Gen II Busa vs. "new" ZX-14R video

[Tetge]

I will use that as a guideline for breaking in the Ducati. I will put a hundred miles or so on it in and around Guadalajara, have the dealer fix anything that I observe (I mean, it IS a Ducati so something will not work) and then I plan to ride it back home from Guadalajara, approx. 200 miles, and I expect the break-in to be complete when I arrive home. The top end is not very high, so I will not have to reach crazy speeds to accomplish.

Do not forget the requirement to lay down darkies at freeway speeds, and to eliminate all chicken strips on both the front and rear tires within the first 75 miles of owning the bike. This is very crucial to a proper break in. Of course, I took it easy on my new Busa and did not take it to LACR until it had almost 300 miles on it. But, my Busa was weak, and no match for even a Kawi 12, let alone the newer Busa, and I never once spun the tire at speed, or laid down what they call darkies due to lack of power. As for wheelies? You can forget that, but, it helped that the previous Busa had what felt like a truck engine in it. No coming on the cam at higher revs and very smooth power delivery. Easy to ride due to the subdued power.

I sometimes regret having sold that bike, but, who knows if I would have been typing this had I kept it as I was very jaded about speed by the time I sold it, slow as it was?

[jhwalker]

I will use that as a guideline for breaking in the Ducati. I will put a hundred miles or so on it in and around Guadalajara, have the dealer fix anything that I observe (I mean, it IS a Ducati so something will not work) and then I plan to ride it back home from Guadalajara, approx. 200 miles, and I expect the break-in to be complete when I arrive home. The top end is not very high, so I will not have to reach crazy speeds to accomplish.

Do not forget the requirement to lay down darkies at freeway speeds, and to eliminate all chicken strips on both the front and rear tires within the first 75 miles of owning the bike. This is very crucial to a proper break in. Of course, I took it easy on my new Busa and did not take it to LACR until it had almost 300 miles on it. But, my Busa was weak, and no match for even a Kawi 12, let alone the newer Busa, and I never once spun the tire at speed, or laid down what they call darkies due to lack of power. As for wheelies? You can forget that, but, it helped that the previous Busa had what felt like a truck engine in it. No coming on the cam at higher revs and very smooth power delivery. Easy to ride due to the subdued power.

I sometimes regret having sold that bike, but, who knows if I would have been typing this had I kept it as I was very jaded about speed by the time I sold it, slow as it was?

I will skip the tire breakin routine.

I feel so old for never having considered the "laying down darkies" concept, much less at freeway speeds. Just watching the vids, I guess one gets all of the weight over the front wheel, applies a tiny bit of front brake while cranking full throttle? Hmmm...

[Brakelate]

Depends on the bike... I tried to "finish off" a rear tire by learning to do the 'rolling burnout' routine in the polished concrete gutter across the street in front of my house on the DRZ, with Tetge watching, and taping, in hopes of success OR massive insulting failure. I got neither result, really. Damn single cylinder power pulses from the balanced, weak, DRZ-SM would not even deliberately "spin up" the rear wheel while balanced and rolling along, regardless of what insane Body English I induced or amount of water I applied to the polished concrete.

A Stunter I am not, apparently. And like you have said, likely a good thing at my age and condition, that I just simply accept that fact and be done with it. Though I see things that I REALLY want to try every now and again. Rolling or damn near stationary burn outs that pause and then pop into a wheelie, and that kick ass "Stoppie, into a U-turn set down" move really get me thinking of trying something stupid. REALLY STUPID. Ahhh well. Always best to leave something, even just a little bit, of whatever it may be on the table and walk away while you can. So I must come to terms with it; Not in this lifetime. Sigh.

[Brakelate]

I expect the break-in to be complete when I arrive home. The top end is not very high, so I will not have to reach crazy speeds to accomplish.

*To be clear, remember, it really isn't about speed, but RPM. I had to back down to Third, just because even at 80 the Busa is just loafing from there on up. At any speed, actually.

My Advice? Like any new "normal" car; Just ride the damn thing. Just as you would any other day, any other bike. Things will mate, bond, heat cycle and scuff in over due time with not even so much as a second thought about it. You may even be pleasantly surprised to find that NOTHING fails, and the ride and stay over down there will simply be a nice break in your daily routine.

Regarding Hayabusas , wheel spin, and speeds in gears; Check that "Dashboard" video one more time. Notice it isn't even really bumping the Redline in 2nd way up around 115, 120 indicated. Hell, plenty of new "Liter Bikes" are geared and are quite capable of hitting 100 - In 1st Gear! Not that you would, or have a reason to do it for more than a split second before continuing on your way to true warp speed by grabbing another gear. But, it is mechanically within it's limits quite easily on some modern machines. Spooky.

Oh, and where is the good old SoCal-T "BULLSHIT" flag Smiley? Tetge may not have even known it, but I have witnessed him laying "darkies" on MANY a corner exit at speed. From the Apex, all the way out to full vertical 100 yards down the next straight. On public roads. There is always a percentage of side or forward slip, especially on a big, heavy, powerful bike like the Hayabusa. And transferring all that power to the ground in a patch not much bigger than the size of a Silver Dollar, yes it does leave a clearly visible "Stripe". Even at very high speeds. I've seen him do it, from very close proximity.

Hell, even commuting home over the 'Crest in the car on a Sunday morning, I could just "read" the road and tell when a pack of hot, fast riders had already headed up the hill in front of me; there would be visible stripes running through and long out of all the tight corner exits. Sometimes you could even see late braking streaks, straight as an arrow from the rear tire as it went from centerline to deep into corner entry. There are signs to look for. And some last for days, if not a week or more depending on traffic.

Perhaps (at best) simply those big, fat, soft tires picking up every little pebble and speck of dirt, dust or sand and thus making a "CLEAN" line through the corner as he rolled along in front of me. We all have experienced the thin "automatic machine gun style solid stream of sand / debris rooster tail coming off of lead bikes. Pitting and spraying anyone coming across the tail end of another bikes "jet stream wake" at speed. But, these marks were put down, and stayed. It wasn't just a "dusting off" of the road.

So, yeah. Bullshit. He's put down many a "Darky". Perhaps not to the extremely obvious degree of the guy in the Busa video with is nuts on the speedometer, but he has, and I am sure, will yet again put more down some day.

True Story.

[Tetge]

You got to love the Brakelate spin. I became a minor legend until I rode with people, and they saw in person how slow I was. But, usually, they were being destroyed by Brakelate at the time, victims of his misdirection in his posts. So, jho darkies at all by me, even though he loves to tell is stories. Hang around long enough and he will have me flying 100's of feet at 155mph, or more, dressed in a flannel shirt. Now, everyone knows that I always wear appropriate safety gear, including leathers on most rides. More imaginative fabrications. It is almost as if he has cone to believe his own yarns.

[Brakelate]

God, if we only had the latest HD GoPro's on-board back in those days! The shit it would have captured.

Tetge would have gone from minor legend to full on Viral Super Hero in one single leap of the Aqueduct. Flapping Flanel, Exposed Ass Crack and all!!!


AND, it would have put a real quick halt to your feeble 'lying and denying'. I know what I saw. And it wasn't just one, fluke "UFO" Encounter. It was a repeating occurrence on every single ride with that maniac! Lucky I survived? Damn Right.

[Brakelate]

Now, everyone knows that I always wear appropriate safety gear, including leathers on most rides.

OH? Like your infamous 7" leather work boots Kiwi-dyed to conceal their identity when running around in little more than shorts and a tank top?

Then again, I guess those boots DID allow you to run MORE THAN 500 PASSES down the drag strip, so despite being little more protection than a pair of "flip-flops" I guess you are used to getting away without anyone contesting your smoke screen.

But WE know.

[Brakelate]

Your deep triple digit leap of the entire Aqueduct on a Hayabusa (dressed as described, no less) makes this fun, yet epic video seem like absolute baby shit. Matter of fact, I think they had some on the camera lens, the quality of the recycled footage being what it is.

But, this gives a TINY taste of the idea of what was witnessed that day;

phpBB [video]

[jhwalker]

I can vouch for the flannel shirt flapping, but that was the signal to cover the eyes because of what you knew was getting to appear...

[xbacksideslider]

I believe Brakelate because, even I - latecomer that I am to the Tetge/Brakelate scene, have seen Tetge during inspired moments