gfunko
Registered
So this passed weekend was the 2012 Carlisle Bikefest at Carlisle, PA. Suzuki, Kawasaki and Victory were doing demo rides all weekend. My friends and I got there early to sign up for both Suzuki and Kawasaki. I am still new to the Busa and have never ridden one, and honestly, wanted to know the difference between how the 2 hyper bikes ride. **DISCLAIMER** I am a huge fan of Suzuki and wanted to really dislike the ZX14 only because of my love for both Suzuki and the Busa.
After being able to test ride the 2012 Busa, I gotta say, I am sold on the bike and will be picking one up this week (to take advantage of 0% financing before it ends). I won't go into details about how the Busa rides for obvious reasons, lol. With that said though, I do wish Suzuki had their demo ride structure set up better. Logically, you would think to put the sportbikes up front, followed by the sport touring, then cruisers and or lower CC bikes so each different riding class gets a chance to properly feel out the bikes without being hindered by another type of bike that is not tuned similarly. They decided to do a mix pack so I was stuck behind a dirt bike with a novice rider who only had his learners permit with a cruiser behind me!!! Kawasaki definitely nailed it with having two separate rides with their cruiser line and the sportbike line.
I do want to say that the ZX14 is one of the smoothest bikes I have ever ridden. Shifting through the gears was effortless and buttery smooth, and I would even second guess if I had actually shifted to the next gear because it was so smooth that you can't really even feel it engage. I'd have to check the gear indicator to make sure. Acceleration was really smooth as well, you can clearly feel the power of these bikes through all the gears. Since it was a demo ride, I couldn't really open her up without flying by the demo ride leader, lol. Braking was good, though to be honest, I can't tell the difference with ABS and what not since the speed of the ride was pretty low, nor did I really want to "test" out the ABS since. The gauge cluster was nice but a bit to informative and busy? The display give you way more information than you need (outside temp(?), power modes and I am assuming ABS etc) and found that I was too distracted with so much going on in the little display area. I didn't get the try out the different modes or traction control but that was due to the nature of the ride as well. All in all, as much as I would like to "hate" on the new ZX14, I really can't. It really is a nice riding bike with a nice riding posture and good acceleration, BUT it is not for me. I've played with the idea of owning one but know that deep down, when I see a Busa, my heart will sink and my initial reaction would be, "damn look at that sexy $@!@&^^$&#%@@", so my heart still goes to the Busa:love:
After being able to test ride the 2012 Busa, I gotta say, I am sold on the bike and will be picking one up this week (to take advantage of 0% financing before it ends). I won't go into details about how the Busa rides for obvious reasons, lol. With that said though, I do wish Suzuki had their demo ride structure set up better. Logically, you would think to put the sportbikes up front, followed by the sport touring, then cruisers and or lower CC bikes so each different riding class gets a chance to properly feel out the bikes without being hindered by another type of bike that is not tuned similarly. They decided to do a mix pack so I was stuck behind a dirt bike with a novice rider who only had his learners permit with a cruiser behind me!!! Kawasaki definitely nailed it with having two separate rides with their cruiser line and the sportbike line.
I do want to say that the ZX14 is one of the smoothest bikes I have ever ridden. Shifting through the gears was effortless and buttery smooth, and I would even second guess if I had actually shifted to the next gear because it was so smooth that you can't really even feel it engage. I'd have to check the gear indicator to make sure. Acceleration was really smooth as well, you can clearly feel the power of these bikes through all the gears. Since it was a demo ride, I couldn't really open her up without flying by the demo ride leader, lol. Braking was good, though to be honest, I can't tell the difference with ABS and what not since the speed of the ride was pretty low, nor did I really want to "test" out the ABS since. The gauge cluster was nice but a bit to informative and busy? The display give you way more information than you need (outside temp(?), power modes and I am assuming ABS etc) and found that I was too distracted with so much going on in the little display area. I didn't get the try out the different modes or traction control but that was due to the nature of the ride as well. All in all, as much as I would like to "hate" on the new ZX14, I really can't. It really is a nice riding bike with a nice riding posture and good acceleration, BUT it is not for me. I've played with the idea of owning one but know that deep down, when I see a Busa, my heart will sink and my initial reaction would be, "damn look at that sexy $@!@&^^$&#%@@", so my heart still goes to the Busa:love:
I went to one last year when they came to Houston and I test rode a zx14. One week later I owned a brand new Candy Lime Green/Black ZX-14 
