Suzuki swoops on rivals

Even though I have not had the pleasure of riding it, it still needs to be recognised as the world's fastest production motorcycle, with a top speed of up to 312km/h.

It's the Suzuki Hayabusa or GSX1300R.

The Hayabusa's intent was to unseat the Honda CBR1100XX Super Blackbird as the world's fastest production motorcycle.

So it was named after the Japanese peregrine falcon, a bird that often serves as a metaphor for speed due to its vertical hunting dive, with speed of up to 325km/h, the fastest of any bird.

In particular, the choice of name was made because the peregrine falcon preys on blackbirds, so be careful what you name your bike!

Even though European and Japanese manufacturers agreed to govern the top speed of motorcycles, the Hayabusa still secured its place as the fastest standard production bike of the 20th century when it went up against the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-12R.

Not only speed makes the Hayabusa great, its all-round performance has been praised. Its handling, comfort, reliability, sound and fuel economy have been much talked about.

Suzuki's Koji Yoshiura, who styled the first generation Hayabusa, is also responsible for the look of the new version. In 2004 when Suzuki began working to identify which elements of the Hayabusa's design had attracted so many buyers, Yoshiura travelled around the US to bike nights and clubs for a first-hand look at the styling aesthetics of the Hayabusa custom scene.

He was inspired as much by the look and build of the Hayabusa rider as Suzuki's custom bikes.

While the second generation is very close to the original in overall shape, and is largely dictated by wind tunnel tests, the raised lines and curves are meant to suggest a muscular build.

Said Yoshirua: "I wanted to create a masculine form that complements a rider's muscular structure with hints of developed bicep, forearm and calves."

Suzuki decided to save costs by keeping major portions of the frame and engine the same.

This was because engineers had determined that greater power was possible without a major redesign of the engine. The target was to produce more than 142kW at the crankshaft, and Suzuki delivered 145kW.

When the new Hayabusa was released, independent tests bore this out, with 128.4kW at 10100rpm measured at the rear wheel.

The 2012 Hayabusa model was launched earlier this year and is still said to be the most dominant production sports bike existing today.

Planned to compete directly with the now defunct Blackbird and Kawasaki ZX-12 and ZX-14, critics as well as fans say the Hayabusa is, in fact, a big superbike kind of tourer.