The allure of the Blackbird

Hog-Sniper

First street bike, a 76 Kaw. KZ400. Rode it 1 year (never had a problem) sold it, and bought my first HD. After wasting thousands of $ on performance parts (I thought my stroked shovelhead was fast) Sold the shovel-head, after 18 years, bought a 95' FLHTC, rode it 8 years, and got sick of the whole HD scene. I was always intrigued with sportbikes, and considered a Yamaha R1, but a friend who rode a Busa' recommended a Bird or a Busa'. Found a used 02' Bird that was immaculate (7000 miles), owned by a 57 year old who bought it new and really took care of it, and I never looked back. This is honestly the best motorcycle I have ever owned, that still leaves me smiling after every ride. After all those years thinking HD's were the only "real" bikes out there, I now realize the Japanese products are far superior for not only performance, but reliability, and longetivity. And I understand why Honda's, are rated the highest among the big 4. By the way, my best friend thought his 124 cubic inch S&S powered big twin could hang with my Bird'. I let off at an indicated 146, when he saw the ass end of a Bird' pulling away fast. I'll never own a HD again.

CanadianBird

After not riding for many years, I took a motorcycle saftey course, and for some silly reason, I bought a Harley. After a year I got wise and began some market research for a new bike. I was thinking of a Duc, but decided it wasn't the best choice, for me, for an "only" bike. I wanted the ST 4 abs. I test road a VFR and liked the feel but felt I would outgrow it too soon. I wanted a bike for long touring as I have 10 weeks off every summer and I wanted to take my wife with me. I came across the Bird, I still have an '02 Brochure with all the sport models, and it appealed to me. The dealer had a cherry, metalic, red in the showroom which I sat on, and bought then and there, no test ride. $14,000 Can. then added Givi luggage, Heli bars, Corbin GFL, 2-Bro C 5 Tit slip ons, etc. They delivered to my house and a few days later I rode it. Two months later I rode through the States to Toronto and home. I got on May 4th and by Labour Day I had 15,000 kms. She is exactly as I want it now, suspension, comfort, speed, safety. (nb, how much have you spent on your bike). I wouldn't sell it although I'd like a second bike. If I couldn't ride, I will give it to my daughter and son-in-law, who both ride. There's a Benelli dealer near me that has a beautiful selection in their show room that I'm drooling over. I now have 102,000 kms on my Bird and she runs and handles better now than when she came out of the showroom. Except for a few CCT's and batteries, and one stator plus tires and mentenance she is trouble free. Cheers

RACERBERT

Had a Honda trail 70 at 7 years old and from then on knew the freedom of wind in my hair or through the helmut. At 16 my mode of transport was a Honda Hawk (400). A year later had a Honda 650 custom. Rode a BMW from Indiana to California (and back) in 1980 and knew I needed something bigger than my 650. Got a Yamaha XS 11.......great bike with shaft drive and some power. Rode it cross country also. In 1984 bought a Honda V65 Sabre and became hooked on power. Sometimes I felt like cruising on the XS 11 but usually was drawn to the raw power of the Sabre (what a fantastic but unrefined bike, the grandfather). Life took over with marriage and kids and bills and moving and adulthood. I fly airplanes for a living and thought I needed to cut back on ways to kill myself so I sold my bikes.......stupid, stupid, stupid. Sold the Sabre in 1990. Not killing myself went so well I thought I was ready again. In late 2001 found a brand new crated XX in Texas and bought it sight unseen. My philosophy was to buy the fastest bike out there and knowing that, therefore, I would not have to ride it that fast thus preserving the "not killing myslef thing". After all that rambling.......the Blackbird has it all. Smooth, Fast, Fit and Finish, Appeal. When someone on a 600 pulls up to me and sees the two XX s my thought is if they don't know what that means, they don't need to know so I lwt them race off while I smoothly accelerate to just above the speed limit and cruise. The best thing of all is that all Blackbirds are different. They actually have a personality. They care about you and treat you right when taken care of. It's too bad Honda made such a good bike that owners develop a relationship with their bike and don't need another one....thus the termination in the US. My Gal is a beauty. Oh I was just kiding about the not racing 600's thing. My rule is she needs to go over 100 every time I ride her because that's what God made her for.

Eddie1968

The Blackbird is my 4th bike. I started riding about 6 years ago and bought a '99 Suzuki Marauder 800cc cruiser to learn to ride. I loved the cruiser look at the time. I had the Suzi for about 8 months or so and then moved up to a '98 Kawasaki Vulcan Nomad VN1500 which I had for about 18 months. I stilled loved the cruiser image, but I also started to really like corners at speed, and after a weekend of throwing a 330kg (720lb) motorcycle around the Snowy Mountains in NSW, Australia way faster than a bike that size was designed to do, I decided to step up.

I bought a brand new 2003 ST1300 with the idea of my wife and I touring in it. It is perfectly set up for long distance travel. I had the ST for just on three years in which time my wife probably jumped on the back all of half a dozen times or so. She never showed any real interest in touring. So I decided to buy a bike that I wanted to ride...

I had taken a mate's Hayabusa for a run a while before and wasn't totally enamoured with it. I found it to be a big donk in a pretty small frame (I'm 6'2" and about 115kgs). I also had the chance to ride a mate's '04 Blackbird and loved it. It felt so tight compared to the ST1300 (and that bike is no slouch either!), although when I hopped back on the ST it felt like I was driving a bus!

I ended up buying an '06 'Bird in Honda's end of model runout and am so happy with it. My wife and I went for an overnight run to Mallcoota in Victoria after I first brought it home and she jumped off after the weekend and said, "When's the next ride?" Doh, I just got rid of a bike that was built for touring (side bags, top box, etc, etc). Soooo, I had to shell out some big bucks for the OEM bags so we can fit her hair dryer! Go figure.

But seriously, I'm glad I made the change to the 'Bird. It is truly an exhillarating bike to ride, but it took me about a month or so to get used to the riding position. Would I go back to an ST1300? I don't think so... she is a very nice bike and served her purpose well. If I was going back onto a tourer-type I'd probably lean toward the FJR1300.

My two cent's worth, anyway...

Cheers,

Eddie.

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Grrrr

first bike at 9 years of age was a 70 something xr75. i tried like all getout to kill it and it liked the abuse. kinda stuck with hondas for awhile then got into gsxr's. my wife has ridden with me since we were fresh out of high school and her back could'nt take the sportbikes anymore. so we sold my gsxr 750 for a roadstar. it was only a small improvement. so when a duc guy told me about xx's i checked them out and chose it over a zzr 1200. it was a combo of childhood realiabilty memories having a bad axx bike and comfort. the bonus is the wife says its the most comfy bike she's been on. so it seems the bird has found a long time home. i would only trade for a fi model.

DragonXX

" .... If I was going back onto a tourer-type I'd probably lean toward the FJR1300. "

It was actually a pretty close call between the FJR and the 'Bird.
But the price of the FJR at nearly $20 000 ride away versus the 'Bird at $14 000 ride away, clinched the deal. Honda Gold Coast was rolling out the last of the 'Birds (2007 .... NO 2008's).

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" 'Birds of a feather, flock together "

Quote of the month: "When the pupil is ready to learn, a teacher will appear." - Zen Proverb

sixgun

Well, I had been reversing my car into the garage every night right next to my 1980 gsx1100 that has been off the road for 2 years with a very sad motor. I made the desision thatif I was going to rebuild the motor I was going to rebuild the whole bike back to showroom original shiny condition. I have owned this beautiful old dear since 1989 and bought it off the original owner.
It was going to be one of those jobs that needed more ready cash and time that I had to give. So after 2 years of pain I decided to buy a new bike and do the suzi when I had enough time to do it justice.
So one saturday morning a couple of weeks ago I walked into the kwaka shop, saw all those green bikes got dizzy and a little sick and promptly left.
Then into the yamaha shop, no green, not much else either. Suzuki had the 1400, no fairing and the bandit, too small looking.
Ah well one more shop to go. Into the honda shop I went, the bird was just inside the door on the right and I walked right passed her. It was after about 2 minutes of looking down the line of bikes that I turned around and saw her. Oh what a sight. Sleek, silver grey, so pretty sitting in the corner all by herself. I went up and introduced myself. Sat on her and just fell instantly in love. She was the last one in my state and possibly the last one in Australia said the young bloke with the keys.
Well an 07 bird and possibly the last one and so pretty. I had to have her and now we are going to spend some very nice kilometres together.
So there it is.

jsfrv6

Man. I love this bike! I'm coming off a 06 1000RR so that was a pretty tough act to follow performance wise but still has enough grunt to put a smile on my face. 3 times more comfortable and the wife can ride and this thing eat interstate like nobody’s business.

Waiting on a taller windshield and heli bars and have recently install a givi wingrackII, one 52 liter and two 45 liter bags. Did i mention that I love this bike? Maybe the best all around bike on the road!

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Scott
97 BB
"Big Black"
"I'd rather die while I'm living then live while I'm dead" Jimmy Buffet

magley64

My initial interest sparked from my dad...

He was always talking about CBX, CBX, CBX, all the time...

i looked online in 2001, and noticed they had a CBX concept, a 1600... I did some more research, and found honda's current top of the line..in 01, and just fell in love with it...


not to mention the CBX concept is just an exxagerated version of the BB..

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Ðuane
"Harley's don't have a "throttle" in the typical use of the word, think of it more as a "volume knob" on the right handle bar, the more you twist it, the more windows you rattle"

BrianR

I had a 1998 VFR so it was a natural follow-on.

Particularly when I saw Warchild's Titanium XX sitting at the checkpoint in Montana during the Butt Lite Rally. I knew I had to have one right then and there.

Took me about 2 months to score one and sell the VFR (sniff, sniff). Picked up the 02 Silver in the fall of 02, found the website Superblackbird.com that same week and never looked back.


Brian R.
But - I'm not getting a huyabukka!

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Brian R.
Do you know EXACTLY how fast you were going?
Gee Officer between the speedometer, Cyclometer and the GPS I might have a guess

SturgisNative

Always lusted for the XX. When they were new ... no way could a 22 year old afford insurance. Yikes! I got to test ride one. Once. And let me tell you, that memory stayed with me a LONG time.

So, years pass on a Yamaha Radian 600, then an Intruder 1500, then a BMW R1150RT, then a Harley Ultra.

Now I'm 33, and thought "WTF am I doing on a 700# touring bike?" My wife only rides about 100 miles/year with me of the ~10K/year I try and get in with work and honey-dos (I live in South Dakota, so it's a bit shorter season than some of you!).

I nearly bought an 07 FJR1300, but there sat the XX in a corner, unmarked (lower cowling markings have been removed), and unknown - unless you knew what it was.

So I rode it. Oh my God. Still the same awesome rush to the top, the same planted chassis, and that same attitude. To me, the XX conveys a sense of purpose. It was built to go very fast. If it does other things, that's a side benefit.

Riding it just thrills me each time - even lower RPM roll-ons are great, just to feel the motor build power, and then come into its own about 6500K. When you let that motor scream in anger, WOW. It's primal. After 3 years on cruisers (my BMW was a VERY brief sojourn), I'd forgotten how much FUN motorcycling could be.

Sure, there are faster bikes, and more comfortable. I really do like the new BMW K1200GT and K1200S, and they are probably is the closest in fit-and-finish to the XX. The K1200S is a very comfortable sportbike, and the K1200GT is a damned fast touring bike.

The XX still has them beat for looks and smoothness, however. Oh, yeah, and reliability, maintenance, and cost!

youfly2

but let me tell ya how i fell in love with the bird ! ridden a few bike my first was bmw rs100 ,, way to young to have it! then a kaw 100 kz fast then a couple of old , i mean old 71 and 81 cb750's with the norton mad max bodies on them ! walk into a dealership in 2003 sat on every thing in the store twice!!! the salesman pulls the 97 bird out of the row next ! and it was like seeing a really sexy women !! you couldn't help but stare! uhhhh ummmm, it low to ground i'm 5'9 ! ummm i want to hump it !! women will want to hump it ! so what is a black bird ? is it fast! , it looks fast! salesman hell yeah! i said how many of these are there around ! he said i have 5 here but don't ever see any around ! I sat on it again felt right! it was simply love at first sight! had never heard of an xx! but anyone that knows me has now!