Busa Or _____

[Bailey9r]

I have been reading about the Super Duke and the Aprilia Tuono and was thinking about trading my Busa for the Aprilia. What do you guys think?
I'm thinking if I did that I would get on it and halfway home think "What am i doing on this little thing?"
Anyone ridden one? Your thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[jellyrug]

After all these years with a Busa, I must admit it remains a heavy bike. Never quite made peace with that. Then you get the folks with their heavier Harleys and Gold Wings and touring bikes. I can't even imagine owning one of those. Might as well own a two seat convertible instead.

Perhaps it is because most of my miles are ridden on a bike weighing close to 15lbs. ;-)

 

[VIPER]

very nice machines! I agree the bus is a heavy girl but she has the proper curves and is alllll woman!

 

[fallenarch]

Okay, this is brilliant Jelly! Put the Busa engine on the bike? You can carry fuel in a back pack. I'm calling the patent office today.......

 

[fallenarch]

Seriously though, I have the same problem lately. People are flocking to naked bikes because of the more relaxed and frankly better control that comes from sitting up and grabbing your bull by a set of longer horns. This makes longer road rides on questionable road surfaces more enjoyable. The KTM Super Duke 1290 GT is a great example of this. Full superbike electronics and an RC8 engine with relaxed ergos and panners. Perfect sport touring bike for people who aren't ready to sip Geritol from their hydration packs. BMW has many versions of the 1200 and 800 too that are light enough to be fun. But none of these have the power except the S1000 sport touring bike, which is very heavy on the sporting and light on the touring. Aprillia has something, MV too. And then there is the Motus MST-R, which is an upright, lighter Busa performance wise but crazy expensive. Lots of good bikes out there but I am finding out that even with just 2 updates in 20 years, the Busa is a very difficult bike to top when it comes to fast sport touring. You can get new with more toys but not necessarily better. It would be great if I was looking for my first bike, but I keep getting back to the reality that the new $20K bikes are not significantly better than my 2009 Busa!

 

[Bailey9r]

I went 550 miles a month ago and the last 50 or so miles had my a&$ screaming so I thought they were more comfy. On my ZX9R I used to go 800 miles and want to keep going when everyone in the group was stopping. Then again I am 10 years older now.
And yup traction control and corner control etc is nice sounding but can sound like a lot of complexity to go wrong also, but I wonder how good Super Duke or Aprilia is for distance with no wind protection.

Maybe I just need to go for a ride on the Busa as it still always makes me grin.

 

[jellyrug]

I did the Trans American Trail (65% off-road from Tennessee to Portland Oregon) two years ago doing 350-500 miles a day on a bike weighing 290 lbs and sometimes hitting 100mph on pavement. Besides river crossings and somewhat heavy single track, I was pretty comfortable. I think it is more a frame of mind, but light weight sure has plenty advantages.

Once the Busa gets going, it fits me like a glove in standard configuration, never bothered me in the twisties. Where the weight gets me is loading the bike on the back of my truck, maneuvering it around in the garage, putting it on stands, doing things in the city at below 10mph, parking it and finally the constant fear of the thing falling over with +$1000 damage.

 

[Busabim]

My .02. ---I switched to a S1000R with Rox risers and Buell pegs for the long haul. Stock peg posts drilled out and swap in 1 minute. Tuono has the lovely v4 and chassis, but nobody up here can service em so I didnt even try one out and no fuel range in the tank for occasional trips.

Just finished a 3000 mile trip to the gap and in the heat a naked cant be beat. The difference in fatigue (with a bike 100 pounds lighter) is something else. My riding buddy had a full faired bike and it was 95 most days and was dying.

Only 2 up do I miss the torque of the busa. In the twisties, forget the bus and stick with us. Note the empty ugly ventura rack in back. 5 minutes and back to stock.

BB

 

[Bailey9r]

Good points there, I had forgotten the really poor range of the Aprilia.
Around here in North Florida I lean to the Super Duke in the consideration of service access as the only Aprilia dealer is in Tampa but you just about have to finance the thing to get them to let you test ride a KTM so I walked (Ride Now in Ocala is hard to do business with.) I'm not about to buy a big V-twin without a test ride, for all I know it runs like a Massey Ferguson WaWaWA. Aprilia V-4 I know is smooth and they have a "Schedule A Test Ride" button on the website because they are so much more accommodating.
Funny cause except for a brief 2 year agricultural experience with a thing that begins with H and D I haven't held HANDLE BARS since the eighties when I bought a new 87 FJ1200.

Thanks guys for your input. Mull Mull, I'm mulling this over haha