Going Downhill !

don't take anything being said here as an attack on you, we actually just hate to see any more people get hurt...i've been to way too many hospital rooms and funerals over the years and am tired of seeing my brothers and sisters maimed and mangled! please, get some training at the very least and definitely wear all the protective gear you can manage to get on...we want to see you on this forum for many years to come! :beerchug:

+100 :thumbsup:
 
My busa is my second bike i ever owned. Afraid to tell anyone what I first rode but it didn't have much power at all. First and foremost, "RESPECT THE BIKE YOUR ON" and you will be just fine. And as people have stated take a course. It will only help in many areas. Safety and insurance the most important. I think these courses offered should be a prerequisite to obtaining a motorcycle license. For the people that say sell the bike I believe your taking it to the extreme. As long as he respects the power and takes it easy he will be fine. Try and ride it like I saw in Macon454 pictures more than likely its not going to come out good. I look at those pics and say what a great rider but you won't see me doing corners like that. Even though it looks like a blast!
 
I'm old too. :laugh:
The Bros have given you a lot of good advice.
Follow it, wear your gear and practice.!!
Remember, you're riding a "hurricane on two wheels" so be very very careful.!!
 
Sell the Busa and buy yourself a good starter bike and learn how to ride down hills as well as anything else you don't yet know. This is why we tell noobs that Busas and other sportbikes are not for beginners. Learning to ride well is a long drawn out process....start at the beginning.

wow...isn't tht sumthing lame to say..sell ur bike... well guess what boss... i work hard for it,.. so i am definately keeping it.... maybe if i was some rich guy like u ... i will sell it...
 
Noobs buy Busas as their first bike for one reason and one reason only. EGO. Ego without skills gets you in trouble or worse. Better he sells the bike himself now than have his family/loved ones do it later.

Did I miss something? The guy just asked for advice on how to handle a downhill corner.
 
Sell the Busa and buy yourself a good starter bike and learn how to ride down hills as well as anything else you don't yet know. This is why we tell noobs that Busas and other sportbikes are not for beginners. Learning to ride well is a long drawn out process....start at the beginning.

:drama: :rofl:

Hybrid busa = crash busa. Use your engine as a brake, listen to the rpms, she will tell you when to shift.


+1


Noobs buy Busas as their first bike for one reason and one reason only. EGO. Ego without skills gets you in trouble or worse. Better he sells the bike himself now than have his family/loved ones do it later.

:rofl:

Rollinmotivation.png




Read this top to bottom, its a good start, and don't get ahead of yourself. Brake early, wear gear, focus on technique, don't be stupid.

TrackDoD Novice Group Orientation
 
Like most of the guys said here. Use your engine as a brake. The compression of the motor will slow you as long as your in the proper gear. You'll have to practice this to get a feel for which gear your gonna need at a given speed. This works excellent and also saves your brakes for when you need them. Practice Practice Practice.
 
What is with all the unfriendly post here, he is only asking for our input, or at least some needed advice?

I think the Org has some great advice on this subject and we can help a fellow rider, be a noobie or not, Heck, I have only been on a Busa for a year myself.

I have often heard from other riders that the downhill blind curves are intimidating, and that is enough to wrinkle the brain into a set.

I think that given enough saddle time this will come to you and will make you a better rider.

Just take it one day at a time and let the bike and the road tell you where you want to be, and you will be there!
Just 2,
Bubba
 
Heres the real story' THat the board members dont want you to pratice,,its called the MOON MOVE,,they all do it,,,,..If you noticed how the busa is built? the ram air covers are formed so that when you lay down on it your forarms fit into those areas,,,Next the side of the gas tank is curved in for your theighs ,so you become part of the bike for wind resistance and less drag,,Now is the gas tank,,to utilize it your chest has to lay on top of the gas tank,,and suzuki they covered that too,,its flat so your chest can lay flat onto it,,and the front foot pegs are tilted forward soyou have traction to stay up high and tight in that race postion,,,last but not least,,the windsheild,,its very low,and to see out of it..You have to be in the postion mentioned above,,,Now for the MOON postion,,go down you big hill as you stated,,at WOT stick your chest on the tank and push your head up into the gauges,,yes thats right Suzuki cut the center out of them,,that gully dip on the center of the gauges is where you chin goes,,put , your nose pressed up against the winsheild ,,Nowstime to do the MOOM MOVE ,,your in that tight postion doing about 185 by now and at the bottom of the hill is a town,,Get a 4 inch piece of duct tape and tape the throttle wide open,,cause to do this manuver ,your going to need both hands,,,now with your nose deep in the windcheild,feet pressed into the pegs,chest buried into the tank,forarms embedded into the ram covers, running her at red line,,,tke both free hand and pull down you britches and moon the town as you go thru,,when you get real good at it,,,you can steer with your nose,,,,,But remember,,dont do this on cabbage day,,being bent over in that postion and pressing down,,we all know what will happen,,dont wanna leave any DNA around for the Law to trace ya,,,,Thats the MOOM move,,,all the guys on the board have done this manuver,,,ussualy under the weather,,,,practice,,,practice,,,practice the MOOM MOVE,,,,
 
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The point I am making is that this is a beginner rider who is learning to ride on a Hayabusa. Do you not see a problem with that?

I will agree that a Hayabusa may not be the best bike to learn on, but it's the individual on the bike that makes the difference. In my opinion there is more to be gained through some good mentorship/coaching vs playing musical bikes.
 
I will agree that a Hayabusa may not be the best bike to learn on, but it's the individual on the bike that makes the difference. In my opinion there is more to be gained through some good mentorship/coaching vs playing musical bikes.


I agree that mentorship and coaching are very valuable. When this individual learns how to ride a motorcycle and gets some road experience under his belt then he can revisit the idea of buying a Hayabusa. That might be in 3 years or maybe in 5 years but it isn't today and it won't be next month either. Buy a bike that you can learn riding skills on without being bitten in the azz. Last I checked they didn't have 10 year olds riding CR450's at the Honda Junior Red Rider program and they don't have Busas and ZX14's at the MSF training programs. They have small, low hp, easy to handle bikes for a reason. I tend to give advice to new riders like I would my own kids or their friends because I actually care about their health and safety. Learning to ride a motorcycle on a bike like ours is just plain wrong and the riders that are doing it are doing so for all the wrong reasons and there is a pretty good chance that they will pay a high price for the mistake.
 
I agree that mentorship and coaching are very valuable. When this individual learns how to ride a motorcycle and gets some road experience under his belt then he can revisit the idea of buying a Hayabusa. That might be in 3 years or maybe in 5 years but it isn't today and it won't be next month either. Buy a bike that you can learn riding skills on without being bitten in the azz. Last I checked they didn't have 10 year olds riding CR450's at the Honda Junior Red Rider program and they don't have Busas and ZX14's at the MSF training programs. They have small, low hp, easy to handle bikes for a reason. I tend to give advice to new riders like I would my own kids or their friends because I actually care about their health and safety. Learning to ride a motorcycle on a bike like ours is just plain wrong and the riders that are doing it are doing so for all the wrong reasons and there is a pretty good chance that they will pay a high price for the mistake.

Throttle control and clutch control does not take 3-5 years to "master." If you don't want to get bitten, play around with the bike in higher gears then you normally would, a slip of the throttle won't cause as much bite. Has the poster taken the MSF course? If he has, then everything there can be applied to the Busa, if he hasn't, he should. Have fun with the bike :beerchug:

The only thing a lower powered bike seems to do is allow you to get acquainted to riding. If your not scared to begin with, didn't find the MSF course to be too involving, are comfortable on a bike - then there is no issue here. With a lower powered bike I ended up learning a few bad habits :whistle:

The whole "Your gonna die learning on a Busa," "You won't learn anything you'll be to skeered," blah blah is a bunch of bs loaded with my favorite!!
...wait for it...

:drama:
 
:poke: I LOVE riding down Open road hills in Neutral and no hands!!! Since you are in NorCal you've ridden or drove over to Half Moon Bay on 92... I ride the coast downhill from the 35 interchange to the xmas tree farm at the bottum like that all the time. I will not attempt it on the tight mountain road, the no hands that is... I've ridden out the Mono Lake side of Yosemite on 120 from the summit down to the flats in Neutral, passing cars @ 70 :laugh:

I always keep the engine running and lights on High...

Use the rear brake for speed control and ALWAYS be ready to blip the throttle and pop it into 2nd/3rd :whistle:

(OBTW - I've logged over 100K miles in the California sunshine, about 1/3 of that on Smaug)
 
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Use the engine for braking. Dont be bothered by higher revs till you are above 8000/9000 then you might want to shift to a higher gear.
Down hill curves are intimidating, because a newer rider will have alot if not all his weight on his wrists which tends to make turning into a curve at any speed hard. So use your thighs and stomach muscles to grip the tank and get the weight off your wrists, you will find the bike will respond better to your lean and you wont feel so out of control like you are falling over the handle bars.

Good luck and ride safe!
 
Downhill is the best place to stand on the seat without buying a throttlelocker, I'm just sayin..:whistle: I shift down until I don't need brakes, when catching traffic, and watch the rear view in case of danger.
 
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Ideal scenario for the bike and your tires is to be slightly accelerating (at least no slowing down much) when going through the turn. The only way to achive this is to slow down before the turn, and then gradually accelerate. This puts more weight on the rear and less on the front. If someone gets too hot in the turn, they have no choice but slowing down. So, they may arrive at the tightest part of the turn with a maximumm lean while deccelerating (i.e. having too much weight on the front, and not enough on the rear, as a result using up too much traction on the front, and reducing the clearance), while you will be at the same point, but accelerating, having the right weight distribution, and no clearance issues.

Going uphill works for the bike better because you already have more weight on the rear, so you can pretty much keep your speed constant and the weight distribution and the resultant use of traction is pretty optimal.

Going downhill, you are in a much worse situation because the front gets overloaded unless you accelerate throught the turn even more aggressively, but in order to do that you have to slow down before the turn even more than when riding on flat surface. It may seem counter intuitive, but once you try, the bike will feel more stable and in control. If you add to this a smooth transition between throttle and brakes, and stay relaxed, the entire experience becomes pretty satisfying. As a result of all that, going downhill will take you longer than going uphill.

Don't forget that if you need to really brake going downhill (or in any turn), you have to lean the bike hard to the inside to give yourself some running room, then quickly straighten the bike and brake hard for as long as the road allows. Lean hard again to get some room, straighten and brake hard again.
 
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What is with all the unfriendly post here, he is only asking for our input, or at least some needed advice?

I think the Org has some great advice on this subject and we can help a fellow rider, be a noobie or not, Heck, I have only been on a Busa for a year myself.

I have often heard from other riders that the downhill blind curves are intimidating, and that is enough to wrinkle the brain into a set.

I think that given enough saddle time this will come to you and will make you a better rider.

Just take it one day at a time and let the bike and the road tell you where you want to be, and you will be there!
Just 2,
Bubba

+1 Take it slow, build your confidence and be safe. Nice looking scoot and love the color!

:thumbsup:
 
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