#hayabusa

Well, here’s something a little different, and it comes to us from our sister site psychobike.com. If you’ve ever wanted to give proper drag racing a try, this rolling chassis of a Hayabusa drag bike could be the perfect starter package. If you don’t know what a rolling chassis is, well, it can mean many things. At its most basic, a rolling chassis is just that – a chassis/frame and the required pieces to fit wheels on it so it can roll and move around. What we have here appears to be a complete motorcycle, minus an engine.

Mark Miller is absolutely enamored with the new, 2022 Suzuki Hayabusa. Don’t believe me? Read his First Ride Review here. Only the third iteration of Suzuki’s land-speed rocketship since it was born in 1999, the Hayabusa has developed all kinds of hype for how fast it’ll go – upwards of 200 mph if given the chance to stretch its legs without Big Brother holding it back.

With all of our staff editors busy working on the upcoming middleweight naked bike shootout, we found ourselves in a difficult position. Thankfully, we have Mark Miller in our quiver of freelancers. Who else but someone who has raced in some of the most challenging motorcycle races around the world could be trusted to crank the throttle of a Hayabusa wide open down the long front straight of the Utah Motorsports Campus? (Note: if you’re looking for information on the technical changes to the Hayabusa, skip over to our First Look beforehand.) —Ed.

Akrapovič has released a new Slip-On Line (Titanium) exhaust system for the 2022 Suzuki Hayabusa, claiming an 8.6-pound reduction in weight compared to the stock exhaust.

For a segment of motorcycling as technologically-driven as sportbikes, 14 years is an eternity – even more so for a category that Suzuki calls the Ultimate Sportbike – but that’s how long it’s been for the Hayabusa. While there was an incremental update in 2013 that brought ABS to the table, until today, the Hayabusa, a motorcycle that, on its inception way back in 1999 had claimed the title of “world’s fastest production motorcycle,” had only undergone two generational updates: the original release and the 2008 revamp. However, today’s announcement of the 2022 Suzuki Hayabusa adds another chapter to this earth-bound missile.

Suzuki is teasing a new model launch for Feb. 5, and all clues point towards it being for a new Hayabusa. The Hayabusa remained a part of Suzuki’s U.S. lineup in 2020, but in Europe, the GSX1300R was dropped in 2018 when Euro 4 standards were introduced. Rumors of a new Hayabusa have been trickling around ever since, and it looks like Suzuki is ready to launch a new model.

For a couple of years there’ve been rumors suggesting there’s a new Hayabusa on the way, and with that old warhorse currently MIA from Suzuki’s list of returning 2021 models, the buzz has grown a bit louder that Suzuki’s fixing to spring a new World’s Fastest Production Motorcycle on the world. This time we’ll be a bit less unsuspecting than we were in 1999, and this time, it won’t be so easy a feat for Suzuki to pull off, given the existence of the Kawasaki H2 Carbon, which made an honest 206-rear-wheel horsepower on our dyno last November.

Thirteen years ago, Gabe, Pete and Fonzie (hereafter known as the “Three Wise Men”) set forth upon this great continent dedicated to the proposition that speed is good, and that more speed is better – testing whether these motorcycles, or any motorcycles so conceived and dedicated, could long endure. Ah, turns out the answer is yes. Suzuki and Kawasaki are still turning these things out. We’d like to ride them to Mammoth again as soon as they add cruise control.

Suzuki has filed multiple patent applications for a semi-automatic transmission system that may find its way on the next generation Hayabusa. Suzuki has filed three patents dealing with different aspects of the technology, filing each in Japan, the U.S. and in Germany.

We’re not big fans of the extended-swingarm sportbike scene, as such modifications have deleterious effects to a motorcycle. And yet these kinds of bikes remain relevant to many riders, especially to those in parts of the country with a dearth of twisty roads. And, if your preconceived notion is that riders of bikes with extended wheelbases don’t know how to ride, you might need to reevaluate.

This just in from the Too Much Of Everything Is Just Enough Department: Nothing exceeds like excess! And we found two great examples. First, we give you excess in the form of a R6-powered lawnmower:

It’s a question we’re asked all the time: “What’s the best motorcycle for a new rider?” It’d be great if we could give the same answer every time, but in reality the answer depends on many factors – rider size, competency, wants, needs, and desires among them. Small displacement bikes are generally a good place to start, but read enough forum commenters and before long you’ll find someone who shares their tale of how they started on a literbike and lived to tell the tale.

When the hyperbike wars were taking off at the start of the new millennium, Kawasaki was caught with its pants down, so to speak, as Suzuki had lit the field on fire with its Hayabusa. Team Green’s response? No, not the ZX-14R we know today, but the ZX-12R. A fast bike by most measures, when placed against the ‘Busa it simply couldn’t keep up. For this week’s Church feature we have our first ride review of the 2002 Kawasaki ZX-12R, the result of Kawi reimagining the 12R (slightly) for hyperspeed touring duty since it wouldn’t win any drag strip wars. 

This week’s Church of MO feature is all about speed. Specifically, we’re taking a look at NASCAR lead machinist Rich Yancy’s quest to have the fastest stock wheelbase Suzuki Hayabusa. Yancy is no stranger to fast motorcycles, and as we turn the clock back approximately 10 years, we see exactly what Yancy has done to his bike, as told by author Patrcick Barnett, because even though the wheelbase might remain stock, virtually nothing else on the Dale Earnhardt Jr. replica has remained that way. Also, to see more pictures of this beautiful Hayabusa, be sure to visit the photo gallery.

The history of motorcycle engines powering other vehicles goes back a long way. Look at the original Morgan 3 Wheeler, for example. Almost a century ago, J.A.P. bike engines were plunked onto the front of a strange piece of machinery with two wheels in front and one in the back. It proved to be popular and a rather high-performing vehicle in its time. For this Top 10 list we take a look at other applications for motorcycle engines. As you can imagine with a list like this, there are a wide variety of vehicles. Some are production cars, while others are one-offs or boutique items. And yes, even though this is Motorcycle.com, I want to get behind the wheel of every single one of these! So, if you’re a rep from one of the below companies (or are simply a kind soul who owns one), give me a jingle and let’s make it happen!