Thanks everyone. You've all tricked me into believing your nice people and have a friendly message board. Good job!
But seriously.... Awesome bike. I've ridden motorcycles off and on my whole life, and in ths last 1.5yr I've been riding every day to/from work (which suprises some folks here in Washington state...darn recreational riders!). I rode a friends 'busa recently and I fell in love. I was originally going to get a GSX-R750, but after riding the 'falcon, I couldn't settle for less.
I have an unusual purchase story... I dare anyone to top this!
I just bought the bike yesterday, BTW. I took Friday off so I could run some errands, and buy the Hayabusa I've been wanting so much (I've had my eye on a new motorcycle for more than a year!). So I woke up early, and crammed in a few more hours of research on the bike, ate breakfast, and finally left for Aurora Suzuki...I got there about noon. I spent about 2 hours haggling with the sales guy to get $900 off MSRP, and get a little service coverage. So we settled on a price, finally, and then I had the toughest problem: the color.
They had all three 2005 models, and I decided on the blue/silver, because it seemed like it would be more visible at night (it's the lightest, most silver). Sadly, the bike had *just* come off a truck. They hadn't even washed it yet, let alone put some fluids in it, take it for a test ride, ... "It'll take an hour". Two hours later... "Okay, we're almost done, just need to take it for a test ride". About two minutes later my sales guy (Ryan) says "I have bad news, you need to come take a look". I didn't know what to think, he wasn't really telling me anything. As we walk outside I see 4 mechanics standing around the bike. Ryan leads me to them and they start to step away from the bike....it sort of seemed like a funeral, they all seemed kind of shook up. Then I saw the bike -- about $1400 of plastic damage. Whoops. In the first 2 miles of the bikes life... The test rider was a pro (racer), but probably a little to confident. Next, since the bike is brand new, obviously the tires are a bit slick. Lastly, the pavent the bike was sitting on (where it was parked and where it departed from) was just paved the day earlier (Thursday). So oil + overconfidence + slick tires + most powerful stock bike in the world = extremely expensive first ride.
But wait, there's more. So I say...how about the black/gray one instead? They re-file some paperwork, and minutes later I'm leaving on a black/gray bike -- everything is fine. I'm riding a bit slow, extra conservative following distance.... It's my first few miles on a brand new bike, and I've already seen what can happen if you're not careful.
As I'm riding into Seattle I have to make a few stops (yunno, city traffic), and it seems like the clutch is slipping, but, what do I know, this is my first ride on this bike. Then I have to stop and go again, and my left hand is in the air (i.e. not on the clutch), and I give it a bit of gas and the engine revs up a bit, but the bike doesn't go anywhere...<groan> Let's try this again: grab the clutch, let it out slowly, the engine revs a bit, and the bike goes forward slowly.... I get off the road, and call Aurora Suziki. "We'll be right there"... and hour later they arrive (BTW, it's about a 10 minute drive). The put the bike on the back of their truck and we drive back to the shop. They find out that the plunger-thing the clutch actuates into a brass receiver isn't actually sitting in the receiver...it's just jammed up against the brass fitting. By all accounts it was a manfacturing defect/factory mishap (this is one of the parts that comes pre-assembled from Suzuki, so it couldn't have been the assembly process).
...so they take the requires parts from the blue/silver Hayabusa with the recent paint/plastic troubles, and by 19:15 I'm back out the door.
Is it all over? Not quite: on the ride back to the shop to get the clutch fixed, the Hayabusa ran into the cab of the truck, chipping off about a nickel-sized piece of paint from the front fender. My replacement fender will be in on Monday.
What a day.
The ride home was fine, and riding all day today (~100 miles), no issues.
Great bike.
