RE: Hayabusa for long trips?
Quote:
Originally Posted by New Horizons
Everytime I go to the Harley dealer to pick up something for my Sportster 883, I do the obligatory trip around the store. "Which bike would I pick if I were to buy one today".
I'm thinking about going to something sporty for my next bike, something I don't have to polish a mess of intricate chromework. I know the obvious answer is a sport touring bike like the Honda ST1300, but I'm thinking about a full fledged sport bike. I'm thinking about a Hayabusa.
So my next question is, how would the Hayabusa do as a long distance bike. I do see they make some touring accessories. They even make handlebar risers just to make it a bit more relaxed!
I'm thinking about going to something sporty for my next bike, something I don't have to polish a mess of intricate chromework. I know the obvious answer is a sport touring bike like the Honda ST1300, but I'm thinking about a full fledged sport bike. I'm thinking about a Hayabusa.
So my next question is, how would the Hayabusa do as a long distance bike. I do see they make some touring accessories. They even make handlebar risers just to make it a bit more relaxed!
I've hung out with the BMW guys (Central California BMW Club) twenty years ago, and was accepted because I had one of the early Ducati 851s. Astounding bike, that thing, spawning a lineage lasting to today. A close pal had a K bike, one of the very first (1985).
I never hung out with the H-D guys, they wanted nothing to do with me. Wasn't rough enough trade to be a hang-around at bars in Oakland or elsewhere where Hell's Angels tend to be, so never got in that scene. Clearly had to take one with the other, the bikes and head-bashing and other criminal activities.
But I did join the Euro bike scene, then later became a somewhat-older (late 20s) squid on a Gixxer. Three years of racing, which mostly kept me off the street, probably saved my life as-well because the skills went from "good" to "99 percentile" after a couple years racing against top guys in the California scene. So I know a bit about sport bikes and surviving for decades.
Much later, had a Honda CRB1100XX for nine years, aka the Blackbird. Before that, an FJ1100, similar theory. Blackbirds, Hayabusas, and various Kawi ZX12s and later 14 were peers in the late 1990s and first decade of the 2000s. These were great bikes, and enduring because there is a use for them: long rides, going fast to very fast, and being reasonably comfortable en route.
To the point, in 50000 miles on the bike I did SaddleSore 1000 and 2000 (1000 miles in one day, 2000 in two days, respectively). I know for a fact there are guys in the Iron Butt scene who do similar, and much more, on Hayabusas. I've seen them kitted out for "sport touring", and my Blackbird was that way near the end (hard bags, much more) before I realized I was transforming the bike into something it wasn't. At that point, I simply bought what I then needed (Ducati Multistrada Sport Tour, aka Multi ST). I'm now on my second iteration of those, this time the Pike's Peak version.
I like bikes that will eat up miles, but don't want go true tourbike yet (the big ones like Goldwing and Concours 14). Nothing wrong with those, but I like more "sport" in my "tour" at the moment.
So yes, one can surely can do just what is suggested on a Hayabusa. They'll lope along...cruise...at 85-110mph all day. My Blackbird would, and was enormous fun doing just that at 105mph as long as I could get away with it. They "feel" like the engine is working, but not super-hard. That's a large-displacement inline four just stretching out a bit.
