Hello all, I guess I am now a new Hayabusa owner! It wasn't exactly on purpose. My 2000 Honda VFR800 was set up for sport touring, and ran perfectly, and I thought it was going to be my forever-bike. So selling it and buying a hayabusa was rather unexpected. However I am not complaining.
A buddy of mine I know came over one day and wanted to know if I would help him sell his Hayabusa.
It was a midlife crisis kind of bike, and he bought it new, drove it a few summers but then less and less until it was getting only a tankful of fuel run each year, then no riding for a year or two... So I said Sure, I would clean it up for him, take some pictures, and sell it. He said it was fully insured, and I could ride it to different bike and car meets to try and sell it. It's a 6000 mile bike with a few scratches on the fairing from tipping over into gravel at the mail box when getting the mail. (I think it's why he lost interest in it, actually.).
I have a saying: You can't truly crave what you have never experienced. So I guess I shouldn't have ridden this bike - I might still have stayed happy with my VFR. But, there you go, I did it. And I craved it. So , I listed the VFR and a collector flew in and rode it home to another state. And, I put the cash towards this one. Now that it's cleaned up, it's perfect in every way except for the scratchy side panels.
...and gosh, I have never actually had a bike with an honest to goodness hyperspace lever before. Holding second gear to 10000 RPM is like being whooshed off the end of an aircraft carrier. Only once have I tried using a big twist in first gear - and even with a full tank of fuel, the front end slowly rotated up into the air by six inches and only dropped when I shifted to second. I'm not even sure it was wide-open throttle. But it was eye opening, that is for sure.
So being one who likes to know his machines inside and out, and meet like-minded owners, I came over here to introduce myself. I'll probably leave it stock for now, though some things I would like to eventually do is get some Heli bars, drop the pegs an inch or so, and find some soft side panniers for the back of the bike. That, and find out if Suzuki still sells side panels for this bike, in the original color. I can probably have these repainted, but that is about $500 a side to have it resprayed by a body shop, assuming they can even get the paint formula... Or, just live with the scratches and not worry about it, and just have fun with the bike.
View attachment 1654402
