Suzuki Hayabusa
SUZUKI Hayabusa
CW RIDING IMPRESSION
NEW BIKES 2008
Big 'Busa hits the gym
DON CANET
BACK IN 1999, I TRAVELED TO BARCELONA, SPAIN, for the world press launch of Suzuki's then-new GSX1300R Hayabusa. Following a day and a half of peg-grinding antics around the Circuit de Catalunya, we blitzed a three-lane Spanish freeway for the fastest lunch run of my life, nearly topping out the big ’Busa several times en route to a seaside restaurant.
The feverish pace set by our ride guide, Ludwig Braun of Suzuki Germany, not only suggested he may have skipped breakfast, but drove home Suzuki’s marketing claim that the beak-nosed machine was created with autobahn dominance in mind. While the German importer played an active role in the bike’s final development, U.S. input had been relatively insignificant.
In the time since the ’Busa burst onto the scene and steamrolled all class speed records, no market has embraced Suzuki’s performance king quite like America, where sales have hovered in the neighborhood of 10,000 units year after year. Just as the Fatherland’s elevated speed limits inspired the original design concept, it was the high-style of America’s custom-tuner scene that directly influenced the 2008 ’Busa.
Suzuki stylist Koji Yoshiura, whose résumé includes the Bandit 400, RF600R, TL1000S and SV650 sportbikes-along with the first-gen Hayabusa-visited the States to study styling trends of customized ’Busas as found at bike nights and club events around the country. When asked about an overriding theme behind the latest bodywork, Yoshiura spoke of the athletic, defined physique of many of the owners he encountered during the survey. He pointed out visual cues found in the raised ridges running the length of the bike and in the bulges that incorporate the front and rear turnsignals, all meant to mimic flexed muscles.
“I wanted to create a masculine form that complements a rider’s muscular structure with hints of developed bicep, forearm and calves,” said Yoshiura.
Still, its wind-tunnel-developed outer skin hasn’t ventured far from the shape of the original’s, making a strong argument for subtle change rather than messing with a signature style, a move that has received some Internet criticism. But you would be hard-pressed to find an ounce of objection to the 194 crank horsepower and 114 foot-pounds of torque the revised engine is claimed to produce.
The engine’s basic architecture remains the same, with attention to details adding up to greater power and acceleration. At its foundation is a 2mm longer stroke, yielding 41 cc of displacement increase amounting to 1340cc. Stronger, shotpeened, chromoly connecting rods carry new forged-aluminum slipper pistons featuring lighter, smaller-diameter wristpins and new rings for reduced blowby. There’s a substantial bump in compression, now 12.5:1, up from the 11.0 spec of its predecessor. The cylinder block has been treated with a nickel-phosphorus-silicon-carbide bore coating said to improve heat transfer, durability and ring seal. Larger U-shaped cutouts in the bottom sides of each cylinder bore provide greater airflow between adjacent cylinders, allowing air trapped beneath a descending piston to migrate to a rising piston.
This, along with a revised crankcase-breather system now employing reed valves to prevent pressure waves in the airbox from entering the crankcase, has reduced power-sapping internal pumping pressure. Rear-wheel readings of 175 hp sound about right.
While their diameters remain unchanged, titanium valves have replaced last year’s heavier steel poppets, allowing for both a reduction in valvespring tension and use of higher valve lift for intake and exhaust. Conventional sparkplugs have been supplanted with fine-tip Iridium-alloy electrode plugs for more complete combustion. A catalyzerequipped 4-into-2-into-l-into-2 stainlesssteel exhaust is capped with freer-flowing, larger-volume mufflers. Feeding the beast is your typical ram-air intake leading to a new dual-injector, dual-valve throttle body with a wider bellmouth than before tapering down to a now smaller-diameter, higher-velocity-producing dimension where it mates with the intake boot. The injectors themselves now have 12 holes rather than four, offering improved fuel atomization for better combustion efficiency that’s also claimed to have reduced fuel consumption.
Conserving dead dinosaurs never entered my mind as I swung a leg over the 2008 Busa and smoked the rear Bridgestone in preparation for a very brief first ride.
I joined several members of the press at Great Lakes Dragaway located north of Chicago, where we each were allowed two passes down the strip before heading north on a road ride to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, and the following day’s play, lapping the Road America road course.
I idled forward through the water trough, performing a burnout to put some heat in the tire, then staged for a blast down the track. Given no prior acclimation to the bike’s power delivery or feel for the engagement characteristics of its new Suzuki Clutch Assist System (which uses a ramp and cam to
increase clutch-plate pressure under load without use of heavier springs), I figured it best to attempt a fairly casual launch. Pulling the trigger at 5000 rpm, clutch engagement felt normal enough and there was no gabbiness as with certain centrifugallocking setups I’ve encountered. Once the bike was rolling, midrange torque was more than enough to spoil a run with a big wheelstand, something a few others encountered first-hand.
Analog throttle management (my right wrist) kept the front tire skimming the asphalt as I ran out first gear, then I twisted it to the stops and clicked up through the gears at the indicated 11,000-rpm redline. While a pretty clean run, my inaugural pass of 10.046 seconds at 143.81 mph was well shy of the 9.86/145.80 mark our ’99 Hayabusa testbike set years ago.
In fact, the bike’s best showing of the event was a 9.95-second E.T. set by Jordan Suzuki roadracer Aaron Yates after several attempts.
On the second run, I gave the newly added Suzuki Drive Mode Selector (S-DMS) a go. First employed on the 2007 GSX-R1000, a switch on the right handlebar toggles the S-DMS between a trio of
engine-control maps with the B and C modes reducing overall output and slowing the rate that the secondary
throttle valves open, softening response for use in less-ideal surface conditions. While launching in B-mode and toggling to A on the shift to second effectively tempered the lowgear wheelie, I could have stood to launch with much more aggression as the pass was .02-second slower. I look forward to playing more with this unique feature in the future. There’s a couple of tenths waiting to be shaved.
One thing I’ve noted during past visits to rural Wisconsin is the locals take their posted speed limits much more seriously than do Spaniards. Suffice it to say the 150-mile road ride to Elkhart Lake took the better part of the day, my only real finding being that Suzuki has flat nailed the ’Busa’s fuel-injection delivery. It’s as good as it gets.
I was relieved to reach our destination that afternoon as I’d been suffering a muscle ache below my right shoulder blade. The ’Busa’s roomy ergos are definitely tailored more for a small NBA forward than for my 5-foot, 10-inch frame. It takes a bigger man than me to fully appreciate the long reach to the bars. For me, bar risers are the missing ingredient that would allow this bike to be an ideal grand-touring platform. Vibration levels are low below 4500 rpm, with increased vibes seeping through the bars, tank and pegs up to about 6500 rpm, at which point things smooth out nicely once again. Wind protection has been improved with a ,7-inchtaller windscreen that produces a remarkably low amount of turbulence. The saddle is both cushy and roomy.
Three 20-minute sessions on the 4-mile, 14-turn Road America circuit was all the time needed to explore the handling prowess and cornering limits of this very large sportbike-at a claimed 485 pounds dry, 7 up on last year’s bike. Within two laps, I’d figured out the proper gear for every corner thanks to a gear-position indicator on the dash;
besides, with so much power available throughout the rev range, you have multiple choices for usable ratios.
Exiting Turn 1 in third gear provided tire-squirming acceleration from about 8000 rpm. Hard drives out of tighter Turn 3 nearer the revlimiter in second offered a safety net of sorts when the tire spun up. As I neared the upper end of fifth gear on the sprint to Turn 5, the speedometer topped out on its 185-mph scale.
This typically optimistic indicated reading was even more so as the lazy dogleg-left approach had me leaned slightly over onto the tire’s smaller outer circumference.
Slowing for the 90-degree secondgear left at the end of this fast stretch put the new radial-mount, four-piston calipers to the test. Alongside the downhill braking zone are trackside 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 marker signs. Due to the ’Busa’s speed, weight and tire grip,
I clamped on the binders where I imagined a 7 sign should be located! The new brake system offers a definite improvement, but it still suffered some lever-travel fluctuation when subjected to racetrack abuse. The upgraded KYB inverted-cartridge fork now has black DLC surface treatment on its 43mm stanchion tubes for more supple action. While I never felt the fork bottom under my hardest braking, some heavier riders at the test reported that they had.
Tipping the Busa into corners at street-legal speeds doesn’t require too much effort, though I broke a sweat working out during my three sets of fast-paced reps around Road America. The street-focused suspension proved soft on the track, demanding smooth steering inputs to maintain chassis composure and optimize cornering clearance. In this case, heavy steering is an asset in that it helps to damp overzealous riding. When ridden quickly, the chassis exhibited a fair amount of wiggle and wallow under braking and when exiting corners. I suspect the non-adjustable steering damper may have contributed to this feeling.
Still, the fact that any bike built first and foremost to storm the dragstrip and rule the long, straight open highway can also bolt around a road course or down a curvy canyon as well as the Hayabusa does is a bonus. Judging from the direction so many owners have steered their beloved ’Busas over the past eight years, handling prowess is simply a side benefit. As Yoshiura-san so studiously observed, the image that the “Hayab-USA” evokes is much more one of buffed-out man and machine than of polishing pavement with pegs and knees.
For more photos of the 2008 Hayabusa log on to www.cycleworld.com
