Not a Busa !
- Thread starter Armoni76
- Start date
The new bikes may be better in every way but the older ones had a special way about them...
Much like the Hayabusa, the new ones are better in every way but everyone turns their head when an original '99 (especially the copper one) go by...
I had a friend who had a '99 R1 and at the time he didn't have a garage but had all kinds of theft deterrents.....only to have it stolen from his driveway......they wanted it bad.
Armoni76
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You're absolutely right. That's how iconic bikes work. I love my Gen3: its torque, its precision. But you can't replace the feel and smell of the carburetor after a ride. Youngtimers are somehow imperfect, you have to adapt to the bike, no TC to help you through all the corners.
The ZL900 and Vmax both came out as '85 models. They debuted pretty much simultaneously. The Vmax was by far a bigger sales success, as it was far beyond it's competitors in power and performance at the time. Honda had their V65 Magna, which was the first of the 'Power cruisers', and the other Japanese manufacturers came out with something to compete with the V65 Magna. Suzuki had the Madura 1200.
The original Vmax and 1st gen 'Busa were similar in that regard, in that they both crushed the competition at the time of their introductions.
Nice R1 in the original post. They were revolutionary in the liter sportbike field when they came out.
Wow...25 years...and I remember riding an R1 when they were new...and the gen1 is right behind it in age.
Hurts a little to hear that, lol
I graduated HS in '85. The V Max was king, but I loved the Eliminator style. (Detuned Ninja motor as I recall!) They only made that one for a year or two before updating it to something that I found less appealing.
I rode a V65 Magna once, the tall bars / forward pegs made all that power exciting. Good looking bike though. Remember the Pee Wee Glisan ad where they broke into the 10's? Like when Kennedy was shot, I can still remember where I was when I saw that ad.
I remember all the drag racers rolled their eyes when the V-Max and Eliminator came out and be touted as out of the box drag bikes....
They'd all bring up the shaft drive and lack of ability to tune the gearing to certain drag races or tracks.....but I think they were being too critical as the bikes were pretty cool...
Personally I was more of a V-Max fan but the Eliminator was cool too.
The V-65 Magna and Sabers were pretty awesome and I had a friend who had a 1200 Madura and it was a ferocious beast....it would tear up the streets....I wished Suzuki would have put that engine in a sport bike frame.
One thing about the older bikes is you could instantly tell what they were as they each had their own unique look...today they seem to all look the same.
Tony Nitrous
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I do like the original R1. In my head I have a mental list of bikes that really were ”Land Marks” in motorcycling. CB750, Z900, GSX1100/Kat, 86 GSXR11, 99 Busa, Z750 turbo, original R1 and Fireblade. Bikes that had “WOW”. Bikes you’d stand and stare at in the showroom or at the pub.
Apart from stuff like the H2 Carbon that’s pretty rare now.
Apart from stuff like the H2 Carbon that’s pretty rare now.
you know your getting old when you can say that you owned 3 baby v-max (FZX).....the fun part about these bikes was standing at a stoplight next to a r6 or gsxr, and always win the pull......yeah they never saw that one coming.....but the ZL900, love the looks, and its becoming a hard to get bike here in the Netherlands. But i just love bikes without all this new crap, like injection, tps and all electric stuff that sooner or later is gonna beak down.
Cant wait till we all go electric and see the stranded cars and bikes allongside roads.
Cant wait till we all go electric and see the stranded cars and bikes allongside roads.
Armoni76
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You're damn right ! I just found out that the EXUP system sends error codes and makes shitty noises, I will remove it as soon as possible.
MonkeyButtRides
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The bike looks like it was well taken care of and has tons of life left in it!
Armoni76
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Yep, it has aged well, over all everything is OK, normal things to replace like exhaust, battery, seats, bolts, screws, rear shock. Nothing surprising for a 25 years bike. It was the same and first owner for 24 years and 66000 km. Until he sold it to the guy before me who kept it for only 1 year and 1000 km. The final touch will be a full paint job, original color with decals.
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