2001 Suzuki GSX1300R Hayabusa - Suzuki Hayabusa

2001 Suzuki GSX1300R Hayabusa

The Suzuki Hayabusa, also known as the Suzuki GSX1300R, is a hyper sport bike manufactured by Suzuki. During its first year of production, in 1999, it immediately won acclaim as the world's fastest standard production motorcycle, with a top speed of 188–194 miles per hour.

Hayabusa 隼 is Japanese for Peregrine Falcon, a bird that often serves as a metaphor for speed due to its vertical hunting dive, or stoop, in which it can reach speeds of 180 to 240 miles per hour, the fastest of any bird. The peregrine falcon is also known to prey on blackbirds, which reflected the intent of the original Hayabusa to unseat the Honda CBR1100XX Super Blackbird as the world's fastest production motorcycle. Eventually, the Hayabusa managed to surpass the Super Blackbird by at least a full 10 miles per hour.

In 2000, fears of a European regulatory backlash or import ban led to an informal agreement between the Japanese and European manufacturers to govern the top speed of their motorcycles to 186 mph. Because of this agreement, the 1999–2000 Hayabusa's title as the fastest standard production motorcycle of the 20th century remained, at least technically, since no future model could go faster without being tampered with. This fact alone makes the 1999-2000 unrestricted models extremely popular among collectors and enthusiasts.

Besides its blinding speed, the Hayabusa has been widely recognized for its all-around performance. It does not drastically compromise other qualities like handling, comfort, reliability, noise, fuel economy or price in pursuit of top end.

For 2001, you'll still find the performance these models are known for, but with refined styling and new features.

The Hayabusa is Speed in all its glory. But Speed is not all the Hayabusa is.