Hayabusa

[Marmoot]

1.) How do they handle in corners?
2.) With the power they produce are they Wheelie demons?
3.) Is it a comfortable bike to ride on?

1) They handle very well, and don't feel as heavy as they actually are or they look. Definitely not a Fireblade or GSX-R, but they are not as cumbersome as laid-back touring bikes (Triumph Thunderbird, VFR800, cruisers, Goldwings, BMWs) either.

2) A bit tricky to wheelie, actually. The wheelbase is that long so they are not as simple to wheelie as sportbikes. Instead of pulling up, they would simply squat and accellerate madly.

3) Yeah. Damn comfortable. For the passenger too. But not a pure laidback touring bike (Triumph Thunderbird, VFR800, cruisers, Goldwings, BMWs), mind you.

And, they are blindingly fast. They go much faster than they feel, so most of the time you'd be going faster than what you think you are at. The chassis and engine smoothness are designed for that, so that they don't feel scary when going at the speed they are designed for (definitely not road legal here!).

So, bearing that in mind, if you don't have sufficient skill to handle such thing, you'd find yourself in deep trouble very easily.

If you are coming back to riding after a long absence, and are thinking about Hayabusa, I would definitely recommend some sort of intensive training. Your mental judgement would not be valid on a Hayabusa as (as said above) it would play tricks on you.

P.S.
A new post-2000 600 would beat your 1995 GPZ1100 in a heartbeat. Imagine the difference between that and a Hayabusa. And I'm not just talking about the newest version either.

P.P.S.
If your dad, as you suggested, has a tendency to ride at speeds that would give your mum a heart attack from time to time, I wouldn't trust him on a Hayabusa without proper skills. It's too easy to do but too hard to stay alive at. Within 10 seconds you'd be above 200kph, and turning around a corner at that speed (or trying to stop) can be very difficult.

[NZsarge]

Tell him he's mad if he doesn't check out a ZX14 if he's looking at Busa's, dunno what vintage Busa he's considering but I rode a '05 (was 2 years old at the time) with a miserable 15000 km on the clock and the brakes were shockingly piss poor particularly for a 300kph bike. I had a '02 Yamaha YZF1000 Thunderace at the time and the no way in hell I would have swapped ya.

[Juzz976]

I would say he would not be bike fit, its too long off biking to jump on something like a busa.

Theres more to being bike fit than physical strength and endurance.

My dad would be in a very similar position and age, no freaking way I'd let him ride my TL and its only 1000cc

[terbang]

Alluringly fast without quite having the braking and handling to deal with it (well that was the K6 version). Had a ball though saw the other side of 300K's way too many times. I also saw most of NZ comfortably from a Busa.

Had a brief ride on a new gen version and it did handle and hide its pork a bit better.

Dunno about coming back as a born again onto one though.

[Bren]

my advice....step up....get a 750 or 900 first for a year or so...then move on to the dream bike after you have got used to riding again

[DEATH_INC.]

The biggest difference between the Haybailer and a GPZ is the way they feel. The GPZ feels fast at 200kph, the Bus doesn't at 300k. At least that's what I found with the 12.

[aprilia_RS250]

1.) How do they handle in corners?
2.) With the power they produce are they Wheelie demons?
3.) Is it a comfortable bike to ride on?

1. Depends what tyres it has on....
2. Depends how hard you like to twist the throttle
3. Depends if you like to be crouched forwards

In other words he'll need to test ride one in order to see if he likes it....

[Teflon]

Haha... the Bus is such a big scary bike. Your old man will have to go twice as fast on the Bus to get that "out of control feel" he got on the GPZ. I use to scare myself shitless on the old ZZR11's and GSXR's. Takes a lot more effort on 12 to get that feeling

[marty]

just go and test ride them. zx14 vs hayabusa

[onearmedbandit]

3. Depends if you like to be crouched forwards

In other words he'll need to test ride one in order to see if he likes it....

Have you ridden one? Ok I haven't but I've sat on a few and they don't feel like you need to be crouched forward as such.

[Nzpure]

His brother is lending him his Ducati to get used to riding again. So he's gunna put off buying a bike for a bit longer, So prolly a better idea by the sounds of it.
I coulln't give him any real advice as i have onyl just got my licence and started riding so i had to ask. Thank you very much guys.

[AllanB]

Anything over 600 cc is 'too fast' for a public road if opened out.

I'd be more concerned with his ability to cope with the size and weight of the bike.


And another thing what the hell was he thinking - if you are 45 and returning to motorcycling I thought it was actually LAW that you must buy a Harley.

[porky]

I found out what particular bike he was riding it was a 1995 GPZ1100.
I should mention that said bike had a turbo from a D2 digger on the side of it.
He had a fair bit of experience going at speeds that my mother would have a heart attack at.
He hasn't bought the bike yet but is deffinetly swinging towards a busa.
I will be sure to forward all of the comments.
Thank you for taking the time to reply.

HOLY SNAPPIN DUCK SHIT. Know the gpz 1100 well and in the day the fuckers were quick, with out the fore mentioned attachment. Tell the old prick to go buy a yamy jog, he sounds like an outa control adrenalin junky.

[schrodingers cat]

Tell him to do whatever he wants. All the scare mongers here need to STFU

Personally I think they are revolting to look at at but thankfully not everybody is like me.

You pays yer money and takes yer choice. A lovely freedom worth preserving.

[SMOKEU]

Anything over 600 cc is 'too fast' for a public road if opened out.

My 250 doesn't take too long to get into 'get your licence suspended for 28 days on the spot' kind of speeds. The difference is that on a big bike you have a good chance of getting away, if you know what I mean.