Biff
4th March 2005, 12:49
Why I bought a Blackbird, and a brief 6 month review.
Why the Blackbird?
For several years now I've been thinking about getting a sports tourer as opposed to my usual standard sports bikes. Primarily because of their flexibility, in that you can be sporty, or tour, hence the term Sports Tourer funnily enough.
After years of sports bikes and such like I got fed up with suffering with sore wrists and butt aches generally associated with riding sports bikes. Particularly on long trips and short slow speed trips.
I’m not a fast rider. I much prefer to plod along as legal (ish) speeds, or high speed cruising as opposed to getting my knee down and scraping the pegs on every corner. I did my hooning in cars, and (with respect to all those that still do hoon) feel that I’ve grown out of that.
Once I decided that I wanted a sports tourer, I drew up a shortlist. They were:
a) Blackbird
b) Hyabusa
c) Sprint ST
d) VFR800 VTEC
e) ZZR1200
Due to the fact that I couldn’t find any bike shops in the south island that had an ST, VFR or ZZR for me to test ride I was left with a choice between the Bird and the Busa. Not that I was disappointed mind you, as these two bikes were my two favourites before I drew up my short-list.
The Test Rides
Sportzone Suzuki in ChCh had a 12 month old Busa which I took out for a lengthy test ride. While I was expecting it to be a two wheeled missile I was more interested in finding out what it handled like around town, as I needed a bike that I could use daily in order to commute to work as well as for touring and general ‘fun rides’.
After leaving a relatively new CBR600RR back in the UK I admit to being horrified at the weight of the Busa. This was particularly noticeable by the way it managed itself in slow moving traffic around the city. While light turning I found it had a tendency to turn in quite quickly when attempting a slow speed filter.
Out on the open road though it was an absolute hoot. Progressive, blistering acceleration, combined with excellent brakes and responsive cornering made it a bike that I instantly felt safe on. The riding position was far more upright and forgiving compared to balls out sports bikes, and the seat was comfortable.
The gearbox was smooth on the way up the box, but somewhat clunky on the way back down. Nothing really wrong with that though, as I’ve always been a fan of 'positive gear selection’ - knowing exactly when I’ve hit or missed a gear.
I found the Busa to be an excellent bike. Although I was a little disappointed by the build quality. Some of the plastics appeared a little cheap and the finish wasn’t quite what I had hoped for from a $16000 bike. Bearing in mind that my last bike had been a Honda, I guess my expectations may have been a little high.
Then I moved onto the Blackbird from Casbolts Honda. It was brand new and priced up at 5 bucks under $18000. While initially reluctant to allow me to ride their only model a minor tantrum combined with the flutter of several thousand dollars under their noses soon convinced them I was serious.
I was asked to do no more than 10 Kilometres on it and stay within the city. Bollocks thought I. If I want to buy this bike I want a proper test ride. So I did just that, taking exactly the same route as I took on the Busa.
My first impression was that the riding position was a little more sports than tourer. Definitely more hunched over the front compared to the Busa, but certainly nowhere near as uncomfortable as a sports bike. The Birds 224 Kilos appeared to be well distributed, lower down in the bike, therefore I found it far more manageable around town than the Suzuki.
Out on the open road it was perfect. Enormous power, great handling, plush butt rest and smooth brakes. Despite the fact that on paper the Busa is a tad faster than the Bird it was impossible for me to tell the difference between the two. So performance became a non-issue for me.
The finish was excellent, the price was right, the deal was done.
Six months later.
I’ve done a few K’s over 9,000 K on the factory BT057s, and yesterday I had my first new rear tyre, a BT020. I am amazed it lasted so well, in fact it may have lasted another month or two in all honesty. But it was just beginning to square off and I had noticed a change in its handling through corners.
Ahhh – corners. The Bird loves them; more specifically it loves big long fast sweepers. You plant it, and it sits there irrespective of bumps or undulations. A very, very nice feeling. Where it does show its limitation though is in tight twisties. It is after all a big bike, and this really shows when out on rides with other riders on real sports bikes. Where as the R1 and the smaller engined 600’s get flicked from side to side on the tight twisties the Bird is much slower at getting up and down. It’ll do them alright, but nowhere near as fast as the smaller, lighter bikes.
As for touring - beautiful. The 23 litres tank is good for around 320K at legal (ish) speeds. The seat is adequate, but it’s not as comfortable as I’d like it to be. Although you need to be doing several hundred K before you begin to notice any problems. It’s as happy two up as when being ridden solo, and pillions have plenty of legroom and an excellent rear grab rail.
It’ll happily crawl along at 110KPH with the engine turning at around 4000 RPM. It’ll pull a wheelie if you’re into that kind of thing (I’m not anymore). It also has a 'love it or hate it' Combined Braking System (CBS), which is a god send on wet, greasy or gravel laden roads. Basically the CBS works as such: when you operate the front brake, all the front brake pots come into action, and two of the back brakes. When you operate the back brake, all the back brake pots come on and two of the front. Balls out sports bike riders won’t like them, but for high speed touring I think they’re great.
The top speed on a Bird is a theoretical 175MPH and accelerates faster than an R1, and with a theoretical 164BHP at the crank (depends on which specs you believe) it has all the power that I'd ever want from a bike, and more so.
I can neither confirm nor deny the fact that I may or may not have, on one occasion, felt the urge to find out whether or not it would manage to this supposed top speed (286KPH?) on a very long, very deserted, wide, open road. I can neither confirm nor deny the fact that if indeed I did, the bike got to around this speed at an alarming rate, and it was the rider that gave up before any limiter may or may not have decided to kick in.
Overall – it is the best bike I’ve ever owned, and I’ve owned quite a few. So much so that I can honestly say that as I sit here, if I could only choose one bike in the world to own, the Bird would be my bike of choice. I commute, I go for fast rides, slow rides, I tour, I pop down the shops. I can see me keeping this bike for quite a while to come. That is until Honda release their new V5 engine or I manage to convince someone to let me ride a new Sprint ST.
After market bits:
Clear front indicator lenses
Double bubble screen
Full Givi Monolock Removable Hard Luggage System
Heated grips
Hard wired radar
Autocom Audio Kit – MP3/CD player, rider to pillion, radar, mobile phone. Can also hook up bike to bike if so desired.
Auxiliary power socket
Rear wheel hugger
Why the Blackbird?
For several years now I've been thinking about getting a sports tourer as opposed to my usual standard sports bikes. Primarily because of their flexibility, in that you can be sporty, or tour, hence the term Sports Tourer funnily enough.
After years of sports bikes and such like I got fed up with suffering with sore wrists and butt aches generally associated with riding sports bikes. Particularly on long trips and short slow speed trips.
I’m not a fast rider. I much prefer to plod along as legal (ish) speeds, or high speed cruising as opposed to getting my knee down and scraping the pegs on every corner. I did my hooning in cars, and (with respect to all those that still do hoon) feel that I’ve grown out of that.
Once I decided that I wanted a sports tourer, I drew up a shortlist. They were:
a) Blackbird
b) Hyabusa
c) Sprint ST
d) VFR800 VTEC
e) ZZR1200
Due to the fact that I couldn’t find any bike shops in the south island that had an ST, VFR or ZZR for me to test ride I was left with a choice between the Bird and the Busa. Not that I was disappointed mind you, as these two bikes were my two favourites before I drew up my short-list.
The Test Rides
Sportzone Suzuki in ChCh had a 12 month old Busa which I took out for a lengthy test ride. While I was expecting it to be a two wheeled missile I was more interested in finding out what it handled like around town, as I needed a bike that I could use daily in order to commute to work as well as for touring and general ‘fun rides’.
After leaving a relatively new CBR600RR back in the UK I admit to being horrified at the weight of the Busa. This was particularly noticeable by the way it managed itself in slow moving traffic around the city. While light turning I found it had a tendency to turn in quite quickly when attempting a slow speed filter.
Out on the open road though it was an absolute hoot. Progressive, blistering acceleration, combined with excellent brakes and responsive cornering made it a bike that I instantly felt safe on. The riding position was far more upright and forgiving compared to balls out sports bikes, and the seat was comfortable.
The gearbox was smooth on the way up the box, but somewhat clunky on the way back down. Nothing really wrong with that though, as I’ve always been a fan of 'positive gear selection’ - knowing exactly when I’ve hit or missed a gear.
I found the Busa to be an excellent bike. Although I was a little disappointed by the build quality. Some of the plastics appeared a little cheap and the finish wasn’t quite what I had hoped for from a $16000 bike. Bearing in mind that my last bike had been a Honda, I guess my expectations may have been a little high.
Then I moved onto the Blackbird from Casbolts Honda. It was brand new and priced up at 5 bucks under $18000. While initially reluctant to allow me to ride their only model a minor tantrum combined with the flutter of several thousand dollars under their noses soon convinced them I was serious.
I was asked to do no more than 10 Kilometres on it and stay within the city. Bollocks thought I. If I want to buy this bike I want a proper test ride. So I did just that, taking exactly the same route as I took on the Busa.
My first impression was that the riding position was a little more sports than tourer. Definitely more hunched over the front compared to the Busa, but certainly nowhere near as uncomfortable as a sports bike. The Birds 224 Kilos appeared to be well distributed, lower down in the bike, therefore I found it far more manageable around town than the Suzuki.
Out on the open road it was perfect. Enormous power, great handling, plush butt rest and smooth brakes. Despite the fact that on paper the Busa is a tad faster than the Bird it was impossible for me to tell the difference between the two. So performance became a non-issue for me.
The finish was excellent, the price was right, the deal was done.
Six months later.
I’ve done a few K’s over 9,000 K on the factory BT057s, and yesterday I had my first new rear tyre, a BT020. I am amazed it lasted so well, in fact it may have lasted another month or two in all honesty. But it was just beginning to square off and I had noticed a change in its handling through corners.
Ahhh – corners. The Bird loves them; more specifically it loves big long fast sweepers. You plant it, and it sits there irrespective of bumps or undulations. A very, very nice feeling. Where it does show its limitation though is in tight twisties. It is after all a big bike, and this really shows when out on rides with other riders on real sports bikes. Where as the R1 and the smaller engined 600’s get flicked from side to side on the tight twisties the Bird is much slower at getting up and down. It’ll do them alright, but nowhere near as fast as the smaller, lighter bikes.
As for touring - beautiful. The 23 litres tank is good for around 320K at legal (ish) speeds. The seat is adequate, but it’s not as comfortable as I’d like it to be. Although you need to be doing several hundred K before you begin to notice any problems. It’s as happy two up as when being ridden solo, and pillions have plenty of legroom and an excellent rear grab rail.
It’ll happily crawl along at 110KPH with the engine turning at around 4000 RPM. It’ll pull a wheelie if you’re into that kind of thing (I’m not anymore). It also has a 'love it or hate it' Combined Braking System (CBS), which is a god send on wet, greasy or gravel laden roads. Basically the CBS works as such: when you operate the front brake, all the front brake pots come into action, and two of the back brakes. When you operate the back brake, all the back brake pots come on and two of the front. Balls out sports bike riders won’t like them, but for high speed touring I think they’re great.
The top speed on a Bird is a theoretical 175MPH and accelerates faster than an R1, and with a theoretical 164BHP at the crank (depends on which specs you believe) it has all the power that I'd ever want from a bike, and more so.
I can neither confirm nor deny the fact that I may or may not have, on one occasion, felt the urge to find out whether or not it would manage to this supposed top speed (286KPH?) on a very long, very deserted, wide, open road. I can neither confirm nor deny the fact that if indeed I did, the bike got to around this speed at an alarming rate, and it was the rider that gave up before any limiter may or may not have decided to kick in.
Overall – it is the best bike I’ve ever owned, and I’ve owned quite a few. So much so that I can honestly say that as I sit here, if I could only choose one bike in the world to own, the Bird would be my bike of choice. I commute, I go for fast rides, slow rides, I tour, I pop down the shops. I can see me keeping this bike for quite a while to come. That is until Honda release their new V5 engine or I manage to convince someone to let me ride a new Sprint ST.
After market bits:
Clear front indicator lenses
Double bubble screen
Full Givi Monolock Removable Hard Luggage System
Heated grips
Hard wired radar
Autocom Audio Kit – MP3/CD player, rider to pillion, radar, mobile phone. Can also hook up bike to bike if so desired.
Auxiliary power socket
Rear wheel hugger