Hayabusa Wannabe
Registered
HayaWakened said, "Enjoy it, and let the forum know your adventures!" So not very adventurous but here it is.
I just got my first ride on my Hayabusa. Weather.com had predicted 0% precipitation from 7 AM to 10 AM and then definitive storms moving in. I launched somewhere about 7:45 or 8 AM (the bike clock was off so I lost my bearing, but never fear that problem has been resolved.
Did you know that I had not even sat on this bike? I had only ridden the VFR and the dual sport at the MSF. So this is first sitting, first start, first everything. I love trying stuff out for the first time, particularly vehicles. My memory is bad but I may have bought my last car without a test ride. So this was quite cool.
It was dead quiet this morning when I put the key in. I toggled the shutoff switch and the fuel pump actually startled me. It is much more in-your-face than the old VFR! It sounded to me like the intro chord to Ziggy Stardust coming out of nowhere. (Feel free to compare and contrast.)
Back up one week: When my mechanic rode it home it was raining. As we left the city where I purchased it, I think we were leaving the gas station and he made a left and fishtailed out onto the road. When we got back he said that he was merely rolling on and not even stabbing it, and warned me about what I was dealing with. Now I had read a great deal here about how tame the bike is at low speeds but he put a bit of a fright in me! Fast forward one week and I finally get a chance to try it. (Now he races a turbo Hayabusa and is a former stunt rider. So yes, I am taking his experience into consideration lol.)
The ride was from 25 to 40 mph and inadvertently including some very technical roads, tight turns through inclines and declines. Those are my favorite but I stumbled onto them accidentally on this first ride!
Prediction: The inline four will be an extremely smooth and a contrast to the Honda V4. Bingo. I noticed that there is a bit of vibration at 4,000 RPM. I spent a little time above that and I think it began to smooth out, but there is plenty of time to experience that later. I did far too much thinking on this ride. The next ride will be much more by feel.
The first thing that stuck out like a sea on fire: This bike has a gear indicator. HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY. Did I mention this bike has a gear indicator? YAY! HAAAAALELUJAH! HAAAAAAAAALELUJAH!
I got on it a bit a couple times in the city, for example, leaving an intersection then heading up a hill, where I could add some throttle without reaching an excessive speed. I think the engine worked just perfectly! It is insanely smooth! Using the controls on this bike and the character of the engine feels like driving a Lexus.
The inline 4 responds instantly while pulling the throttle and it also drops like a rock when letting up on the throttle and pulling the clutch. One over-rev on a shift was excessive and I can see, there is no forgiving the engine if I give it too much power. I got a little yank on what should be a simple shift. I have not ridden much these past couple of months (actually December was quite active but dropped off from there.) It stinks being rusty! But that does provide the worst case scenario for this road test.
My buddy said two things: "You are not going to ride this quite like the VFR." He also said that I will not ride the VFR at all after getting on this bike. HAH. These two statements cannot exist in the same time-space continuum! Yes, the girth of the Hayabusa means I will not be riding those technical roads quite as aggressively, I can feel that already. I ride the VFR like I stole it each and every outing. So these two bikes will have a slightly different place in my life. I can see the VFR staying long term. And the sound of the VFR, sorry folks, but nothing humanity has created reaches that level of audible perfection.
Well the exhaust gases from a 2017 Suzuki is far more tame to breath in than the 1999 bike! Eek, I hope if I get rid of the cat, that will not completely destroy the cleanliness effect. Clearly the fuel injection and everything involved is as refined as it gets today on the Hayabusa. The nose knows.
The throttle rotates with ease, the clutch is predictable, and the shifting is like pushing an elevator button. One could argue shifting is too easy, too smooth, with too little character and not enough feedback. Comparing this ride to the 1999 VFR800, this classic old-versus-new technology argument kept dancing in my brain. Ultimately it is a benefit to me to be able to ride both and experience this contrast. The conclusion that I am forced to provide you is that the Hayabusa is highly, even amazingly refined.
I hit neutral twice instead of second and one time had a little trouble getting into first. That happened way before the light, I had been downshifting smoothly through the gears, and had the clutch in for plenty of time. Now I have not owned a new bike, so any repercussions of break-in will be new to me. I am pretty good with that "minimum required effort" with the shift foot, but admittedly was thinking too much on this first ride as well, so we will see.
The rear brake seems to have a long movement. It works great but like the other controls (I am a slow learner) it will take me a bit to find that happy setting for tight turns and slow riding. Actually, both brakes have somewhat of a long movement before they do anything. I will probably adjust the front brake in fully, like my other bike.
I was in a crowded area, I think the speed limit was 30 mph. I ended up on a light that I know is a short yellow. People were in front of me turning left and in the business to the right of the road waiting to turn out in front of me. In a case where I would normally hit the gas this event had to be a stop, even though I thought it would be too aggressive. The stop happened perfectly. The bike remained level. I stopped before the white line and when it was all done I could not believe how perfectly it happened. I guess this is where the massive brakes and also heft of the bike keep the event remarkably smooth.
I now understand one particular impetus for aftermarket exhausts. This 2017 Hayabusa is far too quiet (and I have a significant aversion to noise!) Sound contributes a lot to my judgement of the controls but unfortunately all I heard was the mighty but medium rumble of the engine itself. I imagine the effect is similar to idling around town in a tank.
Exactly what my mechanic had experienced, a small movement in how high I keep my torso determined if I could see the turn signal indicator. It is nice and bright so I can say no matter what happened I never accidentally left it on. Perhaps because I was paying too close of attention to everything, or perhaps because the lights are a lot brighter than my old bike. We will see how lackadaisical I might on the turn signals later on as I get comfortable and start to zone out.
My mechanic had told me that he smelled the Cosmoline from the factory burning off (and this was an additional sign that the mileage had not been altered.) I smelled that as well as I was warming up the engine. He also warned me that the pegs are a bit high for six-footers like us. Yep, the top of my hip hurt a bit at first from the tight leg angle. He suggested Buell pegs. I really like choices in life, like a wide variety of control adjustments, and would love some rearsets, but if they are all higher than stock, that would be self-defeating. To be determined.
Hugging the tank with the legs: Being forward and right on the tank it feels okay but not a greatly beneficial shape for the legs. Moving back a bit on the seat, shifting my weight more onto the rear, my arms were just fine but I found that just the tips of my knees could still hold the tank. I do not feel quite as confident with this grip as with the VFR. It may necessitate some tank grips.
The suspension worked pretty well on roads with occasional bumps. It was a bit too harsh on an unfortunately extremely bumpy road. I have not checked the sag or rebound/damping. The first thing I have to check with my mechanic is the proper tools. I am obsessive-compulsive and if I mark up the adjusters I will get quite aggravated! Irrespective, the dream is to get this suspension to Jamie Daugherty for about a $900 rebuild. That created a dream bike out of the VFR and to me is a spectacular value.
Around 9 it began raining. DANGIT! That is one hour ahead of schedule! I had just made the decision to stay on side roads and not go testing the freeway performance. The gut instinct always knows and this was a good move. In this area I know perfectly I ended up being fine with the rain going from light to harsh then back. Then as I hit my side street the skies opened up. Okay that was good event. I made the emotional decision to drop all worries, synonymous to when people put their fingers in their ears and say "la la la la la la la." As soon as I did that, I found myself in a heavy downpour, with not a care in the world and just kept it steady over the last mile to my house, laughing inside the helmet as for only the second time I had experienced a heavy downpour on a motorcycle. While the risk of a slick road is real, the mental part of selecting anguish or joy is pure choice. So I chose joy. This was a good experience. My fear and adverse feelings to rain just dropped one big notch. I will never ever elect to intentionally ride in rain, but when it happens, my attitude will be much better, via choice.
Dang the VFR gas is now several weeks old and I had not put preservative in it. The opportunities to ride have been too slim, but I now have to see what I can do to keep the VFR happy and also getting plenty of seat time on the Hayabusa.
Honestly I am generally poor at describing experiences and only good at taking chances and living them. That said I hope that even some small thoughts above are beneficial to someone out there.
I just got my first ride on my Hayabusa. Weather.com had predicted 0% precipitation from 7 AM to 10 AM and then definitive storms moving in. I launched somewhere about 7:45 or 8 AM (the bike clock was off so I lost my bearing, but never fear that problem has been resolved.
Did you know that I had not even sat on this bike? I had only ridden the VFR and the dual sport at the MSF. So this is first sitting, first start, first everything. I love trying stuff out for the first time, particularly vehicles. My memory is bad but I may have bought my last car without a test ride. So this was quite cool.
It was dead quiet this morning when I put the key in. I toggled the shutoff switch and the fuel pump actually startled me. It is much more in-your-face than the old VFR! It sounded to me like the intro chord to Ziggy Stardust coming out of nowhere. (Feel free to compare and contrast.)
Back up one week: When my mechanic rode it home it was raining. As we left the city where I purchased it, I think we were leaving the gas station and he made a left and fishtailed out onto the road. When we got back he said that he was merely rolling on and not even stabbing it, and warned me about what I was dealing with. Now I had read a great deal here about how tame the bike is at low speeds but he put a bit of a fright in me! Fast forward one week and I finally get a chance to try it. (Now he races a turbo Hayabusa and is a former stunt rider. So yes, I am taking his experience into consideration lol.)
The ride was from 25 to 40 mph and inadvertently including some very technical roads, tight turns through inclines and declines. Those are my favorite but I stumbled onto them accidentally on this first ride!
Prediction: The inline four will be an extremely smooth and a contrast to the Honda V4. Bingo. I noticed that there is a bit of vibration at 4,000 RPM. I spent a little time above that and I think it began to smooth out, but there is plenty of time to experience that later. I did far too much thinking on this ride. The next ride will be much more by feel.
The first thing that stuck out like a sea on fire: This bike has a gear indicator. HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY. Did I mention this bike has a gear indicator? YAY! HAAAAALELUJAH! HAAAAAAAAALELUJAH!
I got on it a bit a couple times in the city, for example, leaving an intersection then heading up a hill, where I could add some throttle without reaching an excessive speed. I think the engine worked just perfectly! It is insanely smooth! Using the controls on this bike and the character of the engine feels like driving a Lexus.
The inline 4 responds instantly while pulling the throttle and it also drops like a rock when letting up on the throttle and pulling the clutch. One over-rev on a shift was excessive and I can see, there is no forgiving the engine if I give it too much power. I got a little yank on what should be a simple shift. I have not ridden much these past couple of months (actually December was quite active but dropped off from there.) It stinks being rusty! But that does provide the worst case scenario for this road test.
My buddy said two things: "You are not going to ride this quite like the VFR." He also said that I will not ride the VFR at all after getting on this bike. HAH. These two statements cannot exist in the same time-space continuum! Yes, the girth of the Hayabusa means I will not be riding those technical roads quite as aggressively, I can feel that already. I ride the VFR like I stole it each and every outing. So these two bikes will have a slightly different place in my life. I can see the VFR staying long term. And the sound of the VFR, sorry folks, but nothing humanity has created reaches that level of audible perfection.
Well the exhaust gases from a 2017 Suzuki is far more tame to breath in than the 1999 bike! Eek, I hope if I get rid of the cat, that will not completely destroy the cleanliness effect. Clearly the fuel injection and everything involved is as refined as it gets today on the Hayabusa. The nose knows.
The throttle rotates with ease, the clutch is predictable, and the shifting is like pushing an elevator button. One could argue shifting is too easy, too smooth, with too little character and not enough feedback. Comparing this ride to the 1999 VFR800, this classic old-versus-new technology argument kept dancing in my brain. Ultimately it is a benefit to me to be able to ride both and experience this contrast. The conclusion that I am forced to provide you is that the Hayabusa is highly, even amazingly refined.
I hit neutral twice instead of second and one time had a little trouble getting into first. That happened way before the light, I had been downshifting smoothly through the gears, and had the clutch in for plenty of time. Now I have not owned a new bike, so any repercussions of break-in will be new to me. I am pretty good with that "minimum required effort" with the shift foot, but admittedly was thinking too much on this first ride as well, so we will see.
The rear brake seems to have a long movement. It works great but like the other controls (I am a slow learner) it will take me a bit to find that happy setting for tight turns and slow riding. Actually, both brakes have somewhat of a long movement before they do anything. I will probably adjust the front brake in fully, like my other bike.
I was in a crowded area, I think the speed limit was 30 mph. I ended up on a light that I know is a short yellow. People were in front of me turning left and in the business to the right of the road waiting to turn out in front of me. In a case where I would normally hit the gas this event had to be a stop, even though I thought it would be too aggressive. The stop happened perfectly. The bike remained level. I stopped before the white line and when it was all done I could not believe how perfectly it happened. I guess this is where the massive brakes and also heft of the bike keep the event remarkably smooth.
I now understand one particular impetus for aftermarket exhausts. This 2017 Hayabusa is far too quiet (and I have a significant aversion to noise!) Sound contributes a lot to my judgement of the controls but unfortunately all I heard was the mighty but medium rumble of the engine itself. I imagine the effect is similar to idling around town in a tank.
Exactly what my mechanic had experienced, a small movement in how high I keep my torso determined if I could see the turn signal indicator. It is nice and bright so I can say no matter what happened I never accidentally left it on. Perhaps because I was paying too close of attention to everything, or perhaps because the lights are a lot brighter than my old bike. We will see how lackadaisical I might on the turn signals later on as I get comfortable and start to zone out.
My mechanic had told me that he smelled the Cosmoline from the factory burning off (and this was an additional sign that the mileage had not been altered.) I smelled that as well as I was warming up the engine. He also warned me that the pegs are a bit high for six-footers like us. Yep, the top of my hip hurt a bit at first from the tight leg angle. He suggested Buell pegs. I really like choices in life, like a wide variety of control adjustments, and would love some rearsets, but if they are all higher than stock, that would be self-defeating. To be determined.
Hugging the tank with the legs: Being forward and right on the tank it feels okay but not a greatly beneficial shape for the legs. Moving back a bit on the seat, shifting my weight more onto the rear, my arms were just fine but I found that just the tips of my knees could still hold the tank. I do not feel quite as confident with this grip as with the VFR. It may necessitate some tank grips.
The suspension worked pretty well on roads with occasional bumps. It was a bit too harsh on an unfortunately extremely bumpy road. I have not checked the sag or rebound/damping. The first thing I have to check with my mechanic is the proper tools. I am obsessive-compulsive and if I mark up the adjusters I will get quite aggravated! Irrespective, the dream is to get this suspension to Jamie Daugherty for about a $900 rebuild. That created a dream bike out of the VFR and to me is a spectacular value.
Around 9 it began raining. DANGIT! That is one hour ahead of schedule! I had just made the decision to stay on side roads and not go testing the freeway performance. The gut instinct always knows and this was a good move. In this area I know perfectly I ended up being fine with the rain going from light to harsh then back. Then as I hit my side street the skies opened up. Okay that was good event. I made the emotional decision to drop all worries, synonymous to when people put their fingers in their ears and say "la la la la la la la." As soon as I did that, I found myself in a heavy downpour, with not a care in the world and just kept it steady over the last mile to my house, laughing inside the helmet as for only the second time I had experienced a heavy downpour on a motorcycle. While the risk of a slick road is real, the mental part of selecting anguish or joy is pure choice. So I chose joy. This was a good experience. My fear and adverse feelings to rain just dropped one big notch. I will never ever elect to intentionally ride in rain, but when it happens, my attitude will be much better, via choice.
Dang the VFR gas is now several weeks old and I had not put preservative in it. The opportunities to ride have been too slim, but I now have to see what I can do to keep the VFR happy and also getting plenty of seat time on the Hayabusa.
Honestly I am generally poor at describing experiences and only good at taking chances and living them. That said I hope that even some small thoughts above are beneficial to someone out there.
