Needing to be the best. Competition. A drive to rise above. Those are things that don’t just fall into the lap of someone, those are innate things that drive innovation. The Hayabusa is the epitome of the word innovation, two wheels that would set the standard for years to come and would define speed for the century it led. Welcome to ForgetTheCamel, where we’ll be learning about the Gen 1 (99-07) Suzuki Hayabusa and the undeniable legacy it formed.
Immediately upon release, this bike cemented itself as a history maker by immediately taking the top spot in speed at an adrenaline spiking 194 miles per hour. This put an end to the top speed race, as Europe and Japan soon after came to a truce of limiting all bikes to 186 mph, in fear of import taxing due to the danger of such speed. Pre-limiter Hyabusas’ from early 1999 are highly sought after due to not having the factory restriction of 186. Interestingly enough, because of conversion errors from mph to kph, various bikes of the time had different limiters.
The Hayabusa no doubt is a flashy name, yet it also has fitting substance. “Hayabusa” is the Japanese term for the Peregrine Falcon, the fastest bird in the world. The Peregrine Falcon has been recorded hit speeds up to 202 mph in a dive. Not only similar in speed, but similar in purpose. These birds are the natural predator of the Blackbird, and the Hayabusa lived up to this name by beating the Honda CBR1100XX Blackbird in top speed by over 10 mph.
Sporting a 1298 CC, 16 Valve, DOHC Inline 4, as you’ve probably noticed by now this isn’t an ordinary bike. With the highest displacement ever at the time, it’s a missile made for the land, and the reception from a lot of riders confirm this with sentiments about the Suzuki’s lack of turning capability. Upon release, this two wheeled terror was controversial in it’s looks and styling, many people not liking it, but as most things in this world it did have it’s appreciators. Although it’s been surpassed, 175 Bhp and 102 Tq at 480 Lbs dry is still insanely fast even by the standards of 24 years later. There aren’t any training wheels either, this bike has no ABS or cruise control or creature comforts. Rider input goes straight to the pavement with the unforgiving impartialness of a well tuned machine.
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