I posted about this on another board, too, and instead of retypin' the whole thing I'm cuttin' and pastin' what I wrote there. This board is full of experience and wisdom so I thought I'd go ahead and tap into this resource, too. Read this and see if my thinkin' makes sense. I've all but convinced myself that this is the way to go for now, as hard as it will be...
Below is cut & pasted from the other board...
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The busa I have now was/is my first sport bike. I went against good advice and bought the busa instead of a smaller bike for two reasons. #1 was that it fit me best out of all the sport bikes I tried. I'm a big guy (read fat ass) and the busa's size and riding position just plain fit me better. #2 was styling. I thought, and still think that the busa is one of the sexiest lookin' bikes on the planet. The looks were still secondary to fit though.
When I first got the busa I argued with the folks who recommended that new riders, or first time sport riders go with a smaller bike. My thinking was that they were only basing this recommendation on power alone. My argument was that any bike will only go as fast as you tell it to. Well, I now know that it was about a LOT more than just too much power.
I've learned from experience that while the busa's size, wheelbase, and weight contribute greatly to it's straightline stability, top end smoothness and open road performance, these factors do NOT contribute much to stability or maneuverability in low speed maneuvers and tight, low speed corners. Also, while the busa can in fact be fast in the corners with a good rider, I now believe the same factors mentioned above make the busa a less than ideal bike to learn to be a fast rider in the twisties.
Since the busa is so sweet and so stable at speed, that's where my skills have developed. I'm pretty confident (although nowhere near fast) in mild to moderate twisty ridin' and prolly a little overconfident on sweepers and open road but I'm finding that my low speed turning skills and tight turn skills are not near what they should be because I don't practice them on the busa. It's weight and fear of droppin' it (ouch $$$$$$$) keeps me from gettin' out and practicin' the skills that I'm weakest in.
So, I'm thinkin' about sellin' the busa and gettin' a lighter, more agile bike for a while. I fully intend to end up back on a busa eventually because I love the thing. I just believe that my ridin' skills will progress and be better rounded out in the long run if I go this route for a while. Instead of startin' small and workin' up, it looks like I may have started at the top (size and power wise) and be headed toward workin' my way down, at least temporarily.
I looked at some bikes today. Nothin' better to do while it was rainin'. I'm thinkin' about goin' with a litre bike. I'm droppin' some weight but I'm still big at this point and I want somethin' that will still give me a speed and power fix occasionally. Again, I also feel fairly confident with the power of the busa. I'm not droppin' size to get rid of excess power, I just want a lighter, more agile ride. I'm just afraid that a 600 would be a little too anemic with my big ass on it until I drop all of the weight I wanna lose.
I haven't rode a 1k bike yet, just sat on 'em and flicked 'em around a little on the dealer floor several times in the past few weeks. It is unbelieveable how much lighter and maneuverable they feel than the busa. If you flick the busa back and forth while standin', you'd better have good footing and strong legs if you don't wanna lay it on it's side. When the heavyweight king gets movin' in any direction the momentum wants to keep it goin'! The 1k feels like I could lay it over and stop it at any point between straight up and the floor without problems. I haven't layed them over that far for obvious reasons, I'm just sayin' that's how it feels.
Any thoughts on this? There's a LOT of good experience on this board when it comes to ridin' so I thought I'd tap into it if I may. Should I just suck it up and force myself to learn on the busa, or is goin' with a more agile and maneuverable bike, learning to really ride, and then goin' back to a busa actually the better option I'm thinkin' it is?
FWIW, I absolutely HATE the idea of givin' up Da' Train. The comfort, smoothness and stability is great. It's just that I want to improve and round out my ridin' skills and I just don't think I'm gonna do that on the busa. Not as long as the size and weight intimidate me and keep me from practicin' the low speed stuff.
Yer thoughts?
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So, ummm, yer thoughts?
Below is cut & pasted from the other board...
**********************************
The busa I have now was/is my first sport bike. I went against good advice and bought the busa instead of a smaller bike for two reasons. #1 was that it fit me best out of all the sport bikes I tried. I'm a big guy (read fat ass) and the busa's size and riding position just plain fit me better. #2 was styling. I thought, and still think that the busa is one of the sexiest lookin' bikes on the planet. The looks were still secondary to fit though.
When I first got the busa I argued with the folks who recommended that new riders, or first time sport riders go with a smaller bike. My thinking was that they were only basing this recommendation on power alone. My argument was that any bike will only go as fast as you tell it to. Well, I now know that it was about a LOT more than just too much power.
I've learned from experience that while the busa's size, wheelbase, and weight contribute greatly to it's straightline stability, top end smoothness and open road performance, these factors do NOT contribute much to stability or maneuverability in low speed maneuvers and tight, low speed corners. Also, while the busa can in fact be fast in the corners with a good rider, I now believe the same factors mentioned above make the busa a less than ideal bike to learn to be a fast rider in the twisties.
Since the busa is so sweet and so stable at speed, that's where my skills have developed. I'm pretty confident (although nowhere near fast) in mild to moderate twisty ridin' and prolly a little overconfident on sweepers and open road but I'm finding that my low speed turning skills and tight turn skills are not near what they should be because I don't practice them on the busa. It's weight and fear of droppin' it (ouch $$$$$$$) keeps me from gettin' out and practicin' the skills that I'm weakest in.
So, I'm thinkin' about sellin' the busa and gettin' a lighter, more agile bike for a while. I fully intend to end up back on a busa eventually because I love the thing. I just believe that my ridin' skills will progress and be better rounded out in the long run if I go this route for a while. Instead of startin' small and workin' up, it looks like I may have started at the top (size and power wise) and be headed toward workin' my way down, at least temporarily.
I looked at some bikes today. Nothin' better to do while it was rainin'. I'm thinkin' about goin' with a litre bike. I'm droppin' some weight but I'm still big at this point and I want somethin' that will still give me a speed and power fix occasionally. Again, I also feel fairly confident with the power of the busa. I'm not droppin' size to get rid of excess power, I just want a lighter, more agile ride. I'm just afraid that a 600 would be a little too anemic with my big ass on it until I drop all of the weight I wanna lose.
I haven't rode a 1k bike yet, just sat on 'em and flicked 'em around a little on the dealer floor several times in the past few weeks. It is unbelieveable how much lighter and maneuverable they feel than the busa. If you flick the busa back and forth while standin', you'd better have good footing and strong legs if you don't wanna lay it on it's side. When the heavyweight king gets movin' in any direction the momentum wants to keep it goin'! The 1k feels like I could lay it over and stop it at any point between straight up and the floor without problems. I haven't layed them over that far for obvious reasons, I'm just sayin' that's how it feels.
Any thoughts on this? There's a LOT of good experience on this board when it comes to ridin' so I thought I'd tap into it if I may. Should I just suck it up and force myself to learn on the busa, or is goin' with a more agile and maneuverable bike, learning to really ride, and then goin' back to a busa actually the better option I'm thinkin' it is?
FWIW, I absolutely HATE the idea of givin' up Da' Train. The comfort, smoothness and stability is great. It's just that I want to improve and round out my ridin' skills and I just don't think I'm gonna do that on the busa. Not as long as the size and weight intimidate me and keep me from practicin' the low speed stuff.
Yer thoughts?
*********************************
So, ummm, yer thoughts?
