Production of the Suzuki Hayabusa has ended after 20 years
Discussion
TheCommuter said:
Don't feed the troll.
Have you read 3DP’s post below?It references bragging rights, it talks about a compromised bike designed for a title of fastest production bike, it references sportsbikes as being better in quite a few ways and alonthat modern sports tourers are better all round bikes.
Pretty much all the points I made, except they were dismissed because I haven’t ridden one. Anybody going to pull him up on his comments and call him a troll for his opinions?
3DP said:
My Blader is cooler, more comfortable, more nimble and easier to ride under 30mph than my ZZR1400. My 1098S less so. There are a lot of different flavours of litre sports bikes and most are less of a one trick pony than bikes whose design brief specifically focused on top speed bragging rights.
Aside from the weight, the biggest issue with the ZZR and Busa in particular, are their long reach to the bars compared to shorter sports bikes. This for me destroys any comfort advantage of slightly higher bars as your back is flatter so your neck is still strained. This does not apply to the K1300S as it's more upright, but in my view that bike leans more towards touring end of sports tourer anyway.
A very popular ZZR mod is bar risers which probably means I'm not the only one to think this. Certainly 1290 GT, GSXS1000F, MT10 touring etc etc are all way, way more comfortable, perform better in town and point to point pace, and in acceleration will all be faster than the ZZR and Busa below 100 rolling on throttle in higher gears, due to shorter gearing, lack of mass and 10-20 year newer more modern mass centralised design.
Aside from the weight, the biggest issue with the ZZR and Busa in particular, are their long reach to the bars compared to shorter sports bikes. This for me destroys any comfort advantage of slightly higher bars as your back is flatter so your neck is still strained. This does not apply to the K1300S as it's more upright, but in my view that bike leans more towards touring end of sports tourer anyway.
A very popular ZZR mod is bar risers which probably means I'm not the only one to think this. Certainly 1290 GT, GSXS1000F, MT10 touring etc etc are all way, way more comfortable, perform better in town and point to point pace, and in acceleration will all be faster than the ZZR and Busa below 100 rolling on throttle in higher gears, due to shorter gearing, lack of mass and 10-20 year newer more modern mass centralised design.
graylag said:
TheCommuter said:
Don't feed the troll.
Have you read 3DP’s post below?It references bragging rights, it talks about a compromised bike designed for a title of fastest production bike, it references sportsbikes as being better in quite a few ways and alonthat modern sports tourers are better all round bikes.
Pretty much all the points I made, except they were dismissed because I haven’t ridden one. Anybody going to pull him up on his comments and call him a troll for his opinions?
3DP said:
My Blader is cooler, more comfortable, more nimble and easier to ride under 30mph than my ZZR1400. My 1098S less so. There are a lot of different flavours of litre sports bikes and most are less of a one trick pony than bikes whose design brief specifically focused on top speed bragging rights.
Aside from the weight, the biggest issue with the ZZR and Busa in particular, are their long reach to the bars compared to shorter sports bikes. This for me destroys any comfort advantage of slightly higher bars as your back is flatter so your neck is still strained. This does not apply to the K1300S as it's more upright, but in my view that bike leans more towards touring end of sports tourer anyway.
A very popular ZZR mod is bar risers which probably means I'm not the only one to think this. Certainly 1290 GT, GSXS1000F, MT10 touring etc etc are all way, way more comfortable, perform better in town and point to point pace, and in acceleration will all be faster than the ZZR and Busa below 100 rolling on throttle in higher gears, due to shorter gearing, lack of mass and 10-20 year newer more modern mass centralised design.
Aside from the weight, the biggest issue with the ZZR and Busa in particular, are their long reach to the bars compared to shorter sports bikes. This for me destroys any comfort advantage of slightly higher bars as your back is flatter so your neck is still strained. This does not apply to the K1300S as it's more upright, but in my view that bike leans more towards touring end of sports tourer anyway.
A very popular ZZR mod is bar risers which probably means I'm not the only one to think this. Certainly 1290 GT, GSXS1000F, MT10 touring etc etc are all way, way more comfortable, perform better in town and point to point pace, and in acceleration will all be faster than the ZZR and Busa below 100 rolling on throttle in higher gears, due to shorter gearing, lack of mass and 10-20 year newer more modern mass centralised design.
They have presence and anytime someone wants to chat about your bike because of its exagerated image is always nice. Better than the "My mate's had 3 of these. They are s
t" type people that come up to have a chat.The amount of people who used to come and chat about my Speed Triple saying "Hooligan bike" etc, when really it was miles away from being a hooligan bike! Same with Ducatis when people say "Like a Ferrari". The image is not always deserved, but still nice to chat with bikers and non-bikers if they are admiring your P&J.
I bought my ZZR because of a planned 3000 mile high speed tour with a group of fast guys. In the end I sold it as soon as I returned as I found its limitations way outshone some of the marginal benefits. I've since toured exclusively on more comfortable Sports bikes (and once on the Speed Triple).
If the way you ride or tour means it's subjectively better for you, then great. Objectively though, the Busa and ZZR are out of date, too heavy bikes that lost their USP. Doesn't make them bad - I just feel the need to object to some of the generalisations made which may have been true in the past, but aren't now.
Whether I like these bikes or not, I've always had exposure on them as my dad for years has 'The Commuter's' view on them, so I've always ended up riding them, especially from when they ended up in my garage long term.
I disagree with him too! He is always faster on my sports bikes, but moans they are too twitchy and light. In fact he's still moaning about the GSXS1000F for that reason. I offer to strap a 60kg of Sand bags to it to settle it
For me, blasting around Spain and Portugal for 2000 miles on a Blade, is more fun than battling a ZZR's weight and length in the Alps, but each to their own. One thing's for sure - both are more fun than riding anything anywhere in England
Picos Mountains on sports bikes.
Dolomites and Alps on ZZR1400.
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