Suzuki Hayabusa 2021
You don’t bring a knife to a gun fight, and when Suzuki first weighed in to motorcycling’s ‘top speed wars’ near the turn of the millennium, it didn’t hold back with its Suzuki Hayabusa. Now, over 20 years on, the Hayabusa has changed little while the world has evolved in all sorts of ways — so is this high-speed blaster still relevant today? That’s what we’re about to find out…When Suzuki released its Hayabusa in 1999,it had one objective in mind — to claim the title of world’s fastest production motorcycle. That it did, before the manufacturers made a gentlemen’s agreement’ to limit top speed to 300km/h, thereby heading off a potential backlash from law makers. While several ultra-high-speed road bikes have followed in the years since, the Hayabusa has continued, only copping a major update in 2008 along with a milder one in 2013.Don’t fix what am not broke seems to be Suzuki’s mantra here, but how is the Hayabusa carrying its age in 2021? Well, these days it falls firmly into sports-tourer territory, with its prodigious grunt offset by a reasonably porky wet weight. It’s fairly slow steering and a fair bit of weight to push through the bends, but it’s very stable — no minor attribute in a warp-speed weapon — and, once committed, it holds aline with devout conviction. The ride position is sporty, with a forward lean to the clip-ons and not exactly a heap of legroom, but comfort is adequate for this style of bike, especially for those of average height or below. As for tech, you get fuel injection, ABS and a choice of three ride modes, and little else. But it’s straight-line acceleration that remains the highlight, along with sheer bang for your buck. In fact, in 2021 you can snap up a new Hayabusa for around the same dollar figure as it cost at launch in 1999. It’s also a full $5000 less than Suzuki’s sporting flagship, the GSX-R1000. The Hayabusa has disappeared from Europe, where it no longer meets emissions regulations, but it’s still available both here and in the US.As yet there’s no official word on whether the model will be discontinued or updated, but for now at least the Hayabusa lives on. By today’s standards the Suzuki Hayabusa is fairly low tech, and for those who give in to its temptations it’s a license burner on our heavily policed roads. However, it remains an excellent point to point machine with unique road presence. It’s an icon in its own right, and in 2021 it still represents an insane amount of performance for the money.
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