...So, I'm talking to a buddy of mine that just came back from Mrytle Beach Bike week. He ran into the guys that do the Superbikes show Speed. They apparently got into a conversation about, among other things, Busas. Yes, the big , ugly, powerful as hell, SOB that has become the cult sportbike of the modern generation. Never mind the fact that a large majority of the people driving these beasts have no idea what they are doing on them and have no business being even close to one. But, I digress.

Anyhoo....he was telling me that apparently from what has been seen so far among the insiders and so forth....the 2008 Busa is supposed to be truely unreal. Hell, it's unreal now....but it's supposed to be just an incredible machine. I can already see all the wanna-be riders and biker posers lining up as we speak. I can only imagine the masses of these jackasses sitting on their new ride with their hats on sideways and their shades pulled down, wearing long shorts, tennis shoes and a wife beater. Apporpriate gear for someone riding a 180HP bike with no idea how to ride it. Besides, you only need to go in a straight line, right? I digress once again.
[sm=rant.gif]

So....brings me to my question. Awhile back there was a conversation about the possibility of Honda building a beast of their own. Possibly bringing back the Blackbird to compete with the Busa and ZX-14. Anyone heard of anything?? Any new rumors? What do you guys think? Would people buy it?

 

1500cc black bird

 

Nope. Nope. Stupid. Yep.

 

Lots of rumors...But I highly doubt there will be a new blackbird. BTW, the Honda blackbird is still available in Europe and Australia, there was a rumor it was being discontinued in europe, but the bike is still on the 2007 lineup.

Looks like Honda will come out with a newly designed 1000RR, possibly bring the Hornet here (another unknown), and rumors of a V5 bike as well.

 

From what i hear the 2008 1000RR is supposed to be pretty crazy. can't wait! We need some pics!

 

Honda doesnt like to compete in that kinda market. Historically, Honda has been about balanced machines that take a beating, keep on ticking, can go to the trackday as easily as ride around town, and look good doing it. Granted, they really pulled out the stops this year to be on top of the 600 market, but i highly doubt they will totally revamp their business model and come out with a huge cc dragster of their own anytime soon.

Just my .02

 

Yeah, but if you at it in a business sense, it's not about dragsters or coming out with machines that are not as balanced. Because of the following and press the ZX-14 and Busa have gotten, it has created a whole new market for these machines. Honda had a pretty decent one with the Blackbird, but discontinued it for some reason. It seems with the growing popularity of the bigger bikes now, that Honda could be losing a decent share of that money simply because they aren't in the game. They have the technology, the money, the R&D, and all the other resources to make a pretty good run with a new bike. I'm not sayign thatI would buy one....as a matter of fact,I probably wouldn't....but it would be pretty sweet to see.

 

Yeah, but look what boards like this and other people say about Busa's and the ZX-14... i know a lot of people turned off by Suzuki's due to them being squid machines. GSX-R's and Busa's alike. So, while zuks have cornered that end of the market that crave the huge bikes, they also lose out on a lot of riders. I know for me, at least, that the last thing i wanted was a gixx. I was solely looking at Honda's and Yamaha's...

Its give and take. Honda has a great reputation, they dont want to give that up. Most of the press for the big boys is NEGATIVE press... i think Honda is happy being the good guy and they get sales due to that.

 

Honda didnt like the notoriety the blackbird got when it came out. It just didnt comply with thier company image. They are content selling the goldwing and the ST and marketing them as thier sport tourers. They have dropped the ball the last few years, but they arent losing any money, they have so many other things that are much more important to them than thier motorcycle division.

 

haha, i was just reading an article on the fastest production wars....funny how topics seem to revolve around you at the same time.

http://digg.com/tech_news/The_Fastes...s_In_The_World