Zealand it was showing only 202km on the clock , pretty much brand new . Sitting there in the sunshine it was certainly striking in metallic white , sporting metallic blue accents . Heading back to Nelson it didn ’ t take long to figure out it ’ s not the sports tourer I had been expecting , and planned my trip route around . Where the Blackbird was soft , comfortable , yet extremely fast , the original Hayabusa went down a faster , more sporty route . And it ’ s the same with this one , it ’ s unashamedly a sports bike . A gerthy one at that . Low handlebars and high footpegs and swathes of slippery bodywork wrap around a brute of an engine , which sits at tickover with a rumbling growl . I can ’ t help but wonder if it ’ s the last of the Hayabusas , destined to go the way of the Blackbirds .
A
lap of the South Island averaging 500km a day in mid-winter isn ’ t most people ’ s idea of a great long weekend . Especially not with torrential rain and possible snow in the forecast . But it did tickle my fancy as a great way to try and figure out what makes Suzuki ’ s legendary Hayabusa tick ; a test of a bike that ’ s a bit of an enigma , something of a bike out of time . The Hayabusa was conceived to win a top speed race that is no longer being run ; and the Hayabusa ’ s prey , the Blackbird , is no longer built . The name Hayabusa was a provocative one from Suzuki , it ’ s Japanese for the Peregrine Falcon , the world ’ s fastest bird , which , incidentally , eats blackbirds . So , the Hayabusa is a predator from history with nothing left to hunt . So , I wanted to find out if it ’ s got any place in the market today . Is it a sports bike ? Is it a tourer ? What the hell is it ?
TRIP PREP My trusty Kriega bags which have seen a lot of service over the past 15 years are once again pressed into service . One five litre bag on the
FIRST IMPRESSIONS I ’ ve ridden all the Hayabusa generations and was lucky enough to be on the press launch of the second generation at the Salzburgring in Austria , so was more than keen to test this one . Picking up the Hayabusa from Suzuki New
30 KIWI RIDER