Suzuki GSX1300R

Hihowarya Hayabusa

Suzuki's all new GSX1300R Hayabusa is claimed by Suzuki to completely redefine sporting expectations. The Hayabusa pushes the envelope so far that Suzuki doesn't refer to the bike as a sportbike, nor as a supersport bike, but as an "ultimate sportbike." I guess that's called Hayabusa hyperbole. As you may have heard, Hayabusa is the name of a small Japanese falcon that has the ability to fly really, really fast. Reportedly at speeds up to 186 mph.

The GSX1300R was designed to be the fastest sportbike on the market and Suzuki hopes that the Hayabusa will be able to conquer the previous top speed records set by all other production motorcycles. To that end the GSX1300R not only has a giant powerplant of 1298cc but also an aerodynamically designed profile.

Although the bike looks big, the Hayabusa weighs in at a claimed 474 lbs dry, which is only 35 lbs heavier than a '95 GSX-R750. Heavy for a sportbike of today but light for an open class top-speed screamer. The thing might even corner not half-bad.

The GSX1300R's wind-cheating shape was achieved by stacking the headlights and pulling the blinkers into the bike's upper, locating them on the outboard sides of the ram air intakes. By doing this Suzuki was able to achieve the lowest coefficient of drag ever found on one of their motorcycles. The placement of the turn signals is also claimed to help force air into the ram-air intake tracts which have been placed near the point of maximum air pressure.

The power plant is a liquid cooled, inline four-cylinder that puts out more power than any existing Suzuki engine. Maybe even more than any production motorcycle -- we will see. The engine also has Suzuki's oil-jet cooling to deal with the piles of heat-generating power in the combustion chamber. The engine has the usual DOHC actuating 16 valves that have a narrow valve angle of 14 degrees. Following Suzuki's trend of canning the carbs, the Hayabusa gets its fuel mixture through a bank of efi throttle bodies. The engine also features a gear-driven counterbalancer to reduce vibration and a six-speed transmission.

The cam chain is driven from the right side to allow for compacting the combustion chambers tightly against each other and the crankshaft has only five journals.

The chassis of the GSX1300R is an aluminum alloy twin-spar design with a bridged aluminum swingarm. The 43 mm inverted forks are fully adjustable and offer 120 mm of wheel travel. The rear suspension is a link-type with a conventional and fully adjustable shock absorber providing 140 mm of wheel travel.

The front brakes are the usual tried and proven Suzuki grabbers of six-piston calipers with 320 mm rotors. The rear brake is a twin-piston caliper with a 240 mm rotor.

The Hayabusa's convenience features are a hinged fuel tank for easier maintenance of the carbs and top end, like on the new GSX-R series of bikes, and a storage area for a U-lock. The instruments include a fuel gauge, twin tripmeters, and an LCD-type fuel consumption gauge.

Suzuki plans on taking the all-out top-speed crown with this bike and we look forward to putting that to the test. The ultimate test. Considering that the Hayabusa has the lowest of all coefficients of drag ever on a Suzuki, combined with the most powerful Suzuki engine ever built, this thing just might fly.

The Hayabusa has already passed one test: Price. At $10,499 it is a screaming deal. For that price you get what might just be the fastest bike on the planet. In the performance car market, that kind of money would get you a five-year old Mustang. Man, I like bikes.

GSX1300RX Specifications at a Glance*
Suggested Retail: $10,499.00
Engine: Four-stroke, liquid-cooled
Bore and Stroke: 81.0 mm x 63.0 mm
Front Brake: Dual Hydraulic Disc
Rear Brake: Single Hydraulic Disc
Wheelbase: 1485 mm (58.5 in)
Dry Weight: 215 kg (474 lbs)
*Specifications are not final.