Here's a quick trip down memory lane, when the brochures of the Gen-1 were made available for all to drool over lol !

The 1st Generation of bikes was hugely successful, & production ran from 1999-2007, with little changes made except for color choices & brake-types over the years...

After winning the crown of the world's fastest production bike in 1999, & into the new millennia, speed-limiters were then incorporated limiting top-speed to 300-kmph, or 186-mph. *The idea was  to produce a street-legal OEM bike capable of a genuine 200-mph off-the-showroom floor, for the year 2000...Which Suzuki succeeded in.

Another interesting note is that sales world-wide for the bike increased year for year after its initial release...This fact of growing sales prompted the Company to keep building them, & sure enough, a 2nd generation appeared in 2008, with minor engine updates, & revised styling...The 2nd generation continued right up to 2021, with the introduction of the 3rd generation bike...

Hassles with Euro-4 legislation slowed the release of the Gen-3 model range, but when released, it also complied with Euro-5 legislation, that has yet to be enforced...This should keep Hayabusa's circulating for a while yet-to-come...Awesome ;) !

SELLC wrote:

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Nice!

1 .Don't know how I missed this thread where you changed the starter clutch... how has that been working out ?

2. Have you had any more leaks ?

3. It's got to be getting nice weather there by now, you been out on the bike ? 

4. How's that battery treating you?

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Yo,

R1. No problems what-so-ever. The fellas at Suzuki stated that it wasn't such a common thing to have happen, but does happen sometimes to some people. I guess I was some people lol !

R2. The only leak I ever had was a coolant leak from the thermostat housing, that like a lot of modern machinery now-days, is built out of plastic. And after "x" amount of heat-cycles, that plastic becomes brittle, & leaks. Not a biggie, but I wonder how many engines this "in-built-failure-item" has claimed...

R3. I'm out most days, winter or summer, it matters little. I just try to avoid the rain where possible, simply because I've only got 2-sets of riding gear, so I don't like to get both wet from riding in the rain, as it takes too long to dry-them-out in winter.

R4. The battery's been fine ever since I replaced the failing Voltage-Regulator. In fact, when the ambient temperature is above say 15-deg-C, the bike starts 1st time, every-time, even from cold. It's the winter months that you need to have a 2nd-start, & let that Lithium Iron battery warm-through via discharge. You can hear on the 2nd-crank-over, that the engine's turning at a much faster rate, & that's what allows it to start, the increased crank-speed.

Yo,

Oil...No doubt you can imagine that I've changed the oil a few times whilst enjoying the pleasures of this beast. For the last 25-years or so I've always used Shell oils, since I discovered a silky smooth gear-box shift by using it. This happened by chance, whilst working at a smaller MB outfit in Melbourne, where I changed the oil-out on the RF-900R, & couldn't believe difference.

Anyhow, once the economic stresses started happening because of Corona, the price of Shell-oils virtually doubled overnight, & so I swapped over to an Australian manufactured oil, called Gulf-Western, with extremely satisfying results, & at very reasonable pricing. Anyhow, here's the deal...

Suzuki wants you to change your oil-out every 6,000-km's, & with a filter change every 18,000-km. "Proper" motorcycle oils are VERY expensive to purchase at around $70:00 AUD for a quart of say REPSOL 10W-40. The difference between motorcycle oils & regular oils is that they have additives that prolong the oils life, due to the harsh environment that the straight-cut-gears, in constant mesh, in the gear-box section of the crank-case impose on the oil. The remedy here is obviously the use of synthetics.

So here's the problem, there's plenty of oils out there claiming to be "Semi-Synthetic", but how much "Synthetic" oil is actually in the container ???...To this day, I've not been able to find what percentage of synthetic oil mixed with regular oil, allows for the legal claims of its branding of being a semi-synthetic. Check it out for yourself, & you'll likely get no-where.

I have read lab-reports however via author & successful engine builder " Mr. David Vizard ", that his tests using Mobil-1 full synthetic oil, when blended with regular oil, at a blend of 25% full synthetic oil, yields around 95% of the protection of a full-synthetic oil. Good enough for me, & that's what I've done for 20+ years...

The Hayabusa's oil-change capacity is a weird 3.1-ltrs without a filter, & 3.3-ltrs with a filter. Here in Australia, oil is generally packaged in 5.0-ltr containers...So I've been blending this way...

*2.5-ltrs of Gulf-Western 10W-40 semi-sythetic & O.5-lts of Gulf-Western full-synthetic 5W-30, +100ml of Nulon E-30 PTFE long-life engine additive during summer. And 100mls of 10W-40 during the winter months, or 300mls as needed at a filter change interval.

* I used to 1/2 the Suzuki recommended change interval, & change it out at 3,000-km intervals, but the Gulf-Western oil handles the load better than Shell imo, & I've extended it to 4,000-km intervals, when gauged from the clear-coca-cola color emptying out.

This mixing of oils has done no harm whatsoever, as the 220,000-Km's traveled by my late FR900R, & currently with the Hayabusa, as the long-engine-life is displaying. I've never had to replace a clutch assy in either of these bikes, or the 1100 for that matter.

If you want to add-up costs here's the numbers as we speak in AUD...

Shell HX-7, semi-synth, 10W-40 = $54:00 for 5.0-ltrs.

Shell HX-8, full-synth, 5W-30 = $79:00 for 5.0-ltrs.

Gulf-Western, semi-synth, 10W-40 = $34:00 for 5.0-ltrs.

Gulf-Western, full synth, 5W-40 = $50:00 for 5.0-ltrs.

Nulon E-30 is essentially the old "Slick-50", but made in Australia, & can be bought for around the $30-40:00 dollar mark for 500-mls. I highly recommend its use ;) !

Gulf-Western oils are used by a great many mining companies around Australia, & their equipment is valued in millions & millions of dollars, so it's good oil.

*The GSXR-1100 gets the same treatment, but has a 4.0-ltr sump capacity. The RF900R had 3.3-ltr capacity...

So...How much does the Hayabusa drink of that oil ?....I personally believe that the sump capacity is too-small for an engine of 1299cc's, so the oil gets a hard time, & it's best is gone around the 2,500-km mark. The oil then thins out further, & is consumed a little-more by the engine. I generally top-up around 100 mls ( winter ) & 200mls ( summer) at the 2,000-km mark, & pull out an easy full 3.0-ltrs at oil-change time.

With such a small sump & oil capacity, I recommend regular viewing of the sight-glass, & 100-mls of oil brings it up from the low-mark to full. And don't forget either that synthetic oils do evaporate over time, & all engines are designed to drink a little oil.

Wheel bearings...

Apparently the Hayabusa is known for having failing rear-wheel-bearings. I've been lucky, & the 3 x bearings in the rear-wheel are still in great working order. ( 2-bearings are for the wheel itself, the other for the rear-sprocket assy).

The front wheel bearings were a different matter however, & I'm on my 3-rd set...When the 1st set failed, I decided to take it to the Kawasaki repair shop, since they were nice-folks, & the business is on my-side-of-town, so I didn't have to drive through town to get to Suzuki.( For those that don't know, as the corporate pyramid climbs to the top, you'll find that Kawasaki & Suzuki are one-&-the-same, at least as far as where the profits go lol )...Also, I wanted to check-out what Bearing-remover-tool the pro's use here, so I could get a tool for myself next-time.

Anyhow, the tool they used to remove the bearing was nothing more than an 12" piece of hardened round steel, of around 20mm diameter, with a very carefully chamferred lip ground into it at one end, of less than 1-mm thickness, so as to access the gap between the bearing & spacer, like a wedge. To say I was disappointed about the special-tool ( lol ) was an understatement, but more disappointing was the failure of the new wheel-bearings fitted, around 30,000-k's later...Upon looking into the matter, it seems that these "nice folks" sprayed mag-wheel-cleaner or similar into the bearing assy's after fitting them up. I saw them do this with my own eye's at the time, & wondered why they're cleaning my wheel after fitting said bearings, spraying the axel-well with this stuff.

The things some red-necks do, to keep you coming back again....

Anyhow, I bought a beautiful & simplistic wheel-bearing remover tool from e-bay for around $30:00, & I can do this all myself now. It has multiple tool-bits & covers all general sizes up to 26-mm, but I'll have to grab another separate bit/tool for the rear bearings, as they're 32mm inside diameter.

The tool is stupid-simple to use & works 100%, with no damage to anything, & limited tapping of a hammer required since the tool by-design, self centers, & evenly removes the bearings with a few light-taps of a hammer.

I was charged around $100:00 AUD for parts & labor from the Kawasaki bike-shop, & their dodgy workmanship...

The bearing-tool & new bearings were less than $60:00 combined, with the new SKF bearings holding-up well, over 30,000-ks on-wards, & at $14:00 AUD each.

Also, how do you tell when the front wheel bearings are going to fail ?...The first tell-tale you'll get is with your front brake-lever, in that you can pump-it-up, & it has short-travel to activate the brakes. Then, you go for a ride, & find that the travel-length of the lever has increased substantially, leaving you thinking that there's some air in the brake-fluid, that you haven't evacuated. What happens is that because the bearings are worn, the wheel can move from left-to-right on its axis when your riding, & this action allows the front-discs to move, & gently push-back on your brake-pads, which then causes the greater lever travel needed to activate the brakes...More advanced wear tell-tales are hearing like a brake-pad-squeal when riding along, & of course, tapping the brake lever relieves the noise for a short time, since you've re-centered the wheel again. When they're ready to let go-for good, you'll hear a snatch & grab type sound, which means that the balls are being spat-out lol !

So...The lesson learned, is that your friendly Kawasaki bike repair shop, who's family owned, & who's family all race motorcycles, have their own best interests at heart, & they make sure that the parts that they fit-up, fail early, so you keep coming back...And all done with a big smile on their face ;) !

Chain & sprockets

These items should be all changed-out at the same time, & if you regularly lube the chain, you can expect a life-span of around 60-70,000-km, before an unsettling snatch begins to appear in your ultra-smooth drive-train. What usually happens, is that the "O'"-rings fitted to the chain will have thinned-out, & possibly cracked & been thrown away, that then allows water / dirt into the pin-section, & corrosion starts. This corrosion then allows the pin to move into the side-plates, essentially lengthening the chain-link. And then this longer chain-link wants to climb the sprocket, & snatches itself away as the wheel rolls along in normal operation.

Most chains used to come with a pair of "master-links", offering you the choice between using a "clip-retainer", or a retainer that has to be peened after fitting with a chain-tool. Most chain-tools come with provisions to turn them into chain-breakers, & chain peening tools in one, allowing for precise fitting. Now-days however, you'll find that the "clip retainer" master-link is not supplied, so you'll need to grab a chain- tool for doing this at home. And an angle-grinder will also be needed to grind-off the chains pins on one link, so that the chain-tool can then push the remaining pin out, to split the chain. I then feed the new chain on whilst linking it up onto the old-chain, & rotating the rear wheel around after having already fitted-up the sprockets.

There's a wide array of after-market kits available, & all will generally be reputable brands that offer these kits for such a high-powered bike as this. It's always recommended that brands like DID, RK, & similar be used, & that a 530 chain minimum is specified. Expect to pay around $150:00 for a decent "O"-ring chain.

Sprockets need only be a matched-pair for even wear characteristics, & can be found for around "a-dollar-a-tooth", & I suggest using the standard gearing of 17 / 40 for speedo accuracy, since the speedo-sensor takes its readings from the front sprocket. When I first got the bike, it really hauled-ass as it had a 16-tooth front sprocket fitted, but speedo errors of around 10% were experienced. The std gearing still allows the bike to haul-ass, but the throttle-response is not as edgy, & a little more forgiving.

There's also lots of different spray-lube for your chain available, but you don't need to buy a $50:00 can of stuff from the bike-shop...I use CRC White Lithium Grease with awesome results, & re-lubes only needed after 5-600-km traveled. The white grease turns black after use, & when the chain-link-beads are shiny again, give it & the o-rings another spray. This stuff is all-of $15:00 a can, & can be used as engine-rebuild-lube too, among many other uses.

So that's about it here, & a little over $200:00 AUD will keep you going for another 60-odd-thousand km.

Fuel Filler Cap assemby...

After reading the previous post, you may wonder why now I need 3-keys to get to all the bikes keyed functions...First off, the bike only came with the 1-key upon purchase, & it operated everything, but was attached to a rubber-crocodile thingy, & this acted as a sail, & pulled the key out somewhere out on the A55 hwy...So when I arrived at Walgott to fuel-up, I realized that I couldn't, as I'd lost the key lol.

A quick trip to the other-side-of-town saw me at a local mechanic, & after he finally showed-up, we drilled the fuel-caps key-barrel out with a 4-mm drill. Eventually, enough fragments build-up, & the barrel moves, releasing the retainers. I then went to the gas-station, filled-up, & secured the filler-cap-down with your regular black electrical insulation tape. (And this worked better than you may think, holding its own, tank-after-tank, week after-week, until the new filler-cap assy arrived from Suzuki, that cost me $180:00 once I was back home here in Tasmania).

At the end of that day, I checked-in to a great hotel at Forbes, & explained to the owner my circumstance with the key, & that I'll have to leave the bike running outside my room for a few minutes, since I needed to remove the LH inner side-cover, to access the fuses, & remove the main-fuse to shut-her-down. He said that he owned a few Suzuki's, & had a heap of keys, & said that I could try-them-out if I liked. So as I was placing my stuff inside the room with the bike still running outside, I heard him yell-out " Hey, this key fits" & he then shut my bike down before I could say "No"!!!...

Anyhow, the key may have fitted the barrel, & shut-the-bike-down, but was never going to turn the other-way, & switch the ignition back-on...So the next day, a call to the local lock-smith, who was over 100-km's away in the next town, came down, & made me a master-key, that worked everything after obtaining the build date / VIN / engine numbers. I also had a few spares made-up too, just-in-case lol !

So in finishing, I found it funny that a lock-smith can make me a key that works everything using the bike-data, & Suzuki can't send me a fuel-cap assy using their own information that uses the same key, go figure...And this is why now, I need a different key to operate each function LOL ! ( 1 x ignition, 1 x fuel cap, & 1 x seat / rear cowl ).

It was an awesome trip BTW, & kudos to the Hotel owner, who refused me even paying for half-of-the-cost of the lock-smith's services. I only paid for the extra back-up set-of keys ;) !

Thanks SELLC.

With the current Covid bollox, & having been let-go from work, the bike has become the "go to" machine, simply because of its manoueverability, & likely over-all cheaper running costs than a car. The 350SLC sits under a cover, awaiting better times, & turns 50 next year, & the wagon I had was crashed & written-off, via constant gov't / police / community intervention, that I can only blame for my Nuclear revelations, & possibly my interaction with the ET's. It seemed that every-time I spoke or posted about Australia's nuclear interests, I had the law up-my-ass every-time I set foot out-of-my apartment. But these mofo's seemed to back-right-off once they witnessed the ET / UFO interaction going-on most nights ;) !

Suspension issues...

The rear suspension has held-up really well, & to be quite honest, I've never touched it, or needed to adjust it. As with most bikes however, once the rear-tire wears down to a certain point, the ride can become a little irritable & harsh over bumps, but that's due to a lack-of-rubber, rather than component issues.

The front suspension is holding-up well too. However, the diamond-nitrite ( spell check ) coating was already showing signs of wear & tear, with the chrome-plating lining becoming visible once you lift the front-end-up, for wheel removal & tire changing. ( The diamond nitrite coating appears a gold color, & chrome is chrome ).

I've only had to replace the front fork-seals once so far, as over time, they wear out, & at first sweat, leaving a small smear of oil that collects dust that you simply wipe away, but then the day comes, when you eventually find a drop or two of oil on the concrete below the fork-leg. You can let this go until you organize yourself with parts, as the leak is minor, & each fork-leg holds around 465-mls of oil.

The OEM seals are a single-lip item, but at the time of investigation, I found out that SKF offered double-lip seals, or single lip seals at around half-the-price of OEM. This SKF pricing meant that I could by the No1 weight fork-oil for free, so I opted for the double-lipped seals, knowing that the diamond-nitrite coating was worn away, & that seal-leakage may be a problem in the future as the layers of plating on the fork-legs wear away. To my surprise, these seals are still holding-up well, don't leak, & were changed-out over 3-years ago. And suspension action wasn't altered too much by using double-lip seals.

No doubt the day will come when I have to replace the fork-legs, or just have them resurfaced with chrome-plating, but at this time of writing, that day is further away than I thought. Awesome ;) !

The price of the SKF seals was less than $20:00 each, & the oil was around the $50:00 mark.

Doing the job itself isn't too bad, or as complicated as the manuals diagrams may have you think. The trick is to use the bikes triple-clamps to crack-off the drain-plug, & filler-cap before you remove the forks from the bike ;) !

The Voltage Regulator...

I've already written plenty about this item in another thread, I think called "Lithium Iron Batteries". The bottom line is that your VR should be holding a steady discharge voltage, back into the battery, regardless of RPM being throttled / varied, of at least 13.5 volts, & up to a maximum of 14.8 volts. It's easy enough to check this out-put with a multi-meter set on the 20-volt DC scale, & it's probably worth checking every service that you remove the front seat for, when you vacuum-out the air-filter element. Any discrepancy means replacement, or you'll be having irregular charging issue with your battery. In fact, if you find that you're going through the batteries regularly, chances are the VR is playing-up, just not when you're testing it. I rode around for about a week with the multi-meter strapped to the fuel-tank with only good results measured, or at least within specification...So I took a chance & bought a new, branded, $45:00 unit on e-bay, & my battery woes have disappeared ;) !

Suzuki want you to fork-out $457:00 for the OEM VR...


Batteries...

Possibly the Achilles-heel of the Hayabusa is the battery...Once the OEM dies, there's a massive amount of batteries to choose from, & all claim extra CCA's, & branded as Heavy-Duty, better than OEM...The majority of these claims is bollox, especially if you choose a lead-acid type, & live in a cold climate...In fact, the gel-type batteries that claim the same are not up-to-it in the cold weather, once the temperature outside drops below 15-10-deg-C...

The real issue is that the battery compartment under the seat is too-small, & does not allow a battery of any big CCA's to live in there, such as say a battery for a Harley-Davidson. And after a search on the internet, it seems that many people simply make-up another battery-cradle above the gear-box, that then allows 2 x regular 175 CCA batteries to be fitted-up in series, instead of the one 175 CCA battery, that Suzuki specify.

I can now confirm that after the 1-year mark of ownership, that the Lithium Iron Battery I fitted-up is holding-up quite well, & has not been removed since the fitting of the new VR for recharging. Yes, during winter, it's a pain-in-the-ass & temperamental, with a warm-through needed, & more than likely a second crank to fire the bike-up, but in summer, it starts 1st-time, every-time, without the warm-through. So it has merit lol during the summer months...

STD replacement batteries from the bike shops are around the $400:00 + to purchase, & they're mostly lead-acid Yuasa's at the specified 175 CCA's.

Aftermarket lead-acid & gel batteries can be bought from $50:00 up to say $150:00 that are recommended replacements at or above the min-needed 175 CCA's, but they won't last out a year, & hence a warranty claim will be made, & not to mention recharging regularly in the colder weather. Plus, the problem will re-occur, so the only solution without going the double-battery route, is to grab a Lithium Iron high out-put type.

The Lithium Iron battery I fitted up cost me $240:00, & claimed a 3,000+ deep cycle life-span, & a whopping 280 CCA...It's a feather-weight, & weighs less than 1-kg, & hopefully lasts a few more years. I did surprisingly get a refund of about $75:00 from the lead-acid-battery supplier, who over 3-years coughed up 4-batterries, with 3-being warranty claims, so that brings the price down on the Lithium down to about $170:00, if you want to look at it this way lol !

By comparison with the RF900R, I was on my 3rd battery in the 20-years of ownership. The GSXR1100 batteries have held-up quite well too, with lack-of-use being their demise, & I've only replaced the one battery with this bike.

The Fairings & Plastics...

Should you ever have an accident where your panel-work / plastics are damaged, there's multiple choices here to choose from to get you going again, with perhaps "time" being the key to what path you'll take...

* OEM plastics are a perfect fit, & generally color-matched to perfection. But they're also extraordinarily expensive, & may prove that you'll have to look elsewhere, especially since if enough of the bike is damaged ( & it doesn't take much ), your insurance - company, may deem your near perfectly good & repairable bike, a write-off, due to this expense...Expect on average to have to find around $650:00 or more per panel, & there's 4-major ones...Sheez, Suzuki want you to fork out $400:00 for the rear-seat cowl...And the inner black-plastics are also around the $100:00 mark each, of which there's at least 6...

* Repairing the plastics is always possible, especially if you have all the bits & pieces. There's plenty of people that can do this work if you search-them-out, & they're also used to painting & restoration, & will prove favorable against OEM costs, & possibly allow you to avoid an insurance claim, & keep your rating, whilst bringing the bike back-up-to-scratch. This possibility of course, depends on the accident itself, & whether anyone else was involved. Then you have no choice but to follow that rivers course, but it may be possible to repurchase the bike from the insurance company after the claims have been settled. But you must let them know your intentions, as they're generally auctioned-off before you see any cash from them.

* Aftermarket fairings that are available from Hong Kong are awesome, & cheap too...Sometimes you'll be lucky & find a set that's near-on OEM design & color, though there's far more other color options & paint schemes available when searching, & these may well be what you want, if customizing your bike was at some-point on-the-cards. The cost for a full-set-of-painted fairings, including a solo-seat-cowl, & all the inner plastics, with a bolt-kit thrown-in for good measure, was all of $650:00 delivered. Costs to people in the US-of-A is far cheaper too btw, & it's likely that many folks buy these fairing kits to customize their bikes, & store away the expensive OEM stuff, without necessarily an accident being the cause of this decision. The outside plastics are a near-perfect fit, with only the inner black plastics leaving small gaps here & there. Mixing OEM & aftermarket plastics is possible, & will get rid of any gaps etc etc.

The only issue here however with these plastics, is that if you acquire a minor mark or scratch, there's no paint-codes to guide you to a color-matched repair, so you'll be guided by a paint-stores experience, but the repair will always be evident to a trained-eye who can see the miss-match of colors. Computers can match paint also if a sample is provided, but its still a hit-&-miss affair, though you may get lucky. The simplest fix in these instances is to paint the whole-sections / side, but costs will escalate.

Levers & mirrors.

These can be found for peanuts in the aftermarket when compared to OEM replacement costs. As an example, aftermarket mirrors were obtained for my bike at around $22:00 each, & the OEM mirrors were $140:00 each...You'll find the same results with the brake & clutch levers, so search them out !

Wow! This is quite a little journal you have going here! 

You run the wheels off that bike! Literally twenty + times now!

Camshafts...

This engine has dual camshafts operating 4-valves-per-cylinder, (one intake, & one exhaust cam), that directly activate the valves via a shim & bucket assy. The std OEM cams are fine to be quite honest, & when compared to your average car out there, are comparably already lower-end race-cams, as the 1150+ idle RPM suggests, with maximum power delivered at around the 10,000-RPM mark, with a further 1,000-RPM safe RPM band to be entered from the quick acceleration rates in the lower gears. This sees a red-line staring at 11,000-RPM. So the over-all package is really good, with strong low-RPM power produced in any gear, followed by a blistering mid-range, that then leads into feel-to-believe, super-long & arm-out-of-socket-wrenching top-end power LOL !

I've watched the "Ghostrider" videos a few times over the years, & always find it amazing that these crazy dudes ride their turboed 1,000cc machines flat-out at 300-kmph with the tacho hitting the limiters at 11,000 odd RPM all the way to the next town 50-odd kms away, & then jump on a Hayabusa in the next clip, & their gear-shift-points are around only the 8,000 rpm mark...Such is the acceleration & pull of the Hayabusa, no more needs to be said...

One really needs to ride one-of-these babies to appreciate the performance available...


*ST1 Camshafts...In a world where nothing exceeds like excess, Yoshimura offers a couple of camshaft options, & the ST1 package comes with a pair of new billet cams, & it's recommended that a new set of Yoshimura hi-po valve retainers are also fitted. The dyno graphs offered from the website suggest that the ST1's closely follow the std camshafts power & torque delivery all the way through, but offer even more top-end-power increases. No doubt peak-out-put will vary depending on computer flashing & other electrical mods, but the graph indicates at least a further 10-hp gain at the top-end, & likely drives the rev-ceiling for max-hp to the 11,000-RPM mark. From what I can tell from the specs given, over-all valve lift is increased by about 0.5mm only. No doubt these work well as the Yoshimura reputation suggests, & are likely the ones to fit up for the person that wants a little more oomph than a std machine.

*ST2 Camshafts...These are the full-on racing cams, & I've seen videos of a Hayabusa on a European race track easily cresting the 13,000-rpm mark in every gear...No doubt these will see you get the 200+-hp numbers at those rpm's, but the supplied dyno graph suggests substantial torque & power-losses at rpm below the 5,000-rpm mark, & only sees power gains that surpass the std & ST1 cams above the 7,000-rpm mark. So these babies imo should be avoided unless your bike is a race-track bike only, since in the real-world, where laws & speed limits apply, you'll spend all this money to actually lose a lot of power in road use, since at 5,000-rpm in top-gear, the Hayabusa is cruising around the 160-km / 100-mph mark, & its this rpm where these cams start to flow & make good power again.

These cams are not off-the-shelf & generally ready for purchase. They'll set you back around $1,000, & once you pay your money, Yoshimura will make you your new cams, & then mail-them out to you.

No doubt theres' other brands out there that claim this & that, but Yoshimura have been at the top-of-this racing-game at international level for decades, & all the combined wins over this time guarantees a good product with no worries.

Dealer Mode...

Suzuki are kind to their customers, & offer an electrical plug, usually accessed near the chassis around the rear-seat area, that when bridged, & with the ignition ON, will reveal any faults via the little LCD clock display, that displays these faults as codes, that you then cross-reference with the manual to identify. Typically a warning light will 1st appear on the dashboard, indicating a fault, & away you go.

Dealer mode also allows you to dial-in correct Throttle Position, via the clock also, with 3 x little LCD dots that sit from top-to-bottom, since the bike has a Throttle Position Sensor. You will more than likely need to adjust this after a "Throttle Synchronization" has been carried out, using the good-'ol Carby-Balancing-Gauge set. Your settings are correct when the middle dot is indicated.

Your throttles are reasonably consistent & reliable, & I only check & adjust them once a year. The typical tell-tale that your bike needs this adjustment I've found is when the "hunting" sound is not apparent on your cold start & warm-up. As long as I hear the normal warm-through exhaust sounds, everything is still within spec. This said, after re-synchronizing the throttles, easier starts & even more power is produced, since each cylinder is receiving the same air-quantity.

A Balancing Gauge set can be bought for around the $150:00 mark, & is a tool well worth owning imo.

How fast does "yours" go ?

I've been asked this question by a couple of people over the years, though it doesn't come-up as often as you may think, & to be honest, I just ride it like an everyday bike, & hardly ever explore the upper regions of its performance...But when I have...

1st gear will see you break all local max. speed limits, allowing around 110-120-kmph, or say 65-70-mph somewhere around the 10-11,000-rpm.

2nd gear will see 160-170-kmph, or 100-105 mph approximately.

3rd gear will see 210-220-kmph or 125-130 mph.

4th gear will see 250-260-kmph or 145-150 mph.

*5th gear will see the 280-290-kmph or 175-180 mph at a guess...

*6th gear when de-restricted has been claimed to reach 322-kmph with the mirrors removed on Police radar, on a UK air-strip by the Fast Bikes magazine.

I've asterixed 5th & 6th gear since these are likely claimed results. And from 1st through 4th gear I have explored, & is the best that I can remember with split-second glancing at the instruments. You have to remember that everything goes-by so fast, & it's more important to have your eyes on-the-road, than on your instrumentation at these speeds, so these are good approximations at best. Tasmania hasn't got any roads good enough or straight enough to explore these upper regions. And the roads that may offer this exploration, are typically heavily Policed. I'm also getting old, & when I do sometimes "go fast", I find that 240-kmph is about my limit, where I still have my wits about me. And more often than not, WOT up to 200-kmph only prolongs the experience, & is easier on everything, myself included lol !

I can confirm however, that I've reached 280-kmph as indicated on the speedo on this bike. Usually I'm in top-gear at legal speeds, & decide to open-her-wide-open without dropping-down any gears, as there's no need to, since the acceleration is pretty sweet, even in top-gear, when the moment is right, & on the right road. I usually do this when a tire-change is drawing near, & the tires cornering abilities have depreciated, so then its straight-lining & valve-cleaning time lol !

The registration-plate on my machine interestingly had the stamping of "191-MPH" when I bought it..So there's a possibility of it being officially raced & recorded, as it would be too-much of a coincidence imo to have a random rego-plate come off the production line that resembles the top-speed of these machines.

The first bikes released back in 1999 were unrestricted & did "whatever" they did, with 312-kmph being the most average recorded top speed through most magazine results found around the world.

A year later Kawasaki released their ZX-12, & whilst it didn't handle as well as the Hayabusa, would walk away from it when the Hayabusa was flat-out revving on its limiter...

By September 2000, all bikes were speed limited to 186-mph, or if you rather 300-kmph max.

You should be all good to edit this thread to perfection, removing all "edited by" titles, my ohhh'n and ahhh'n and anything else you like. 

You can also remove this post too... I didn't want to fiddle with the thread so I figured this would be the best way for you to make it a "flawless" presentation of your remarkable journey!

I thought the thread was really cool and packed with good information!

Calling a 1300cc bike a "small engine" is somewhat laughable, considering these bikes are fast as hell, but I did find a few other threads that go well with the theme... perhaps "small engine" is not the best name for the forum? I'm always open for ideas!

One more thing, I never knew the GSXR was the "Hayabusa"! They are one in the same and not different bikes?

Cool, because I thought lawn and tractor would be even more offensive.

That is a cool story too, how they one upped the competition with a bird higher up on the food chain! lol

Mathematics...

I was also thinking that a little-bit of simple maths would also get the GSXR-1300 away from the "lawn & tractor" scenario, & into the hi-po reality that it has ruled for over 20-years now...

I can confirm that a generation-1 Hayabusa weighs-in at approximately 250-kg's, when fully oiled-up & filled with fuel.

I can also confirm that a generation-1 Hayabusa makes 165-hp at the rear wheel, as confirmed by hundreds of dyno-tests available on You-Tube...


So let's bring these numbers into the world of cars, by simply multiplying the numbers above by 4, as this will bring the 250-kg figure up to 1,000-kg, or 1 x metric tonne.

This means that the horse-power provided is equivalent to 660-hp per tonne...

Should your car weigh-in at around the 2,000-kg range, & quite a few do when fully fueled-up & with a passenger, you would then have to make 1,320-hp to equal the performance of the GSXR-1300...

Your average 560SEL would weigh-in at about the 2,000-kg mark, & the factory gives you around 240-hp.

Don't you just love mathematics lol ;) ???!!!

SELLC wrote:

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1.You see, I knew you were going to take it personally... I just didn't know what else to call it.

2.Farm and Tractor was just a joke, Small Engine seemed reaosnable since these are relatively "small engines" when you put them next to V8 and up muscle...

3.A Mercedes 560SEL also holds five people and a full trunk of cargo, not even in the same class as a motorcycle...

4.Is there a cooler name? Powersports or something? I dunno... 1300cc is still a small engine in muscle car V8 world... but just because something is small does not mean it's not fast or powerful. 

5.Few cars are going to keep up with a sports bike due to these weight proportions, and I have seen some motorcylcles with V8 Chevy 350's attached to them! 

6.I was more or less just trying a name where all non-auto related content would fit. 

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R1. No, not-at-all...But I did see an opportunity for using some maths to get the "Power-to-weight ratio" into perspective, so some credo was generated lol !

R2. V-8's are the best all-round engine choice for heavy cars imo. A power-pulse being generated every 90-degrees of crank-rotation makes for smooth & powerful operation at any rpm's. Motorcycles need 4-cyl's at least for that all-round smoothness & top-end rush. V-twins are popular too, but haven't got the top-end..Massive difference.

R3. Once again, once you convert the power-to-weight-ratio, you begin to understand how bikes can perform. Sure they're generally small engines, but they can freely rev-out to around double that of any car-engine...Maybe by saying that because of the 11,000rpm rev-ceiling of a GSXR-1300, is the equivalent of a 2.6-ltr 6-cylinder at 5,500-rpm, in terms of air-flow-potential would be a better comparison ?...

R4. Don't stress lol. ! Small engines is what they are...And folks that follow say Formula-1 racing all know that you can make more power out of small cc's than larger capacities...You just need more cylinders.

R5. Most Japanese 4-cylinder-motorcycles in std OEM trim, from 600-cc's and above will deliver  between 10 to 11-second 1/4-mile-times...The Hayabusa is in the 9-second-range. This all depends on the rider of course. No doubt cars can get into these figures too, but at great expense, & loss of reliability...

There's been people down this way that have used our Aussie V-8 ( 253 or 308 ) & made a motorcycle with these engines fitted. A 350 would be outrageous...

There's also a bike known as the Drysdale V-8, that was engineered & manufactured by Mr.Drysdale using 2 x Yamaha FZR-400 engines, where he simply added another 4-cylinders to an existing FZR-750 motor, & got it to work. I remember seeing & hearing it go around Philip Island Raceway in the late 1990's...There was your typical speculation & rumor of production possibilities, but they fizzled-out over time. It was quite an achievement however, & it sounded pretty good too.

R6. Don't stress lol. Small capacity engines are just that, small capacity. Their performance however speaks for itself ;) !

https://www.odd-bike.com/2013/01/drysdale-v8-homebrew-aussie-eight.html

SELLC wrote:

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1.I owned a Katana 600 for awhile when I was younger... I know these bikes haul ass and mine was what you would call a "small" bike compared to the bigger 900-1300cc cafe race bikes.

2.That was the one thing I liked about the Katana 600, it was fast but not out of control fast... I always looked at the bigger bikes as serious trouble because they were so fast and out of control, which is to say you can't just open up a 1300cc bike out of the hole without the wheel coming up and over... on the 600 it was very hard to pop a wheelie unless I had a girl on the back, or going up some kind of incline. 

3.There is also a thread in here about a Yamaha SHO cruiser Jet-Ski... that thing had a 1.8 or 2.0 liter supercharged Chevy Colbalt engine in it! 

4.Small engines are a lot of fun!

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 R1. By the mid-1990's, the Japanese companies had the 600cc capacity revving really-hard, & making a solid 100-hp or there-abouts. I remember a good friend of mine letting me ride his Kawasaki ZZR-600, & I couldn't believe the performance. Solid & usable low to mid-range power, with an unbelievable rush up the top-end. I was so blown away, I asked if I could go around-the-block a 2nd-time lol ! I knew then that I only needed a 600cc-4-cyl-bike, but at 6-1", I don't fit into 600cc bike all-that-well.

And here is where imo the problems lay...The small bikes that you're legally bound to ride whilst on restricted license, only serve to teach people to rev-them-out at WOT to find power...So you find yourself "racing" around everywhere, because you "have" to...

The big-bore bikes allow you to ride in two distinct modes, cruise & fast...And because of the excellent power to be found everywhere, cruising around & riding lazily perhaps keeps you alive longer lol !

R2. 600's are all one needs imo. But at some stage, the 210-kmh top speed isn't enough, & so a 750cc bike is sought after that has more power "everywhere", & soon enough, the 230-240-kmph limit isn't enough lol...So next-up are the 1,000cc 4-cyl-bikes bikes, that now-days are knocking on that 300-kmph limited threshold...Once again, the beauty of the large-capacity machines is in there ability to allow you to ride in 2-modes, cruise & fast, with plenty-of-power accessible in any gear, at any road-speed. The 1,300cc 4-cyl-engines are just over-the-top...But that's evolution ;) !

R3. The water-sport-world is a strange thing, & a lot of phenomena that's unexpected presents itself...For example, due to the friction of water & hull shape / design, you won't go any faster with a massive engine fitted, than the "correct" sized engine fitted, due to drag, propeller-speeds, weight & other factors that limit everything. The "trick" to hi-po in the water is to be able to lift the hull fully out of the water...

R4. Small engines are a lot of fun, especially in the dirt-bike-world where I grew up in. It in all honesty, it took a Suzuki GSX-1100 4-cyl road-bike to give me similar throttle response, to any dirt-bike that I'd ridden in the past. Of course, it also provided a hell-of-a-lot-more road speed too LOL !