Suzuki GSX1300R Hayabusa

Named after the 320km/h Japanese bird of prey, there's no hiding the fact that the Suzuki Hayabusa is a road rocket. Its long, low, aerodynamic form gets a lot of looks from both four-wheeled and two-wheeled fraternities, appearing almost as though it gestated from a lump of semi-sentient Playdoh reared in a wind tunnel...

The massive 1340cc engine may be hidden away beneath the bike's bulbous fairing, but it's equally as arresting, generating an arm-wrenching 194hp (145 kW) at 9500rpm and 155Nm at 7200rpm.

Fast? And then some. For anyone who has been living under a rock, the Hayabusa hit the scene in 1999 and was summarily crowned the fastest production bike on planet Earth, with a top speed of 312km/h (194mph) right out of the box.

Though I cannot personally vouch for this particular model's v-max, I will say that it's very quick, with the kind of standing start punch to make most litre-class sportsbikes blanche and enough mid-gear roll on acceleration to leave pretty much anything else on the road in your eerily silent wake.

Priced at $18,990 plus on-road costs, the Hayabusa is not the most expensive roadbike in the Suzuki range (that honour goes to the Suzuki Boulevard M109R) but it doesn't come cheap. That said, not only do you get a bullet proof engine and the kudos of owning one of the world's fastest passengers vehicles, the bike looks stunning in the new 2010 black and red paintjob.

While the striking Suzuki cuts an imposing silhouette on the road and is absurdly quick, it is essentially the same bike that was launched more than a decade ago. That begs the question: is this such a bad thing?

THE RUB
I personally don't think it is a bad thing because the original was such a breakthrough design. The low-drag, aerodynamic fairing is fundamentally unaltered and that's because it works well. You don't get buffeted around too much (the screen works surprisingly well) and the air flows around you rather than into you, and even at higher speeds it feels stable.

Though the seat is relatively low for a sportsbike (805mm), the riding position is fairly comfortable even on longer journeys, and my six-foot frame only started to complain after about five hours in the saddle.

You do lean forward a fair bit to reach the bars but the seat height in relation to the pegs means that the riding position won't throw your back out and, mercifully, the instrument cluster features analogue main gauges. This means you can actually read the tach and speedo under a bright sun, and the fuel gauge and water temp are also gauged this time out.

There is some digital tomfoolery going on but it is ancillary stuff that (probably) won't cost you money or demerit points, such as gear and S-DMS indication and a clock.

You can also with the power output via a couple of toggle switches on the right-hand side of the handlebars, with three power settings – full power, normal and rain mode. Suzuki calls this system S-DMS, and when riding a bike as powerful as this one is it a very useful (and reassuring) system, particularly in the wet.

Any seasoned motorcyclist will take about 20 seconds to get to grips with the controls; the gearbox is light and snicks between gears with a minimum of fuss and even has a back torque limiting clutch to reduce rear wheel lock ups. Throttle response is excellent, all the switchgear is where you expect it be and though somewhat heavy, the bike can handle daily commuting with ease.

It's a remarkably docile machine if you don't wind open the throttle at every opportunity, and it's this mild side that gives the Hayabusa an extra layer of practicality.

CAN YOU HANDLE IT?
When the weekly grind gives way to weekend freedom, the Suzuki Hayabusa really comes into its own, and proves itself to be more than just a straight line samurai. It goes with saying that the Hayabusa is a road rocket, but it's actually not half bad through twisty, winding roads.

The bulbous Suzuki tips into corners a little ponderously at first, but when you get the bike's measure it can be hustled through corners at an impressive rate. Once banked, the Hayabusa holds its line well through constant radii corners, and by and large is an impressively agile thing for its size and weight.

It tracks well through corners and won't punish riders for mid-corner adjustments to lean angle or speed. Indeed, the chassis has a modicum of forgiveness; fully adjustable inverted front forks provide decent feel at the front while the fully adjustable 43mm rear shock ensures the rear spends most of its time gripping the road.

The only real issue that I found after some extended cornering sessions were rapid changes of direction. The bike is a heavy lump of plastic and metal and you have to really shove and heft it through flip-flops and tighter esses, but at the same token there's something satisfying about having to wrench the thing in and out of chicanes.

Tipping the scales at 250kg dry and measuring almost 2.2 metres long, the Hayabusa is a 320+ kilogram proposition with fuel and rider and this mass is also felt under deceleration. I experienced a couple of white-knuckled moments when diving too deeply into a corner and having to mash the brakes as hard as possible, and even then the burly bike wasn't too keen to co-operate.

The front brakes take a real workout if you want to keep up with the 600cc and 1000cc sportsbike brigade during extended apex adventures, and would probably be the only aspect of the bike I would want to modify. But if you're not pushing the bike to within an inch of its performance threshold the pair of 310mm front discs with radial-mount four-pot calipers will do the job just fine.

After a day of hard riding the Hayabusa is a pretty good cruiser and while it has a large 21 litre fuel tank it drinks like a fish. It's nice to have an analogue fuel guage but watching your fuel getting blasted into hydrocarbons within hours is a bit sad (but not unexpected).

We got the fuel consumption as low as 5.3 litres per 100km during gentle highway cruising which delivered a range of about 400 kilometres, but generally speaking the bike would need refilling every 300 kays or so.

NO NEW STUFF...
On the topic of the engine, arguably the most talked about aspect of the Hayabusa, the 2010 model gets no new bits. It still plugs away with the 1340cc block that delivers 194hp (145 kW) at 9500rpm and 155Nm at 7200rpm. Whichever way you look at it, that's a lot of poke.

The engine has gone through some mild changes over its decade-long life but there's so much power on tap it doesn’t really need any new fangled features. It's a big donk, and it goes hard. Surely that should be enough?

It does take advantage of things like dual overhead camshafts, lightweight titanium intake and exhaust valves, twin swirl combustion chambers, and my favourite, lightweight aluminium alloy pistons. That makes for a 12.5:1 compression ratio, and throw in a beefy radiator and oil cooler, plus a 4-2-1-2 exhaust system replete with catalysers and you've got a high performance powertrain that adheres to Euro 3 emission regulations.

The frame is still a twin-spar aluminium job, the rear swing arm has been carried over from last year's model and the ram air system remains the same. The only change to the 2010 model Suzuki GSX1300R Hayabusa are two new colour schemes. And it's a damn shame the rear end styling wasn't updated... To call it unattractive would be an understatement.

There has only been one major update since 1999, and that was in 2008, when Suzuki increased the engine's stroke by 2mm, taking displacement to 1340cc along with a higher compression ratio of 12.5:1 (up from 11:1). Changes to the cylinder head were made and lighter pistons and titanium valves were are also added. Fuel injectors from the GSX-R1000 parts bin were used, and a 4-2-1-2 exhaust system was developed to meet Euro 3 emission regulations (though it added a bit of weight...).

Other changes were made to the chassis with newer 43mm Kayaba upside-down forks, a stronger swingarm, plus a slipper clutch was added along with minor changes to the gearbox and gear ratios. Tokico radial brake calipers made the cut in 2008 which meant that smaller (and lighter) discs could be used, and new look 17-inch wheels were also added. Visual changes amounted to updates to the fairing and instrument cluster, plus a taller screen was included.

But at the end of the day the bike doesn't have any major flaws, and as the old cliché goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. It corners relatively well, you can commute on it and the 'Busa is not completely useless as a tourer either. And did I mention it's got tyre-frying power, the likes of which is rarely challenged? Good times...

SPECS: SUZUKI HAYABUSA GSX1300R

ENGINE
Type: Liquid-cooled, 16-valve, in-line four-cylinder
Capacity: 1349cc
Bore x stroke: 81mm x 65mm
Compression ratio: 12.5:1
Fuel system: Keihin electronic fuel injection
Emissions: Euro 3

TRANSMISSION
Type: Six-speed
Final drive: Chain
Clutch: Wet

CHASSIS AND RUNNING GEAR
Frame type: Aluminium twin-spar
Front suspension: 43mm upside-down Kayaba forks, fully adjustable
Rear suspension: Monoshock, fully adjustable
Front brakes: Twin 310mm discs with Tokico four-piston radial calipers
Rear brakes: Single disc, with twin-piston caliper
Wheels: Cast aluminium, front 3.50 x 17, rear 6.00 x 17
Tyres: Bridgestone Battlax, front 120/70-17, rear 190/50-17

DIMENSIONS AND CAPACITIES
Rake: Not given
Trail: Not given
Dry weight: 250kg
Seat height: 805mm
Wheelbase: 1485mm
Ground clearance: Not given
Fuel capacity: 21lt

PERFORMANCE
Claimed maximum power: 172hp (128kW) at 10,100rpm
Claimed maximum torque: 133Nm at 7600rpm

OTHER STUFF
Price: $18,990
Colours: Black or white
Bike supplied by: Suzuki Australia (www.suzukimotorcycles.com.au)
Warranty: 24 months, unlimited kilometres