Traded her in for...

beaquel

beaquel

Registered
Today is a bittersweet day for me. I was the very proud owner of a 2007 Hayabusa from May of 20007 until today at lunchtime. I was overly ecstatic to buy the 'Busa when I did, but the longer time went on the more I realized I was wasting its full potential and not really getting my money's worth out of it. It was kind of disappointing to have this absolutely amazing bike that I would never fully tap the potential of. In fact, I would probably never fully tap even a tiny fraction of the bike's ability. I did take it to two track days where I had a ton of fun, but I hated putting along at 4k rpm around town just to keep from doubling or tripling the speed limit. I know my mindset would be different if I lived in Texas or Montana or Wyoming or something like that where I could hit some deserted highway and hammer it past 150mph or so, but that is not the case. I live in heavily suburbanized St. Louis County where 95% of the time the speed limit is 45 or less and I hit stop and go rush hour traffic on a daily basis where it takes me 35-45 min just to go 14 miles to work every single day. It was the right bike for the wrong circumstances in my life right now.

After extensive consideration, I decided that the best alternative (now that the B-King is gone) would be a Yamaha FZ1. It has all the power I'd ever need and then some, but with the benefit of being moderately more comfortable ergonomically for the stop and go grind. Plus, it's about 100 lbs lighter than my 'Busa, so it's MUCH easier to push around the garage in order to fit my Jeep behind it on colder days. While even an FZ1 has performance potential far beyond anything I'll ever need on even an aggressive ride in the country, it's much closer to the reality of my present life than the fantasy my Hayabusa couldn't live up to. Looking forward to weather above 40 deg so I can at least ride it. Today was a bitterly cold ride under 30 deg to perform the trade-in. Can't wait to see what the FZ1 feels like on a normal ride where I'm not dodging icicles. From the brief period on the bike this afternoon, I can tell you it's amazingly smooth.

IMG00139-20091229-1557.png
 
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If you are happy, then good for you. How about some pics of the new ride?
 
WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE ON , DOPE ?

Sorry the Busa is the second 'largest and fastest bike' I have had and I don't think now I could ever step down off this platform.
Beautiful bike the FZ1 is but I hope you dont miss the Busa !

Does this mean he still can post here:poke:
No Busa no soup for you :rofl:???
 
FZ1 is a great bike, I love yamaha stuff but man...
it aint no Busa.

I commute on my Busa daily as well and all that low end usable torque
makes it perfect. Course I got heli bars and adjustable cyclecat footpegs.

Like I say I like the FZ1 and would love to have one as a 2nd bike in my garage
but you just gave up a bunch of hp and torque (especailly low end)
your going to have wind the FZ up a bit to make it go.


Congrats though, great bike :thumbsup:


Different bike but I was in the stealership looking at one of the triumph
twins, they remind me of my first bike (honda hawk, twin) so the guy
walks up to me and asks me what I'm riding. I tell him a Busa
He shakes his head and says, "don't buy this bike...you'll be bored after 20 minutes."
Never had a salesman tell me that, honest guy though.

Moral of the story, hope you don't miss the Bus to bad.
 
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Riding any bike is better then not riding at all. Best of luck to you with your new bike!
 
::11 I don't think i could ever give mine up. I cant imagine me without her. But under your circumstance i would have to say you made a good decision :thumbsup:
 
I would personally move out of St. Louis Co. to one of your mentioned areas before I ever thought about selling my Busa. I live in Texas on the caprock where flat long open roads are simply a 15 minute ride out of town and I love it. I worked in St. Louis once and I could not handle living their permanently. I myself like all kinds of bikes and I hope you enjoy your FZ1!
 
Hope you enjoy it, and just think plenty of deals to be had on Gen IIs, just saying :whistle:
 
To be honest with you, I just couldn't handle having a bike stuck in second gear around town anymore. It just didn't make sense to be paying as much as I was on a monthly basis for a bike with effectively only 2 useful gears. The bike had so much power, shifting was purely an exercise in fuel conservation. I certainly didn't need to be in anything higher than 2nd unless I hit the highway. I'm hoping a less powerful bike like the FZ1 will allow me to actually rev it once in a while without risking jailtime. If I ever wanted to rev the 'Busa, I was immediately into license revocation territory in the blink of an eye. It was fun the 3 or 4 times I ever hit full throttle in my entire ownership experience, but it wasn't something I could justify the monthly payment on. Don't get me wrong, this was an AMAZING bike and I'm very sad to give it up. It just wasn't the right bike for my circumstances in suburban St. Louis County. With 2 young girls at home, my opportunities to travel to places where I could enjoy the bike were slim to none. So, I will look forward to the point in my life where I can enjoy a Hayabusa to a greater extent. Until then, I am going to try to more fully tap the FZ1's potential. My other leading candidate before I decided on this was the Triumph Street Triple R. I really could have rev'd on a 675cc bike. I might have even broke 10k on the Tach once in a while. I can count less than 10 times I ever did that on my Hayabusa in something other than 1st gear.
 
R.I.P...But just remember this ..once a Busaholic ...always a Busaholic...let's see how long you can stay on the wagon:laugh:2hip
 
Congrats on getting a bike that you feel like you can get more use out of. I have a good friend that loves his FZ1. :beerchug:
 
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