Suzuki Hayabusa

Translated, Hayabusa is Japanese for Peregrine Falcon — a bird of prey that tops 200 MPH just to snag a snack. Launched in 1999, the Suzuki Hayabusa did its namesake justice. Depending on whom you believe, the enormous dual-overhead cam, 1300cc inline-4 churned out upwards of 170 hp. That was enough to launch the 500-pound ‘Busa across the ¼ mile mark in single digits and demolish the old top speed record by 10 MPH (186 MPH). So fast and powerful was the Hayabusa that a “gentleman’s agreement” was coerced by the Western World to impede others from laying waste to future benchmarks and lives. Its aerodynamically sculpted bodywork didn’t win over everyone, but it certainly works for us.

The Suzuki Hayabusa (or GSX1300R) is a sport bike motorcycle made by Suzuki since 1999. It immediately won acclaim as the world's fastest production motorcycle, with a top speed of 188 to 194 miles per hour (303 to 312 km/h).



In 2000, fears of a European regulatory backlash or import ban,[6][7][8] led to an informal agreement between the Japanese and European manufacturers to govern the top speed of their motorcycles at an arbitrary limit.[9] The media-reported value for the speed agreement in miles per hour was consistently 186 mph, while in kilometers per hour it varied from 299 to 303 km/h, which is typical given unit conversion rounding errors. This figure may also be affected by a number of external factors, as can the power and torque values.

The conditions under which this limitation was adopted led to the 1999–2000[2][3] Hayabusa's title remaining, at least technically, unassailable, since no subsequent model could go faster without being tampered with.[12] Thus, after the much anticipated[13][14][15] Kawasaki Ninja ZX-12R of 2000 fell 4 mph (6 km/h) short of claiming the title, the Hayabusa secured its place as the fastest standard production bike of the 20th century. This gives the unrestricted 1999–2000models even more cachet with collectors.

Besides its speed, the Hayabusa has been lauded by many reviewers for its all-round performance, in that it does not drastically compromise other qualities like handling, comfort, reliability, noise, fuel economy or price in pursuit of a single function.[5][20][21] Jay Koblenz of Motorcycle Consumer News commented, "If you think the ability of a motorcycle to approach 190 mph or reach the quarter-mile in under 10 seconds is at best frivolous and at worst offensive, this still remains a motorcycle worthy of just consideration. The Hayabusa is Speed in all its glory. But Speed is not all the Hayabusa is."

Typically, a new sportbike model sells well in its first year, and then sees its numbers decline every year as it grows older. The Hayabusa reversed this pattern, selling in greater numbers every year from the 1999 launch through the 2008 revision. From its debut in 1999 to June 2007 over 100,000 Hayabusas were sold worldwide.In the United States in each of the years 2005 and 2006, over 10,000 units were sold.

It was predicted that the gentlemen's agreement speed cap would hurt sales, because buyers would not want a bike that was hobbled with a speed limiter, even riders who would never approach the hypothetical maximum.[9] However, sales in the United States have increased year after year since its release in 1999 until 2006 and went from just a few thousand units in 1999 to over 10,000 in 2006.

Since the first launch in India of the Hayabusa, along with the 1,783 cc (108.8 cu in) Suzuki Intruder, in November 2008, total sales of these two large-displacement bikes have reached about 100 units, at prices around Rs. 1,250,000. In contrast, the Tata Nano car, with an engine less than half the size of the Hayabusa, aims to be the least expensive production car in the world, costing less than one tenth the price of the Hayabusa, leading to sales of over 2,000 times as many units as these motorcycles.

Previously 1000 cc-plus superbikes were imported to India only by special order, with an estimated total of only about 3,000 such bikes in a country with more than 37 million two wheelers. Suzuki's move into India follows the successful introduction of high-end motorcycles by Ducati and Yamaha. Because these motorcycles are brought into India as completely built units they pay an import duty of 114%, with no plans to switch to local assembly for the time being due to the anticipated sales volume of about 350 units per year.On July 21, 2009, Suzuki Thailand introduced the GSX1300R on the Thai motorcycle market, making it the largest displacement motorcycle available in the country.