No you aren’t missing anything at all. The Hayabusa is a great bike in its own way and because of its massive power has become a bit of an icon but when it comes to the corners its relative heft (the '05 is 533 lbs. dry according to sportrider.com) is pretty apparent. The Busa actually has a slower quarter mile than the GSX-R 1000 (10.02 @ 143.7 vs. 9.774 @ 148.69 according to sportrider.com). I think what is telling though, is that the GSXR-1000 is designed as a race bike; but one with headlights and turn signals. The Hayabusa was never intended to be a race bike (naturally, at 1300 ccs there is no class for it to compete in) so it may be fast, but isn’t (in my opinion) the pinnacle of motorcycle development (if one judges that by racing technology trickling down to the street—which it does pretty darn fast these days). Still a neat machine but not the most capable, although ironically it makes a pretty nice touring bike because the seating position is not as cramped as the “ready to race” sport bikes. For the record I have not personally ridden a Hayabusa but I have enjoyed the Gixxer 1000 a few times (my brother has one).

• Tue, 06/24/2008 - 12:10
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