2 Days!
) Read on for the history.
In 1988 rode a honda dirtbike for a day then in 1989 I rode a friend's gsxr 750 for a day(after telling him I had ridden dirtbikes *not entirely a lie*)
Fast forward to 2000 -- I was looking to get a cruiser... a "hardly", when a friend suggested I look at Jap Cruisers. That is when I saw her!! A 2000 Blue/Silver beauty! I threw my leg over it and knew I would have her.
I told my friend and he laughed his ass off... "yeah whatever... you want a 1300 sportbike for your first? Sure thing, squid!"
I squared my finances away and 6 mos later I was busa hunting... but apparently the bike was popular (who knew) and more importantly, there was a massive fire in the New Orleans wharehouse. This caused a shortage.
I was really bummed. I could only find one bike in Marietta GA, and they wanted $12,000 because they knew it was the last in the SE.
So I expanded my search and called a dealer in Anderson, IN. I asked if he had any and he told me he had 6 blue and 6 crimson!!!!! Holy crap! This was in August and someone in the Chicago Wharehouse had found a bunch of busas and was begging dealers to take them. He sold me one for 9K OTD. And the friend that laughed at me... he bought one too.
We picked them up on a Saturday at 4 pm... it had rained for 3 hours and then cleared up right as we got to the dealership. I had not ridden since 1989. I was just starting out... on wet roads... on a busa.
My buddy hopped on his and took off... I stalled in the parking lot. Then I got going. We rode to Bloomington to spend the night with a friend. Then 600 miles back to Birmingham AL.
We varied the ride, from Interstate to backroads. When we got home, my face hurt more than my ass! (I was grinning ear to ear the whole trip) The next week I took MSF. My instructor was shocked I had just started riding because I rode really well. We went for a ride during lunch. He rode his R1 and took a couple of us on backroads. I was hooked on twisties.
I rode that busa for 2 years(30K miles)... I was leaned over in a tight turn running up blood mtn. and drug the left can (HMF Oval - so I was way way over.) Broke tail loose and spun into ditch. RIP Busa.
So I bought my buddy's busa with the ins. money. Long live the 2K busa!!!
) I have her today (17K miles) and a 2005 GSXR1K