years...I still learnt a lot of new stuff in both the beginners and advanced courses.

Ive borrowed bikes (600RR, R6, R1) and tooled around town.


AND I AM STILL WETTING AND BROWNING MY PANTS WHEN I THINK OF RIDING THE HAYABUSA !!!

I think fear is healthy. Fear keeps you "real" and fear reinforces the concept of human physical fragility. This is important when you dont have seat belts, air bags, a seat that supports your back, crumple zones, 4 wheels that will keep you off the tarmac...and a whole lot more...

Riding a bike is like living in a warzone where everything is the enemy - oil/dirt/gravel on the roads, bumps and missing pieces of tarmac on the corners, traffic, pedestrians, cell-phone drivers, carpool moms, cager newbies, rain/water on the roads...


This isnt some joke - reconsider your decision and get a smaller bike and head to the nearest MSF class first.

I hope I dont see you in the "Riders Obituary" section of this forums...I am doing everything I can to equip myself with skills so that I dont end up there myself.



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[GSXTacy]

What did you learn to drive a car in? A viper? If so, go for it. If you learned to drive in a "normal" car then went to the high power car you MAY be able to see the differece in a busa and a "normal" bike. My dad was riding bikes for 40 years before he got his and he is still in awe at the power.

 

[leaderc]

Shifting is the least of your worries. Please head what others have written here. You do not want to learn on a 'Busa. Not only the good points made about acceleration your mind cannot comprehend or keep up with, but even if you get moving the 'Busa is the only bike I've ever ridden that demands 100% of your concentration on EVERYTHING all the time, no exceptions. One second of loss of concentration which you will have having never ridden a motorcycle will end in, at a minimum scaring the daylights out of you, or, at a maximum, death. Please take your local MSF class and then re-evaluate what you think you can handle. I'm not saying never buy a 'Busa, by all means, learn to ride, and when you are ready graduate to the most wonderful motorcycle in the world to ride......


Charles