New to the Sportbike World

KYFLGSXRider

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Just bought my 40th Anniversary Edition yesterday. Riding Harley's for 15yrs and I will say what a difference. I cannot beleive the power of this bike.The dealer almost scared me into not buying it.I really like the handling and response.Any tips from you experienced Busa riders is appreciated!
 
Advice? Hmmm..

Go slow and easy on those new tires... Break 'em in nicely over a little time.

Take the bike in for the initial service... Fur sure! BTW - you may wanna setup the appointment a week or two in advance, because it is tough getting into some dealers during the fun season.

Hold off on the wheelie until you are comfy with the bike. Same goes for really tight hard turns.

Practice with the brakes... You will be surprised how fast you can stop once you get 'em down pat.

If you have any questions, concerns, or anything... Feel free to drop a post here. This site is packed with friendly, experienced riders that know the 'busa like the back of their hand. *looking at back of hand*, "What the hell is that, and where did it come from?"

( :

-Vaughn.
 
Welcome to your new home.
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Advice: scan over ALL the posts here for TONS of great info and pics. Then read thoroughly that post about "Mistakes made while riding"

Ride within your limits on the Busa and you will still feel limitless!
 
Be very careful when grabbing a fistfull O throttle in first.
They have a tendancy to spin....then all of a sudden grab traction and heave the front end sky high in a millisecond.
Pretty scary unless yer ready for it.
Most of all.......respect the power, and know yer limits, things happen fast on a Bus!!!!!!
Oh yeah....like WWJD said.... welcome to yer new home!!!!!
 
Welcome and congrats!

You picked the ultimate toy this time. I had various sportbikes, including GIXERS and various cruisers including a built Harley fxstc. Nothing comes close to a Busa in performance. But it is a sportbike and handles like one. The difference is the power at your command. Once you get broken in, take it slow and learn how the bike hooks up on the tires. You need to focus more on throttle control than any other bike you have ridden when in the twisties or on the track.

Where is gets interesting is how fast you can accellerate with a small twist of the wrist. That is where the Busa shines over any other sportbike out there. Get used to that first and you will live long and happy life. Practice accellerating and braking hard to get used to what the bike can do. Then if something bad happens you may pull it out because you are familiar with how it reacts. You may find yourself passing a car on a mountain road and find that the road turns sooner than expected because you are at light speed and didn't realize it. 100mph is nothing on this bike (about 5000 rpm in 6th gear). That is cruising. So be slow for a while until you get to know the acceleration curve.
 
KYFLGSXRider,

I am just a month ahead of you and also bought the 40th. Just run a search on my name and you will get all the questions I asked and the mods I did.

Congrats. I still ride my Road King when my nieces want rides.

Paul
 
Just bought my 40th Anniversary Edition yesterday. Riding Harley's for 15yrs and I will say what a difference. I cannot beleive the power of this bike.The dealer almost scared me into not buying it.I really like the handling and response.Any tips from you experienced Busa riders is appreciated!
Welcome...

With 15 Years under your belt on a cruiser?  You don't need much "road hazard advice".  

I only have about a month of seat time on the Busa so my initial thoughts are pretty fresh.

Specific to the Busa, there are a few things you should maybe be aware of with your new ride.

1. The Busa Carries 51% of it's weight on the front. You really do not get any sort of useful power out of the rear brake. Remember this when it comes time to hit the brakes.  USE the Front brake, a lot!  Find a good balance of course but the fronts are critical on a sport bike.

2.  Watch your corner entry speeds.  It took me a few days, 3-400 miles to adjust to the deceptively high rate of speed you end up carrying on the busa.  I kept freaking storming into corners unintentionally.  Fortunately the busa suspension does a good job.  You may find yourself frequently traveling faster than you thought you were going and not just in corners, everywhere.

3.  The Busa makes a lot of different noises, kind of rattly when you let the clutch out in neutral, weird intake farts and grumbles etc.  Feel free to ask if any of them cause concern.

4. For Comfort of wrists and a windscreen worth a damn?  See Heli-bars, and Get a Zero Gravity, PowerBronze or similar Double Bubble screen.  They make a big difference in being able to see your gauges.  Bars make a big difference in wrist/shoulder comfort.  So I have heard anyway, I have yet to get them.

5. The Busa eats rear tires, I mean eats rear tires...Lemme reiterate...eats rears...

6.  Enjoy the thing man, it will put a grin on your face that is never coming off.
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Later

Rev
 
Just bought my 40th Anniversary Edition yesterday. Riding Harley's for 15yrs and I will say what a difference. I cannot beleive the power of this bike.The dealer almost scared me into not buying it.I really like the handling and response.Any tips from you experienced Busa riders is appreciated!
OH I almost forgot, You mentioned the dealer freakin you out...

The Busa Is an absolute PUSSYCAT when you want it to be. Use your 600 miles under 5K to just cruise and take it easy, it will happily loaf around with you all day. Things get REAL interesting round about 7K and freakin nuts beyond that.

It's great. It has a good Jekyl and Hyde thing going, really nice.
 
Yea, just put the Heli-bars on my bike Friday. I cannot beleave the change it makes in comfort. Very nice and I was able to do it myself.

Have fun.

Paul
 
Welcome to the board there are some great people here. Few things no one else mentioned.

Everything revlis said.

Good idea to wear a full face helmet, gloves, pants and jacket. Read the "hot riding tips" post. Pretty soon fast becomes a realtive term. Guys, does 140 seem fast anymore to you?

Do a post search for the kick stand mod. You CAN NOT LEAN on your new toy like you can on your dog. It WILL FALL and it is EXPENSIVE.

I have to re-emphasize the corner entry speed warning. It wont react like your old ride, try not to freak and lean it in….you will feel the suspension settle…and IT WILL TURN.

MUST READ: Keith Code “Twist of the wrist IIâ€￾. Go ahead right now. Go to Amazon.com…do a search for the title…pull out your card and order. It's less than $20 bucks and if you are new to sport-riding, this may save your life and let you enjoy the sport that much more (without wearing depends J ).

When in doubt ASK QUESTIONS.

Chris
 
Awwright..before anyone tells you to put Heli bars and a different windscreen on it, leave it stock for a little while and see what you think. You may like it the way it is.
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My advice is take it easy and get used to it, as with anything new, things will be different than what you're used to.

Oh and uh, Welcome to the board! Buy a shirt!
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Welcome to the board......
Stick around, watch, post questions, & read what everyone else has to say...........I promise you won't get bored!
 
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