Bought my first motorcycle....holy crap!

[Unit 5302]

The Hayabusa definitely has love it/hate it styling (I'm the latter ) but you can't argue it's performance.

It's a lot longer than the 1000cc bikes, which makes it a little more docile while maintaining insane acceleration. The extra length also makes them more comfortable to ride.

Make sure you keep your head in the game though, the bike CAN do a roll on wheelie at 100mph+. For those of you not familiar with the term, it means you're just on the throttle. No clutch dropping or anything fancy. The front wheel just starts coming up off the ground. I ride pretty close up to the tank (more comfortable for me) on my 2 600s, and I've only encountered the roll on a couple times. It's actually a little distressing when the front wheel starts coming up when you're not expecting it, lol. The first time on the FZR was while I was coming out of a hard right hander (while I was still turning) and the second time was just after a dip on after crossing some railroad tracks.

The advice I can give.

Respect the bike, but trust it. You've chosen one of the quickest and most powerful motorcycles in the world as your starter street bike (usually a very poor choice), and having a motorcycle with the kind of power yours has can get you into deadly trouble in just a couple seconds. Make sure you still trust it though, they're more stable and sticky than you might think, and extreme maneuvers when unecessary can get you into as much trouble as pushing the envelope.

Ride within your limits because just when you think you know how far you can take things, something unexpected happens.

Get ALL the protective gear and WEAR it. I use the Phoenix set from Joe Rocket because I want something to keep me cool, was quick to put on, comfortable, and relatively inexpensive. I wear a full face helmet, jacket, pants, gloves, and boots that cover my ankles in addition to the pants which also cover them. Roethisberger would have walked away from his accident in all likelyhood if he had been wearing a full face. Protective gear not only saves lives, but faces and jobs. You might live after sliding along the pavement at 50mph with no gear, but you might rather you didn't.

Take a riding course. You might be a natural, but thoughts are a low slower than trained instincts.

Keep the shiny side up.

[silver_pilate]

I echo Unit's post. WEAR A HELMET at the very least.

I seen plenty of patients come through the clinic from motorcycle accidents. The smart ones were wearing helmets and just need to learn how to walk again or less, but the dumb (and sometimes the just plain unlucky) ones need to learn how to think, talk, and eat again.

Respect that bike and be aware that there are too many idiots out there to let your guard down. And the vast majority of serious accidents I have seen come from just plain stupidity. For instance, I saw a patient who was traveling down a major city street at night at 150mph. A car pulled out in front of him and he was able to slow down to 85 before laying the bike over. The bike missed the car, but he wasn't so lucky. He hit the drivers door, his right leg came up by his ear and he went under the car in a vertical split position. Seperated the halves of his pelvis completely and broke his femur. On top of that, massive internal injuries. He coded 4 times on the way to the hospital and spent a month in ICU. If he wasn't wearing a helmet, he'd be dead. As it is, he'll live a pretty normal life following his long stay in rehab.

Anyway, I'm preachin to the choir here, but don't get on that bike without a helmet. NOT cool.

--nathan

[84LX89GT]

yeah i hear you guys on the safety thing, i have a proper riding jacket, helmet and boots. I'm going to buy some pants soon, but my budget was already completely busted. I ALWAYS wear a helmet on a bike and ALWAYS wear a seat belt in a car....there's absolutely no reason not too.
Hey Unit thanks for the awesome advice (name is Kell right???), anyway yeah a guy at my work races bikes, i let him ride it and he said he wasn't able to go full throttle until 4th gear and he hit 160......jesus, that's way too fast i had no idea he'd go that fast. Luckily nothing bad happened. I'm too scared to try full throttle on the bike....there's no need to, it's WAY too fast anyway at 1/2 to 3/4 throttle.
I love it so far, it's very predictable, sturdy, and handles bumps very well.
It's actually pretty good for cruising because it has so much torque it just cruises along with very little effort, it's comfortable and handles bumps very well. I want to learn more about riding and i have ZERO interest in doing wheelies, burnouts or hauling butt around corners.
The reason i bought it, not only because i thought it was a work of mechanical/visual art was because i want to learn how to drag race it (track only of course)...but that will take time.
I'm going to take a riding course when i get a chance, i feel a bond with this bike and i want to learn how to respect it, ride it and work on it.