2022 Suzuki Hayabusa First Ride

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...