Hi from South Africa...and I need advice please...

[PharCyde]

Hi all on Hayabusa.org

My name is Jay and I live in the Northern Cape in sunny South Africa. Been riding since I was about 4 years old. (and before that on the tank of my old man's Honda 550 four.....so, it's in my blood I guess)
My last bike was a 1998 GSXR 1100, black/silver/grey paint-job. Blueprinted engine, full 4 into 2 TY performance pipes, K&N filters, Bridgestone Battleaxe front and rear.....and good golly was she fast (and so damn loud) On a dyno came in at 305km/h. I had to get rid of her in late 2011, I haven't ridden much since.
I NEED to ride again as soon as possible.
I know I've posted the next bit in two other places, but haven't received any feedback as yet, so I decided to post it in a new thread.
I am in the market for a Busa.
I have found a beautiful silver '99 model, full Yoshi Tri-Oval 4 into 1 exhaust, excellent condition, Bridgestone BT023 front and rear (95% tread), and 34000km on the clock.
Going price is ZAR 59,900.00.
Do any of you guys think this is a good buy?
(Specifically wanted the '99 because of the fact that it wasn't the restricted model, and I've read a lot of people have problems with their Busa's after chipping them.)
A lot of my mates ride Busas and are VERY happy with them.
So, any help, advice, tricks or tips would be appreciated.

 

[PharCyde]

These are photos of the beauty I am looking at.

Any advice please?

Thanks,
Jay

 

[Blrry]

Hi all on Hayabusa.org

My name is Jay and I live in the Northern Cape in sunny South Africa. Been riding since I was about 4 years old. (and before that on the tank of my old man's Honda 550 four.....so, it's in my blood I guess)
My last bike was a 1998 GSXR 1100, black/silver/grey paint-job. Blueprinted engine, full 4 into 2 TY performance pipes, K&N filters, Bridgestone Battleaxe front and rear.....and good golly was she fast (and so damn loud) On a dyno came in at 305km/h. I had to get rid of her in late 2011, I haven't ridden much since.
I NEED to ride again as soon as possible.
I know I've posted the next bit in two other places, but haven't received any feedback as yet, so I decided to post it in a new thread.
I am in the market for a Busa.
I have found a beautiful silver '99 model, full Yoshi Tri-Oval 4 into 1 exhaust, excellent condition, Bridgestone BT023 front and rear (95% tread), and 34000km on the clock.
Going price is ZAR 59,900.00.
Do any of you guys think this is a good buy?
(Specifically wanted the '99 because of the fact that it wasn't the restricted model, and I've read a lot of people have problems with their Busa's after chipping them.)
A lot of my mates ride Busas and are VERY happy with them.
So, any help, advice, tricks or tips would be appreciated.

Jay,

I'm sure lots of people have seen your posts (I've seen a couple of them so far) but nobody has answered yet because there are... barriers to offering the advice you want. I don't know the conversion rate from ZAR to USD for example. I'm sure I could look that up, but it would still be meaningless to me, since I don't know what 'busas are going for in South Africa - are they common? Are they rare?

If a lot of your mates ride Busas - your best bet is probably to ask them if its a good price.

Now, if you're asking if it's a good bike - that's a question that people would be quick to answer here. Stuff regarding economics in other countries is much harder to advise, especially since you're the first South African poster I've come across in the couple of months that I've been following the oRg. So for what its worth - yeah, man, sounds like a great price. I'd drop sixy thousand ZARs on it! (that was tongue in cheek - FYI - I don't really even know what a ZAR is)

Wait 'till you get the bike before you ask for tricks or tips - or better yet, just search through the forum. Everything under the sun that is Hayabusa can pretty much be found there on Gen I's.

 

[BKing1340]

Zar is South African Rand.
The bike is a good bike. Bus as go on and on if serviced correctly. As for the price, the international community can't help with that one as the bikes in the UK are cheap second hand and in the states, a second hand vehicle is near worthless! Their prices are amazing!
Bikes in SA are over inflated on the second hand market.

I bought my 600cc gsr and put 40000 miles on it. When I went pinto a shop when on holiday in Cape Town, I asked how much they would give me for my bike and it was the same price that I paid for it on 10000miles and mint!
Gobsmacked!
I could get a gixxer 1000 k4 in the uk for the price of an early 90's bandit1200!

 

[twotonevert]

The 99 is a good bike, but check a few things. First, it has an aluminum sub frame, check for cracks or stress. Second, it has an internal pump and filter to the tank, great as long as they are maintained, so find out the last time the filter was replaced. If you have to work on this you will be running a few hundred USD for replacement parts not including shipping. Next, find out if 2nd gear has been undercut or if anyone has ever been in the tranny. Good luck, she looks like a nice bike and was well cared for.

 

[PharCyde]

Hey folks,
Thanks for the replies and advice. It's really appreciated.
I'll do some more research this side, and see what goes for what.

 

[jellyrug]

In US$, that would be about $5,700 here, slightly steep, but as others have said it totally depends on what the price represents in the South African bike market.

Geluk met die koop en skryf terug sodat ons weet hoe dinge vir jou uitwerk.

 

[djb3nj1]

Hi Welcome to the org

Again to reiterate twotonevert, that model has a aluminium (generally silver in UK) rear sub frame, with the 4 into 1 exhaust there is a loss of support to the subframe and it will buckle and crack etc certainly if your two up. Steel ones (generally black in UK) 2001 on are available everywhere online. Apart from that a Hayabusa is an investment as well as a dream to ride. Excellent fuel economy if you take it for touring/chilling. Its got great looks and mine puts the wind up brand new sportsbikes frequently.

Good luck with your buy

 

[1bondoman]

Personally I would not buy a 99 or a 2000 to ride unless I changed it over to the internal fuel pump set up. If you can swing it try to get an 03 or newer. Most of the BUSAs I see around here with the mileage that one has are very ragged and rough.

 

[sixpack577]

As for "chipping" to remove the restrictions, it doesn't work that way, maybe they're reffering to a TRE.
You can use a TRE(timing retard eliminator), but it isn't the best way, as it uses 5th gear timing values for all the gears.
Have the ecu "flashed" with Ecu Editor or Woolrich Racing software and have the restrictions removed that way.
Only thing is that the Busa needs to be an 02 or newer to do so. The 99-00 and 01 can be upgraded to the 02-07 ecu(and a few other parts)fairly simple.
An 02-07 is the best gen1 to buy, as all issues from the previous years were corrected or improved, with the exception of 2nd gear.
2nd gear also goes out randomly in gen1's with 1000 miles or 100,000 miles. There is no main cause other than the design.
The only fix is to have the transmission undercut, a few hundred bucks, plus the cost of labor to get the trans in and out if you can't do it yourself.

 

[ky busa]

nice busa

 

[dadofthree]

to the oRg