K8 for the long haul...

[Warchild]

Yep. That's one long distance busa....
Some owners don't do that many ks in a year, let alone a weekend..

Er.... that's 1500 miles, not kilometers. This amounts to approx 2,414 kilometers.

As far as the LD Recon ride... I sorta had mixed results. And I guess there is no real surprise here; the Hayabusa is not exactly designed as an uber-comfortable, long-range sport-touring platform. But with enough dedication and appropriate mods, it can work, and work rather well.

Some general observations from this 1500-mile blast this past weekend:

- I was kinda bumming to learn first-hand just how much Suzuki has "built-in" the rider's body as part of the airflow design. Not that you are all that well protected on the Blackbird, still, the XX coddles the rider like he's riding in a plastic bubble compared to the Busa. Lower legs (indeed, most everything from the waist down) is largely exposed to the airstream. Head, shoulders and arms are also similarly exposed unless you elect to ride "tucked" all the time, which just isn't too practical on a 1000-mile day. Now, all of this is fine if riding in warm ambient temps, but its a huge problem when the temps drop below 35-40 degrees F. I had the Warm-N-Safe liner pegged to the max on the Heat-Troller, and I was still one cold bastard riding through 25-degree ambient temps at 6000'-7000' summits at 2 AM, believe me.

- Fook me, there isn't room to carry $hit on this bike. My Joe Rocket tankbag looked like a Stay-Puff marshmallow, it was stuff so much. Similarly, every little pocket/stash area on the Linda Tanner aux cell tankbag was stuffed to the bursting point. Looking more and more that there is a Ventura Rack in my future.

- I was quite pleasantly surprised at the performance of the Hella Micro DE's.... not just their tremendous light output for their size, rather, the apparent efficiency of the electronics. With the HID low-beam and the Hellas lit up, the Datel would only sink to 13.9 volts! I can then crank up the Warm-N-Safe liner to about 70%, and the Datel still stays relatively happy at 13.5 volts. Score!

- I need to re-design the aux fuel cell mounting brackets to raise the cell's overall height up about another inch or so. Due to the shape of the stock tank and the (relatively) low mounting height of the aux cell, I am not transferring the complete contents of the cell by gravity alone. There is always the best part of a gallon remaining behind.... maybe a bit less. If I could just get the cell mounted a little higher - perhaps an inch, maybe 1.5" inch - I think I would have enough "head pressure" to complete the transfer. If not, I can always install a small 12v pump, should it become necessary.

- The chassis on this K8 is just stunning. It is the one of two areas that really outperform the Blackbird (the other being that 175hp motor!). The engine is almost glass-smooth, not quite as creamy-velvet as the Blackbird, but it has less vibes than my FJR! The ability of this bike to hold a fast line through some fair stiff sweepers is extraordinary, and this is with all factory suspension components.

Bottom line: If the temps are warm and the weather decent, the K8 can be an extraordinary Long Distance platform for the 24-36 hour Endurance Rallies. However, it is likely a sub-optimal platform for multi-day events, or cold/inclement weather events.