The Suzuki Hayabusa - Unreal Fast Bike
The Suzuki Hayabusa GSX1300R was introduced to the world in 1999, it was incredible fast. Whoosh. And then it's gone. What an extraordinary motorcycle the Suzuki Hayabusa was. What an extraordinary experience. Yes, at the time you had other fast motorcycles – way faster than your brain can usefully deal with. Ride one of the road at anything close to its potential and the flow of information into your brain is so rapid you have to start breaking it down into chunks and ignoring some of it. And then you just have to hope you don't ignore a really important chunk, like the nose of that car poking out in the driveway...But with a Suzuki Hayabusa the rider is basically one great big data processing plant, with great swathes of information being rammed into his prefrontal lobes at a rate the poor primate's grey matter was never designed to cope with. It's all a bit disorientating: they call it speed blindness. Ride far enough fast enough, and when you stop the world around you moves in slow motion.
Suzuki have done almost everything right with the Hayabusa GSX1300R. It's phenomenally good at its job, which is to make more acceleration than the English language has words to describe. In a world devoid of speed limits (yes, even Thailand is getting speed camera's) it makes lots and lots of sense. Especially if you're in a hurry all the time. The Suzuki Hayabusa engine is long stroke and big bored, giving stacks of torque but not relying on high revs to make it. The leap off the bottom end is truly stunning; the smallest tweak of the throttle tube makes your smile, deliciously, sadistically and every time.
And the fun doesn't stop there – the Suzuki Hayabusa just keeps on accelerating, ripping the air apart through the gears...
The Suzuki Hayabusa is, like most supersport bike, long, low and aerodynamically sleek. Although it's clearly quicker than most other motorcycles in the same class, it's big advance over it's rivals is the suspension – not only does it turn he atmosphere inside out, it really, really handles too. While the competition isn't exactly wobbly on its wheels, but most have limits which are well within the reach of average riders – the brakes will fade, the rear shock overheats and damping departs you if you start to get into the higher speeds. So, being a sensible person, you don't ride that fast...
On the Suzuki Hayabusa none of these things apply. On a race track the Suzuki Hayabusa strolls casually up to 265km/h without trying to push it. It can go faster, much faster... but how much more do you want to lean over at that speed? I hear of people doing 300km/h on a Hayabusa, but I guess I'm not brave enough. 265Km/h is my limit, not the motorcycle's. With a motorcycle like the Suzuki Hayabusa you need to set your limits...
