Test 14 - 2006 Suzuki GSX1300R Hayabusa 36 Miles
Total Mileage 418
Even non bikers know the Hayabusa is one of the fastest bikes in the world and coming from mainly riding bikes with less than 120Bhp I was bracing myself for a ballistic missile.
I have never liked the look of the Hayabusas, I know they are shaped in a wind tunnel and I respect that, the fact that it hasn't been styled by some polo necked, rim free glasses wearing designer is a plus. Unfortunately it just looks weird, the Japanese writing on the side makes it look a bit retro as well.
I know this bike was made as a direct competitor to the Honda Blackbird, my mate has one of these and I have ridden it a few times, the Blackbird is a 200mph sofa, it is so quiet, comfortable and easy to ride but when you look at the speedo you are mostly greeted with the shock you are doing 140mph. I was expecting pretty much the same from the 'busa.
However sitting on the bike, I was shocked at how sporty the riding position is, it's not as comfortable as the VFR or the Blackbird, the riding position is pretty aggressive, I assume this is also a product of the wind tunnel.
The bike is pretty narrow, but it's long, manoeuvring it around the dealer's car park shows it's pretty heavy as well, I can get both feet flat on the floor though and I only have a 30" inside leg so was pretty surprised at that.
I head off onto the open road and the first thing that I notice is how heavy the steering is, this doesn't feel like a sports bike, corners have to be planned in advance and it feels like a bit of a bus on the narrow twisty road I started on. My VFR is pretty heavy but the bars are a lot wider so it's much easier to chuck about.
The suspension is pretty hard and I can feel a few tank to knacker collisions going over pot holes. I'm not able to use the power of the bike here, but just sit in 4th and 5th gear barely tickling the throttle.
Finally I am out on a clear A road and I open the girl up, I was expecting a Star Trek type warp speed to happen but it didn't really. Up to 6,000 rpm it's pretty docile, and when you hit that in 3rd gear you're doing 100mph and thinking about the bend on the quickly appearing horizon. I was expecting my arms to be ripped off but it just didn't happen. Tried it again in second and there still wasn't a huge rush of speed, it's a bit like the Blackbird in terms of acceleration, fast, but not exciting.
Sweeping bends on a smoother road are where this bike is more at home but for such a large, fast bike, I was shocked how terrifyingly weak the brakes are. I know this is an older bike, this one had 20k on it, but my VFR has 30k on and the brakes are awesome, maybe I am just used to the combined ABS.
On the way home I decided to ride the bike the way my mate tells me he rides his Blackbird, keep it on top gear at 80mph and just watch the world go by. This bored me so I started ragging it again and the bike just wasn't happy.
I was disappointed with the Hayabusa, it's supposed to be a sports tourer but it's too sporty to be a tourer, especially as Suzuki don't make hard luggage for it, and it's too heavy to be a sports bike. Where as my VFR is a tourer that you can have fun on, this is just a sports bike that's big and old fashioned. Yes it's fast, but you can't use the extra power on English roads. The only reason I could see for getting this bike is if you do most of your riding with a pillion as the rear seat looked pretty comfortable. And your pillion is a fatty.
