THE update to the Suzuki Hayabusa has been a long time in the coming, with the rumour mill churning out all sorts of speculative claims about the as yet unreleased machine.
From an all-new chassis, to a 1440cc engine and even a semi-automatic gearbox. Trying to figure out exactly what is going to happen to the new bike is tough.
Now, Autoby magazine in Japan is reporting that the new machine is indeed still incoming, just not with quite the level of updates that we expected.
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The bike is now expected to arrive in Euro5 compliant form, although sadly many of the gadgets of before are claimed to be gone. The bike is still reported to be producing around 200bhp, and will be fitted with an IMU system to govern traction control and ABS. With that, it’s easy to assume the new bike will feature a host of riding and power modes to boot.
How Suzuki is moving the bike up through the Euro5 regulations is unclear, although if we look at some of the ways other manufacturers have mastered the trick, we can get a fairly good idea.
The bulk of the work will probably be around the intake and exhaust of the bike, moving injectors to optimise the spray angle and maybe adding another spark plug to create another flame front in the combustion chamber.
Another route that manufacturers have taken, like Yamaha with the YZF-R1, is to add smaller catalytic converters further along the exhaust system to help clean out the harmful gases.
Along with the internal changes, it’d be sensible for Suzuki to give the exterior of the bike a thorough overhaul, although the designers will have to be careful with their felt tips. The Suzuki hasn’t really changed much visually since launch, but it is an iconic model. Change it too much and the die-hard fans turn away. Don’t change it enough and you don’t attract the new blood to the model range that you need. It’s a tricky task.
