Good second bike

I reckon it is not down to the Hayabusa, Blackbird or a VFR. I know a few guys
here have Blackbirds. Got any comments on them?

Fraser

 

That's about my normal plan.
The Full Throttle package is about $800, but you get a free poster! (and all
you can eat and drink).

Theo

 

No I'm a little old. Most modern bike I owned was a Z1. Tried riding a
few of the Suzie 1300 ilk, but just felt uncomfortable. Unluckily,
I'm a squirt in stature, so the big FAT bikes don't do a lot for me.

Blackbirds? Wow factor. I thought my Z1 was too fast. A bike that
can pull a 140 quarter seems like a great idea, until we look
at the road rules. A pansy 110 km/hour? Most of my bikes
and cars can't keep under that with comfort!

So, enjoy whatever you end up with! I'm the wrong bloke to
ask as my favourite two rides are a 1968 Sporty, and a 1966
Bonnie. All since then has been plastic and frappery ;-)

And I still own that blasted Scooter. Still has 10km on the clock
if anyone is interested in a bright yellow Bug. I must have been
pissed when I bought the thing.

Mark Addinall.

 

Threefiddy. Final offer!

Theo

 

In aus.motorcycles on Wed, 18 Jul 2007 15:37:24 +0930

So update to the 70s. My '75 850T Guzzi will be for sale soon.
Pushrods, drum rear brake[1], you can even put it back to points if
you want.

Zebee

[1] well.. 10" twin leader so not maybe what you are used to in rear
drums.

 

Never owned a Guzzi. Always did like them 'though. There is another
thread at the moment in this most wondeful group; "Shortarse". I seem
to be one, at 172cm I can't flatfoot a lot of the newer bikes I have
sat on. 5'9 - 5'10 is not really a pygmy, however, I find most modern
bikes a real pain to sit on. Not taking away from the value of
the things, they look very cool and go like the clappers.

No joke, a mate of mine got hold of a Suzi 1300 quite a few years
ago and chucked me the keys, "Have a ride and see how it feels
compared to your crappy old Z1". I sat on the thing and got
cramps in my legs instantly, and having to "one leg" the thing
made me really worried. I zoomed back to Ashgrove from
LWC Canungra on my crappy old Z1. Nice ride that one,
for Jap Crap. I enjoyed it.

Mark Addinall.

 

Ha! Thanks, but I think I'll give the thing to my neice. I think
a banana coloured bug probably suits a pretty blond 22yo girlie
more than a grey hair old grunt covered in tatts. It just LOOKS weird.

Mark Addinall.

 

Fraser Johnston wrote:

Blackbirds are brilliant.

Because they weren't (reputedly) quite as fast as Hayabusas, they tend
to be a bit cheaper.

Beautiful machine to ride, once you sort out fitting on it properly.
Smooth as silk, fast as ****, and all totally effortless.

Don't get one with a noisy exhaust, it lacks class.

Having said that, if you find an injected 800 VFR before the VTI shite,
that gear whine is worth serious money.

BTW, I considered a Blackbird myself, but it was just too effortless....
my licence would have lasted about 10 minutes.

Trivia point, a Blackbird consumes less petrol than a Hornet 600. :-(

regards,
CrazyCam

 

So's my R1200RT, if I take the top box, panniers and screen off. I'd
probably still leave the radio/cd player and GPS on, man's got to have
some creature comforts.

 

He said he wanted something that would have LESS trouble keeping up
with his mates...something a bit sporty...

JL
(blimey, at least when Zebee says "you need a guzzi you do" you can
kinda understand why...)

 

In aus.motorcycles on Thu, 19 Jul 2007 00:23:12 -0700

Well... you can get some rather serious race kits for them from the UK
you know.

Ported and squished and reed valves and massive spannies and....


Zebee

 

Yeah fair point, if he's riding with the pushbike club he'd be able to
keep up OK provided there weren't any hills. They'd probably object to
the clouds of blue smoke though, so he'd have to ride at the back ! ;-
P

JL
(he did say a VTR was struggling to keep up, so I think they might be
a bit quicker than the MZ - no ?)

 

<snort> Silk purse, sow's ear.....

JL

 

Got the link?

Fraser

 

I am really getting keen on the Blackbird now.

Fraser

 

My main mate I keep trying to catch rides an SV1000.

Fraser

 

Depends how you measure that. A few years ago there was a shootout in
one of the bike mags between a ZZR1200, CBR1100XX, GSXR1300 and (I
forget which K model BMW) and IIRC in the 100kph top gear rolling drag
the Honda passed the Suzuki at about 160kph and didn't get passed back
till it was doing about 240kph. Of course my memory maybe slightly biased.

Nev..
'04 CBR1100XX

 

Fair enough Nev, you are talking "real world".

The thing that sticks in folks minds tho is that the Hayabusa is (was?)
the fastest thing on two wheels you could buy from a dealer.

AFAI remember, if you remove the mirrors, a Hayabusa was reputed to do
310 kph. Standard, it was about 298 kph and the Blackbird was a
poofteenth slower.

Now, lots of motorcycles are bought on the perception.....
a Hayabusa is a 300 kph motorcycle

a BMW Adventure is a "round the world" motorcycle

a Ducati 1098 is a race bike

and so on.

Folk will buy a Hayabusa, 'cos it's the fastest.

They won't buy a Blackbird "cos it's second fastest.

Personally, I'd me more likely to buy a Blackbird than a Hayabusa.

As for definition....fastest...achieve the highest speed.

regards,
CrazyCam

 

Old '68 Sportster managed 225 km/hr without fairings or any
plastic shide sheets. Seems a bit stupid wanting to buy a bike
that goes three times the legal limit. Any bloody 250cc
rice burner can blow away the federal limit.

Mark Addinall.

 

Get a MachIII Kwack 500. Them let him ride it around the block.
The fear remains for decades and slows you down.

Mark Addinall.