In the motorcycle world, few streetbikes garner the type of attention as Suzuki’s Hayabusa. Long, low, and fast, the GSX1300R is the standard for motorcyclists looking to get somewhere quickly. The ’22 Hayabusa represents a modernized gentleman’s sportbike. Suzuki did this by adding a modernized electronics package and by massaging the motorcycle’s powertrain, chassis, and of course, styling. For the second part of our test, we rode the Hayabusa around the 3.048-mile perimeter course at the Utah Motorsport Campus (formerly Miller Motorsports Park).
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Although designed as a streetbike, the Hayabusa is a more capable track bike than its predecessor. Twist the throttle and this 1,340cc inline-four doles out smooth tire-friendly torque. Although the engine cranks out a tad less peak power than its predecessor, you’ll be hard-pressed to notice the difference as you hurl into turn 1. A broad front fairing does a great job of shielding the rider from dirty air. It’s remarkable how comfortable you can be at upward of 160 mph.
Perhaps one of the biggest improvements to its overall track performance is the fitment of Bridgestone’s fantastic Battlax S22 rubber. These tires are light-years ahead of the old BT-015s and provide more grip, faster warm-up time, and a refined profile that complements the updated chassis. It’s worth noting that OE shoes differ from the commercial version in their single compound design. This modification was made to better withstand the ‘Busa’s extra heft (582 pounds with fuel).
The tires are complemented by improved suspension that floats over the pavement, yet delivers pleasing damping response during full-throttle and brake application. The suspenders still offer three-way adjustment. However, we were impressed with the OE setting. As a side note, we appreciate that the fork employs a more traditional twin spring and damping cartridge setup rather than more budget-oriented versions...
Find out more: https://www.motorcyclistonline.com/story/reviews/2022-suzuki-hayabusa-gsx1300r-track-mc-commute-review/
Photography: Kevin Wing
Video/edit: @AdamWaheed
Motorcycle Riding Gear Worn
Helmet: Shoei X-Fourteen
Custom Helmet Paint: Tagger Designs
Suit: Alpinestars Race Replica V3 with Tech-Air Race Vest
Glove: Alpinestars GP Plus R V2
Boots: Alpinestars Supertech R
Motorcyclist Shirts: https://teespring.com/stores/motorcyclist
Shop Products We Use: https://www.amazon.com/shop/motorcyclistmagazine
See more from us: http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/
--
Although designed as a streetbike, the Hayabusa is a more capable track bike than its predecessor. Twist the throttle and this 1,340cc inline-four doles out smooth tire-friendly torque. Although the engine cranks out a tad less peak power than its predecessor, you’ll be hard-pressed to notice the difference as you hurl into turn 1. A broad front fairing does a great job of shielding the rider from dirty air. It’s remarkable how comfortable you can be at upward of 160 mph.
Perhaps one of the biggest improvements to its overall track performance is the fitment of Bridgestone’s fantastic Battlax S22 rubber. These tires are light-years ahead of the old BT-015s and provide more grip, faster warm-up time, and a refined profile that complements the updated chassis. It’s worth noting that OE shoes differ from the commercial version in their single compound design. This modification was made to better withstand the ‘Busa’s extra heft (582 pounds with fuel).
The tires are complemented by improved suspension that floats over the pavement, yet delivers pleasing damping response during full-throttle and brake application. The suspenders still offer three-way adjustment. However, we were impressed with the OE setting. As a side note, we appreciate that the fork employs a more traditional twin spring and damping cartridge setup rather than more budget-oriented versions...
Find out more: https://www.motorcyclistonline.com/story/reviews/2022-suzuki-hayabusa-gsx1300r-track-mc-commute-review/
Photography: Kevin Wing
Video/edit: @AdamWaheed
Motorcycle Riding Gear Worn
Helmet: Shoei X-Fourteen
Custom Helmet Paint: Tagger Designs
Suit: Alpinestars Race Replica V3 with Tech-Air Race Vest
Glove: Alpinestars GP Plus R V2
Boots: Alpinestars Supertech R
Motorcyclist Shirts: https://teespring.com/stores/motorcyclist
Shop Products We Use: https://www.amazon.com/shop/motorcyclistmagazine
See more from us: http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/
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SportsTranscript
00:00 Hey folks, welcome to this special edition MC commute coming to you live
00:06 from the official US press introduction of Suzuki's 2022 Hayabusa hypersport
00:14 bike. We are here at Miller Motorsports Park. We are gonna ride around the outer
00:21 track, three point some mile outer track on this 175 horsepower beast. Let's
00:30 saddle up and go for a ride. Alright folks, here we are at the official US
00:38 press introduction for Suzuki's 2022 GSXR 1300, I'm sorry GSX 1300R. This is
00:49 Suzuki's top of the range hypersport sport bike. This bike is designed for
00:57 getting from A to B very quickly with a relative high degree of comfort and
01:07 Suzuki's latest and greatest electronics package. Suzuki's really thrown the
01:14 kitchen sink at this motorcycle. This is a vehicle that has all of the
01:24 electronics. Suzuki has historically been at the back of the pack in terms of
01:32 electronics but they want to assert themselves in the sport bike realm so
01:40 they have this 2022 GSX 1300R. It has adjustable engine power modes, it has
01:48 engine brake control, traction control, wheelie control, launch control which I
01:54 like a lot, up and down quick shifter, it also has hill control for when you drop
02:01 release the clutch going up a hill. It also has this slope braking feature, it
02:09 has cornering ABS. Japanese companies hate saying cornering ABS but this bike
02:13 has cornering ABS and this is Suzuki's most advanced production motorcycle
02:21 they've ever made. $18,600 for this bike that's $3,800 more than the 2020
02:29 Hayabusa which we test rode last year so $3,800 more expensive but you get a lot
02:37 of extra features for that money. We are here at Miller Motorsports Park in
02:45 Twelly, Utah. We are riding the outer perimeter course. I believe it's three
02:55 almost four miles I believe is this course and this place is all about going
03:02 fast and it's the perfect place to stretch the legs of this Suzuki Hayabusa.
03:11 Now the thing I like about these Hayabusas so much is they're just so easy to ride.
03:18 Even though Suzuki's done a lot of improvements to this bike in terms of
03:23 the powertrain and chassis, go figure this bike still feels very much like a
03:30 Suzuki Hayabusa. What does that mean? That means that this motorcycle fits
03:36 bigger, taller riders. That means that this motorcycle is long and low. That
03:46 means that this engine delivers an insane amount of smooth torque.
03:55 But the improvement Suzuki has done has made a motorcycle that is just even more
04:02 polished feeling. You really feel that extra polish in terms of the suspension
04:09 and the brakes. The brakes are much more strong than they were before and you
04:17 need big brakes because as you're about to see we are going to be going extremely quickly.
04:24 Fourth gear, fifth gear.
04:27 And here we go slowing down. That guy was there so we couldn't fully give her the
04:37 beans but we'll do it next lap. This motorcycle rolls on Bridgestone's new
04:46 Batlax S22 street bike tire. This tire is made in specific
04:55 specification for the 2022 Hayabusa. The front tire is a dual compound
05:02 construction and the rear tire is uniform compound. And what that does is it
05:09 allowed tire engineers to use a little bit stiffer compound. You have to
05:14 remember this motorcycle weighs 582 pounds with a full tank of gas. That's
05:21 about 144 pounds more than a ZSXR 1000. So a lot of extra weight being put on
05:30 these tires. These tires are no different in terms of size. 120/70 front, 190/50/17.
05:40 So these bikes have low profile rear tires and that just kind of goes with
05:45 the lower stance and styling of this motorcycle where the GSXR has a taller
05:51 55 series rear tire. So Bridgestone was able to get extra stability out of the
06:00 tire by going away from multi compound construction in the rear. And these tires
06:07 work really good on this bike.
06:12 You definitely feel very hooked up. You feel very planted. Now it's not race
06:20 tires level of grip, but for a 582 pound bike it's pretty dang good. You have to
06:28 remember this motorcycle puts out right around 175 horsepower at the business
06:36 end of the tire. That's a lot of power.
06:42 Alright, 4th gear. I love working that quick shift here. It just makes up shifting so easy.
06:48 Here we go guys. Alright, now it's time to brake.
06:52 Whoa. Slow down Big Betsy. These Brembo Stylema calipers do a much better job of
07:03 shedding speed than the old two-piece Brembo radio mount calipers. I think
07:10 they were two-piece. Actually no, they were monoblock. But these Stylemas, oh my
07:16 god, they work so much better. The brake discs have also grown on this vehicle
07:21 and the rotor diameter is now 320 millimeters versus 310. And that makes a
07:27 big difference when you're dropping the anchor. ABS of course mitigates any
07:34 instability when using the brakes. And I really like this braking package. Of
07:42 course, with a bike this size I wish the brakes were even bigger. I'd probably put F1
07:48 brakes on this bike, but it's a big improvement from its predecessor.
07:56 And this bike, even though it's not necessarily designed for track riding,
08:00 it's more of a high-performance, hyper-sport street bike, this thing is a
08:05 lot of fun to ride on the track. And it's surprisingly maneuverable for a bike
08:11 that weighs almost 600 pounds.
08:14 Now we are riding with track control in the lowest setting, setting one. We've
08:25 played with the other nine settings and here at the circuit setting one is the
08:32 best. Setting two, it restricts acceleration too much. It's not bad if
08:38 you were someone with a little bit less comfortability with power sliding the
08:45 back tire. Track control two and even three and four would be good for you. But for us
08:50 one is the magic number. I wish Suzuki had a more incremental fine track control
08:57 adjustment in the lowest setting. I wish they had like a .75 track control, .5, .25. BMW is really good at that fine tuning of the track control.
09:10 I wonder if Suzuki would incorporate that in a future model.
09:14 Engine brake. We are riding with engine brake control off. But I actually liked
09:19 engine brakes in the lowest setting, mode one. I felt like that smoothed the
09:28 vehicle turn in. When you're about to turn in the vehicle, the bike just felt a
09:32 little bit smoother and it didn't feel like there was so much drag on the rear
09:37 wheel. Not that there's a lot of drag, but it just felt that way. I have engine
09:42 brake off right now because I forgot to turn it off.
09:47 Thank God for these big brakes. It's worth noting that when you actuate the
09:55 front brake lever it automatically diverts a little bit of pressure to the
10:00 rear brake. The rear brake is operated independently. God, this bike's a hoot to ride.
10:08 So smooth. So long and low. I feel like this is an easy bike to really spin the
10:22 back tire on. Not only because it's powerful, but because the wheelbase is so long.
10:26 You just have more control.
10:38 Alright folks, that is a quick review. Whoa. Stop paying attention. That's a quick
10:47 review of Suzuki's GSX-1300. As you can see, I have to stop talking and start
10:57 paying attention to what I'm doing. Make sure to surf over to MotorcyclistOnline.com.
11:02 That is where all of our written content lives on this bike.
11:11 Give this video a thumbs up if you liked it. Thumbs it down if you think it was
11:18 stupid. And we'll see you next time. Thank you for tuning in today.
11:28 Alright folks, for the encore performance of our racetrack riding, we are going to
11:37 try out the Hayabusa along the Miller Motorsports Park massively long front
11:48 straightaway. So typically we would be doing this kind of stuff at the drag
11:53 strip, but for whatever reason there's no drag strip. So we're doing it on Miller
11:58 Motorsports Park's massively long front straightaway. And gosh it is long. We were
12:05 getting up to around 160 miles per hour indicated in fifth gear when it was
12:14 time to brake. Probably could have got up to 165. Realistically I was just being a
12:19 little bit conservative. I've been riding conservatively lately, but it's all good.
12:24 Now this motorcycle has three-way adjustable launch control. We talked
12:31 about the launch control in the MC Commute Street Review. I really like it.
12:37 It's really intuitive, really easy to use. You know that's one of the highlights of
12:42 this Hayabusa is Suzuki, the switch gear and the way you work the menu and set up
12:50 all the electronics. It's pretty easy to do. So I like that. You know there's bikes
12:58 like the Honda that are just so complicated. You need to study the
13:01 owner's manual before you do anything. With this bike you don't have to study.
13:07 So we're gonna do some simulated drag strip simulated race launches. Alright
13:16 folks so the whole point of launch control is to take one aspect out of the
13:22 equation. Launch control in current state holds engine RPM at a certain threshold.
13:29 You can choose between four, six and eight thousand RPM increments using this
13:39 button. You hit that we're at four thousand, four thousand, now we're at six
13:45 thousand, now we're at eight thousand. We're gonna do six thousand. We have our
13:54 quarter mile lap timer so you can see how we are in the quarter mile and launch
14:00 control lets you hold engine RPM at a set RPM and all you have to do is
14:08 worry about clutch release. These Suzuki Hayabusa's always have really heavy
14:14 duty clutches so you can be really hard on the oil bath clutch and it takes a
14:21 lot for them to burn up.
14:24 Great. Let's give her a whirl.
14:36 We are in mode two and we're about to give her the beans. The beans are about
14:42 to go. Yep.
14:48 Mike's gonna give us the thing.
14:54 I blew it dude. I totally blew it. I blew it to the max.
15:01 I'm shaking. Oh well. We're still going fast.
15:08 11.8. 11.8 was the quarter mile time on that run. Not very impressive. You should
15:25 be able to do a 10 just above a 10. I've done it just above a 10 like a 10.002
15:35 on the old Hayabusa so that is totally plausible. If you're a person who has a
15:43 really good clutch hand you should be able to get into the 9s theoretically on
15:47 this vehicle. 9.8, 9.9. But that was 11.8 with launch control in the
16:01 6,000 rpm middle threshold. We are gonna show you the final threshold 10,000 I'm
16:11 sorry 8,000 rpm and see how it goes for that. Alright folks now we are gonna go
16:20 into launch control 8,000 rpm increment. So we hit this and then we go there.
16:33 Love that sound and let's see how this 2022 Hayabusa does in launch control
16:42 8,000 rpm. This is the most aggressive launch control setting.
16:49 [Engine revving]
17:03 Nice. Let's see how she does. We are in the setting. Great. Okay.
17:16 That was better.
17:19 That was definitely better.
17:25 11.5. 11.5. So definitely better but still not as good as we should do. We should be
17:40 going easily one second faster. Easily. I felt like I didn't drag the clutch too
17:48 much on that launch. I felt it was pretty good but obviously I did drag the clutch
17:53 too long because the recorder never lies.
17:59 Alright folks that was a quick
18:04 demonstration of the launch control system on the 2022 GSX 1300R Suzuki
18:12 Hayabusa. Make sure to surf on over to MotorcyclistOnline.com for all of
18:18 your premium content needs. Give this video a thumbs up if you liked it, thumbs
18:23 it down if you didn't, and we'll see you next time. Thank you for riding with us
18:28 this day.
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