Check it out guys...here's a little background and my personal review of all three bikes....
Rider Background: John is in his 40's and Jim is in his 50's...both are extremely experienced, above average riders with gobs of skill and many track days logged under both of their belts.
"Impressions of Riding Jims Superhawk": To be honest?..I've not ridden very many V-twin sportbikes in my lifetime but here's what I found....
It pulled well from everywhere even if you were a gear tall or a gear small entering and exiting corners...very forgiving to ride and enjoy however..In short order I discovered I needed to drastically alter/modify my engine braking applications...as the first few times I downshifted a little too soon coming into corner entrances?...the massive "engine braking affect" of that V-Twin would easily and readily cause the rear wheel to break loose on me...so in short order I realized I'd be better off relying more on the front brakes rather than utilizing it's massive amounts of V-Twin engine braking. Other than that?...
We all seemingly concluded that while it may be hurting a tad in the high speed straights?.... The Superhawks flickability made any mid-corner corrections very easy to execute (bolstering rider confidence) and that combined with the forgiveness of that V-Twin's broadband torque caused the fun factor of railing Jims Superhawk through this tiny psuedo track of ours to skyrocket past that of the Busa and slightly past that of the FZ1...but only on this small, low speed techno track...it found it's place in all our hearts.
"Impressions of Riding John's FZ1":
The FZ1 is basically a do-it-all econo R1 with a steel tube frame and the R1's mill and a more conventional and far more comfy riding position complete with handlbars and a 1/4 fairing.
I personally owned an FZ1 (black just like Johns here) for 4 years and just months ago I myself installed some traxxion springs in Johns FZ1 Forks and John did the final tweaking/adjustment to suit him and...he did very well...as his FZ1's suspension was spot-on and...almost as fun to ride on this psuedo track as Jims Superhawk with the only differences being?...the FZ1's inline 4 obviously lacked the forfiving down low grunt the superhawk displayed but then more than made up for it provided the tach was kepts above the 4K mark...and then it screamed through the rev counter with adrenal gland stimulating acceleration...almost busa like from 4K on up and from 0-100...as always...a very cool ride with vast amounts of "swiss army knife like" tour, sport, or whatever you wanna do with it...versitilty.
"Riding The Busa": Was kind of like marrying the wide band torque of Jims Superhawk and the high Rev exhileration of Johns FZ1 and...then some.
While seemingly just as nimble as the FZ1 or the Superhawk?...(thanks to my suspension set-up and brake mods)...it's behemoth mass and weight cuts into the confidence levels a tad as once entering a corner you pretty much know "You're Commited" and...that "Anything Other Than MINOR Mid Corner Corrections" (without getting into serious trouble) are almost out of the question..but once you realize that and the importance of setting up your turns/lines/entrance speeds correctly?...it's off to the races with the best of'em and the Busa suddenly becomes surprisingly agile as you "SLOWLY" learn it's limitations...the only one being...making damn certain you set-up for your corner entrances correctly..and it's 99FTLBS of Torque and 160RWHP is the stuff legends are made of so...no need for me to elaborate there.
And...That's about it...except for this...check out the 2nd reply on this thread in this forum...it's John's impression of riding my busa..the first busa he's ever ridden...
http://www.yamahafz1oa.com/forum/showthread.php?t=45514
and...L8R, Bill.
