Suzuki Hayabusa
The third-generation of the iconic hyperbike
It’s not often that you get to spend time with a legend, or in this case a legendary motorcycle. it was in 1999 that the original shook the motorcycling community and took on the mantle of the world’s fastest production motorcycle; even now, over two decades later, the thirdgeneration bike still commands awe and respect. But is it just the name? are big sport tourers obsolete? i recently spent a couple of days with the new ’Busa in various conditions in an effort to answer these questions.
I won’t go too deep into the design of the 2021 bike since you have probably already been talking about it for months. suffice to say that the new bike is instantly recognizable as a hayabusa from any angle but the rear, where an all-new twin tail-lamp design with integrated indicators replaces the narrow, somewhat triangular tail-lamp of past iterations. from any other angle, the profile can’t be mistaken for anything else, courtesy the bulbous bodywork, distinctive headlight shape, and long, low-slung attitude. the ram air intakes up front are now sleeker, the long twin exhausts have been re-shaped and slash cut to better integrate with the design, and the gold accents on this colourway take my mind back to the original copper and silver ’Busa from 1999.
I picked up the bike from another tester’s residence the day before we were scheduled to shoot, and was immediately faced with the daunting task of getting this 266-kilogram behemoth home, 30 kilometres away, through pune’s chaotic evening traffic and with a light drizzle coming down. i expected it to be hard work, but surprisingly found myself getting quite comfortable with the bike’s portly dimensions and heft in just a few minutes, and was soon effortlessly strafing through traffic and squeezing through gaps like i was on a much smaller, lighter machine.
The bike is extremely well-balanced with perfect weight distribution, and hides its mass very well once on the move, endowing it with unbelievable agility and boosting rider confidence. as before, the ergonomics are on the sporty side of sport touring, putting the rider in a forward-biased position, although the reach to the bars has been reduced by 12 millimetres. this may not seem like much, but is a boon for shorties like me, as is the low 800-mm seat height. the foot-pegs, too, are on the high side and may leave taller riders feeling a bit cramped, although at 5’ 5”, i didn’t face this problem even after hours and a couple of hundred kilometres in the saddle.
Riding the ’Busa through the crowded city reminded me of just how torquey and tractable that 1,340-cc in-line four motor is. strong drive is available from as low as 3,000 rpm, and the downshifts i was making before overtaking slower vehicles were more out of habit than necessity. Fuelling is spot-on, throttle response is sublime, and torque delivery is never jerky or surprising, even in the most aggressive “a” riding mode with the sharpest throttle map. dialling in exactly the amount of drive required is easy, and the throttle is nicely weighted to provide excellent tactile feedback; something that’s missing from a lot of modern motorcycles.
Another surprise when stuck in unmoving traffic was the heat management; the hayabusa simply refuses to overheat. i could feel just a bit of warmth rising up around my inner thighs, but the temperature gauge didn’t even make it up to the halfway mark, and i never noticed the radiator fans coming on once, even with the motor idling at a standstill for several minutes.
satisfied that the new ’Busa can rule even in the urban sprawl, i got the bike washed in preparation for the next day and took the time to understand the new-age electronics and rider aids on offer. But first, let me commend suzuki for retaining the hayabusa’s characteristic analogue instruments; had they replaced the physical clocks with a massive colour tft display like on most other high-end motorcycles today, i would have been very disappointed. the large round speedometer and tachometer are a treat to the eyes, and are now lit up by raised Led scale markings all around the dial to aid visibility and add a modern touch. these primary dials are flanked by two smaller ones with golden bezels for fuel level and coolant temperature, and a small tft display is nestled between the two main dials. this is the command centre for the modes and rider aids, which are controlled via the left-hand switchgear.
as with the previous-generation bike, this ’Busa gets three riding modes, “a”, “B”, and “C”, only now they are designated Active, Basic, and Comfort, with increasing levels of electronic intervention. also, while the previous iteration got wheel-speed-dependent aBs and not much else in terms of safety aids, the 2021 hayabusa gets an imu, so the rider aids are now lean-sensitive. Choose between 10 levels of traction control, 10 levels of wheelie control, three levels of engine brake control and three throttle maps, to perfectly
tailor the bike to the rider’s style and experience level. in addition, even the quickshifter gets two settings, one for superfast shifts with minimal ignition cut duration, requiring a firm tug at the shifter, and one that cuts the ignition for a longer duration so that shifts are easier and smoother — perfect for when just cruising around at lower revs.
once you select your riding mode, the home screen displays shortcuts to fine-tune the throttle map and traction control settings easily on the go, or you can switch to the active data display that shows your lean angle, throttle position, front and rear brake pressure, and rate of acceleration or deceleration. in addition to the three pre-set modes, there are also three fully user customizable modes called “u1”, “u2”, and “u3”, whereby you can set up the electronics exactly to your liking. other new tech includes cruise control and a launch control system for those perfect starts.
after a good night’s sleep, i was on my way out of pune, headed for our shoot location some 80 kilometres away. with the city fading in my mirrors and the open highway up ahead, it was time to experience the ’Busa in its element. the engine singing along under me feels typically like a Japanese inline four; soft and subdued with a low mechanical hum at idle, and a light buzz as it gets to the upper reaches of the rev-range. But what’s different about this motor is the amount of torque always available, at any revs and in any gear. it’s easy to cruise along on the highway using just the top two gears, slowing down to as low as 60 km/h to perhaps get around some traffic, and simply rolling open the throttle and riding that endless wave of torque to well over 200 km/h, all without needing to shift. efficiently insulating the rider from the windblast and hardly letting out a whisper from the exhausts, the ’Busa hides the sensation of speed very well and i often caught myself going way faster than anticipated, with the bike always feeling like i was barely scratching the surface.
Braking has always been a hot topic of discussion with the hayabusa; after all, slowing down over quarter of a ton from ridiculous speeds is no mean feat, and the brakes on the old bike weren’t always up to the task. the ’Busa now gets Brembo’s top-of-the-line stylema monobloc calipers, actuated by a new radially mounted master cylinder via steelbraided brake lines. the system works extremely well, allowing me to rein the bike in with just two fingers on the reach-adjustable lever, and brake fade is minimal even after repeated hard use.
when this third-generation hayabusa was still on the drawing board, suzuki engineers considered different powerplant options, including more cylinders, increased capacity, and the incorporation of forced induction to push peak power to well over 200 hp. ultimately, however, they used the existing 1,340-cc motor, staying true to the
The 2021 Hayabusa proved that it is more than capable in a variety of conditions, handling potholes and city traffic as well as it does the open highway
’Busa’s roots and not straying away from the formula that has so far worked so well. the motor is now Bs6-compliant and has been refined with new pistons, lighter connecting rods, and reworked camshafts, while the airbox is now bigger to let even more air into the engine when called for. headline figures are 190 hp at 9,700 rpm and 150 nm of twist at a modest 7,000 rpm and, while these peak figures are slightly down as compared to the second-gen ’Busa, this is made up for by a stronger mid-range than ever before.
while spec sheet jockeys and keyboard warriors may be very vocal about their disappointment that the new ’Busa now makes seven hp and five nm less than its predecessor, anybody who actually rides motorcycles in the real world knows that a few extra nm earlier in the rev-range add a lot more value than a few horses all the way at the top. the ’Busa’s focus is no longer on being the fastest road bike in the world; that role has shifted from big sport tourers to the ultra-light, 200+ horsepower hyper superbikes over the last decade. this third-gen bike is about effortless high-speed rideability. wrung out it will easily hit the electronically limited 299 km/h top speed, and suzuki claim that even with that slight peak power deficit, it will marginally out-accelerate the second-gen bike as the lighter internals allow the engine to spin up faster. so, is there really anything to complain about? i think not.
now sufficiently tuned in to the motorcycle’s throttle response and acclimatised to its savage power delivery, i decided it was time to really let the engine breathe. with an empty expanse of highway ahead of me, i switched off the wheelie control, shifted down to second gear, and wound the throttle open to the stop. the hayabusa responds instantly, pushing me back into the large bum stop and accelerating ferociously with the front wheel a few inches off the tarmac, and the howl from the airbox filling my helmet as the large motor gulps in air. the tacho needle swings around towards the red as my eyes and brain try to keep up with the surroundings, and the adjustable, multi-stage shift light flashes green, then yellow, and finally bright white, indicating that we are at 10,000 rpm. the gear shifts with a satisfying click with the throttle still held wide open, and in no time the shift light is flashing again, asking for the next cog. the way this motorcycle piles on speed is to be experienced to be believed; most superbikes make all of their power up
top and need to be kept on the boil to really exploit their potential, but the ’Busa, with its robust mid-range, accelerates effortlessly even in a gear higher than ideal.
the few corners on the way to our pre-determined shoot location gave me a chance to see how the ’Busa felt laid over on her side, and i’m happy to report that this motorcycle impressed me here as well. the fully adjustable KyB suspension at both ends is set up quite soft from the factory and does a great job of swallowing up most bumps and even small speed-breakers. i assumed it would also dull the steering response, but thankfully, this is not the case. while the ’Busa does require more than a gentle nudge to get her leaned over into a corner, she is still extremely nimble for her size. the bike steers accurately and holds the selected line extremely well. i registered 44 degrees of lean on the dash’s active data display, by which time the bike had started to wallow and feel quite squirmy on the softly set up suspension. as it stands, the ’Busa seems perfectly set up to tackle unpredictable indian roads, which is something i really didn’t expect. stiffening up the suspension would sacrifice some ride comfort for more poise at high lean angles, and enthusiastic riders probably wouldn’t mind this trade-off when out in the twisties.
after a day of high-speed runs peppered with a lot of one-wheeled tomfoolery, it was time to head back to pune. for some reason i decided to keep off the main highway, choosing instead to ride back via some recently-surfaced, extremely narrow internal roads through very scenic surroundings. the road twisted and turned, with constant elevation changes and blind corners, and even here the ’Busa was great fun. the bike’s size on these small roads required wide, flowing lines with pin-point accuracy and a controlled throttle hand, and the big suzuki obliged by consistently going exactly where i looked. we maintained a relaxed pace; i was mostly in second, third or fourth gear, between 3,000 and 5,000 rpm, and even at these relaxed revs, the front end was eager to float over every crest at the slightest provocation from my right wrist; the torque is addictive.
while more and more riders are choosing modern adventure bikes for their high-speed, two-wheeled travel needs, big sport tourers provide a level of involvement and effortless power delivery that no adV can match. my time with the 2021 hayabusa proved that it is more than capable in a variety of conditions, handling potholes and city traffic as well as it does the open highway. i would be quite happy to load up with soft luggage and head on a cross-country journey with this motorcycle, knowing that it would take all that was to come in its stride and keep me entertained throughout.