I will have had my Hornet for 3 years in March and have loved every minute! I have been thinking the past weeks or so though if I should replace it.
The only part of it that im not 100% happy with is the brakes. braided lines, expensive pads havent done much. but im struggling to find a bike that would replace the Hornet in term of:
Can do any type of riding - commuting, touring, fast A.B roads, track days (will do one this year)
Reliability and resistence to elements - I ride it all year
Looks - love the tail section & classic lines
Naked - no half fairings or fairings
The only bike that i can think of is the superduke.
what do you guys think?
ps bikes i dont like (for various reasons):
Street triple
Fazer8
Gsr750
Z750
Has a detuned R6 engine, lots of fun to ride, reliable, I ride mine all year around, more than capable of track days, lovely brakes…other than that, the Street Triple?
Someone on here told me something useful. I won’t name names because all advice is subject to bitching, but I thought this was good advice gained from trained professionals.
People underestimate how hard they can brake in good conditions. You will never lose the front in a straight line, on good warm tyres, on good tarmac free from debris, oil, grease etc.
I always assumed that if you braked too hard you could lose the front end, even in a straight line, but that apparently is unlikely to ever happen, you will in fact do a stoppie long before you run out of grip.
Once I realised that I quickly realised that the brakes on my GSXR, which are renowned for being crap, aren’t half as bad as I thought they were, I just wasn’t being as hard with them as I could be. Obviously this doesn’t mean ride around grabbing a handful as hard as you can in every situation, but the advice helped me to be a bit more forceful on my brakes at appropriate times.
Not saying this is true for you, but it might be useful information, as it was to me.
thanks Kaos. i did the same as you a few years back (especially when i had the CBF) but now i do brake very hard and dont stop as quick as id like. the hornets brakes are 2pot conventional. if only i could get some 4pot radials on there
You can put whatever brakes you like on if you make them fit…I’m sure the hornet forum has plenty of good ideas but maybe a master cylinder would help too?
yeah i have checked the nest but tbh i dont like the braket option as it wouldnt look good. other option would be to get a new front end. and get adjustable forks at the same time
