Suzuki has redone its flagship Suzuki Hayabusa GSX1300RR for 2022. Cycle World gets a first ride, and finds the ’Busa is better.
Riding the 2022 Suzuki Hayabusa in the canyons of Malibu, California, is a bit like taking a bazooka to a pistol range. You get a great sense of firepower, but really, not a taste of the full capabilities of the weapon. How far away is your target and how fast can you hit it? At least Malibu and the surrounding area isn’t all tight corners and bumps, so we had a few choice moments to explore the Hayabusa’s legendary firepower.
Our 180-mile 2022 Hayabusa GSX1300RR first ride gave us a good taste of what this redone icon is all about, but it sure seemed a long way and long time from the original 1999 Hayabusa model launch in Spain. We had an amazing life-changing day dragging fairings and engine covers at Circuit de Catalunya followed by a day of “On-Road Touring” that ended up with us sixth-gear-pinned on a Spanish freeway about five minutes after ride departure. And we rode like that all day, doing things on a motorcycle that mortals had never before experienced, because no motorcycle had ever been as fast, powerful, and competent as the Hayabusa. Our original Cycle World testbike did a 9.86-second quarter-mile with a 146-mph terminal speed, and achieved a 194-mph top speed past the CW radar gun. On our in-house Dynojet dyno, it made 161 hp at the wheel and 100 pound-feet of torque.
We will get full test numbers when we get our unit back at the office. Until then, I can say the new ‘Busa finds 145 mph in the blink of an eye and seems capable of lifting the front wheel at nearly any speed below that. And even though I burned less than a tank of gas on our ride, I have full confidence saying the bike’s superb balance and flexibility has been retained. It’s also still wicked fast—and remains big even if it is…lighter, perhaps? As a 6-foot-2 225-pounder, I feel right at home on the ‘Busa. Always have, from that first time I let the clutch out on pit lane at Catalunya and for the 12,000-something miles I put on our 1999 copper-colored long-termer. The Hayabusa was, in fact, my first long-term testbike when I was hired at the magazine.
As I approached the 2022 ‘Busa for my half-day ride from the hotel launching point, I thought the bike was more Hayabusa-looking than the press photos had suggested. I expected it might have gone a bit too lean-and-mean GSX-R, but in person it retains a strong family resemblance. The cockpit in particular is clearly descended from the first bike’s, with a similar damped-top-clamp treatment, large analog tach, and a speedo flanked by analog fuel and engine-temperature gauges. The bar damping is said to offer improved feel while also isolating bad vibes better. Our Glass Sparkle Black testbike with Candy Burnt Gold accents was a nice homage to the original bike.
It’s no surprise that the bore and stroke of the 1,340cc engine are unchanged, and that the intake ports and exhaust ports have identical spacing as the previous Hayabusa. This way all that existing aftermarket go-fast equipment will easily fall into place on the redesigned, stronger bottom end. The frame has a similar design as the Gen 1 and Gen 2 ‘Busas, as well, and the overall effect is that everyone with ‘Busa tuning experience is going to know exactly what to do.
Release the relatively easy-pull clutch lever and you are greeted with great feel and absolute authority over the engine/transmission interface. You can feel its meaty strength as you slip away from a stop and feed in throttle. In fact, you can leave a stop in fourth gear with relatively little effort and idle along at 18 mph and about 1,400 rpm once the clutch is engaged. The engine could run all day in fourth, from this slow traffic speed all the way to about 140 mph in this one gear. Thankfully there are six gears to choose from, now with clutchless quickshifting both up and down.
A few straight-line blasts in lower gears demonstrated that the Hayabusa’s eyeball-flattening performance is very much like it always has been. But it was grand to get onto the winding backroads of the Malibu mountains—bumps, rockfall, tar snakes, and all.
As we swung through the bends, all the torque needed for a brisk pace came while running 4,000–6,000 rpm. But when kicked up to 7,000–9,000, it started to get serious; you could really feel the rear tire start to work when exiting corners. Take it to the white-painted “happy zone” from 9,000 to the 11,000-rpm redline on the tach and… Holy warp drive.
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