Hayabusa Japanese for "peregrine falcon", a bird that often serves as a metaphor for speed due to its vertical hunting dive, or stoop, speed of 180 to 240 miles per hour (290 to 390 km/h), the fastest of any bird. In particular, the choice of name was made because the peregrine falcon preys on blackbirds which reflected the intent of the original Hayabusa to unseat the Honda CBR 1100 XX Super Blackbird as the world's fastest production motorcycle.Eventually, the Hayabusa managed to surpass the Super Blackbird by at least a full 10 miles per hour (16 km/h).
In 2000, fears of a European regulatory backlash or import ban to an informal agreement between the Japanese and European manufacturers togovern the top speed of their motorcycles at an arbitrary limit.
The media-reported value for the speed agreement in miles per hour was consistently 186 mph, while in kilometers per hour it varied from 299 to 303 km/h, which is typical given unit Conversion rounding errors. This figure may also be affected by a number of external factors, the conditions under which this limitation was adopted led to the 1999–2000 Hayabusa's title to remain, at least technically, unassailable, since no subsequent model could go faster without being tampered with. Thus, after the much anticipated Kawasaki ninja ZX 12 R of 2000 fell 4 mph (6 km/h) short of claiming the title, the Hayabusa secured its place as the fastest standard production bike of the 20th century. This gives the unrestricted 1999–2000 even more cachet with collectors.
Besides its speed, the Hayabusa has been lauded by many reviewers for its all-around performance, in that it does not drastically compromise other qualities like handling, comfort, reliability, noise, fuel economy or price in pursuit of a single functionJay Koblenz of Motorcycle Consumer News commented, "If you think the ability of a motorcycle to approach 190 mph or reach the quarter-mile in under 10 seconds is at best frivolous and at worst offensive, this still remains a motorcycle worthy of just consideration. The Hayabusa is Speed in all its glory. But Speed is not all the Hayabusa is.
Suzuki Hayabusa