08 busa Reviews and Drag slips

[1300hemibusa]

Just got this off a post on the zx13.5 site ...Injoy ...

Cycle World Magazine- February 2008 Edition, page 33

"Hayabusa by the Numbers: KING of the Dyno/QUICKEST in the Quarter"

CW explains they were only allowed two passes at the 'busa intro. But now they have received a Suzuki test unit and not only is it KING/QUICKEST but it has 1.2 more ponies than the ZX14.

..............................................................

Well the Busa with 1.2 hp over the zx14 it's going to be all rider on who gets to the finsh line first ...That should make for some good good racing ..

 

[1300hemibusa]

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1256749[/ATTACH] PM]

ZX14s have been prone to pop on the strip when a little power was added. The Busa has always been strong. The 08 Busa shows that it is and will reign as the king of hyperbikes.

Yes, I have seen them both at the track. The Busa wins hands down.

600+ 1/4 passes on my 06 zx14 and a bunch of them on the spray  and no pop.....Only pop is the Busas trying to keep up with me ...

Wait aren't you the same guy running a NONE factory motor....  

Weren't the Florida guys claiming that you hurt the factory motor or something and had to find another to run while you rebuild the original.  

True i picked up a wrecked 06 blue zx14 to have a spare motor to build a stroker...By having a spare motor i would have no down time and could keep racing non stop ..You know we race year round here in fl ..I pulled the motor that came in my zx14 and put in the spare motor and i'm now building my factory motor to 1530...It made more sense to take my  stock motor with 3000 race miles and build it than tear down a motor with less than 600 miles on it ... I have friends that run Busas and have 5 or 6 extra motors... But for some reason you find it strange that i have an extra motor and not stange to own a busa with 5 or 6 spare motors?  

If i get a deal on another zx14 motor i will buy it also ... I plan on owning my zx14 for a long time, I was going to pick up a new Busa but it's not any faster or better than what i have right now...

The topic was, is the new 08 busa or the new 08 13.5 kawi the better bike.( I call the new kawi 13.5 because it's only 1356cc.)
This of course depends on your perspective of what constitutes better. In every catagory, according to my run ins with the new kawi, 2 of them to be exact so far, the new busa is more powerful. From 0 to 180 the kawis stayed with me in 1st and 2nd gear and that's mainly because i had trouble keeping the bike down, the busa walks up easily in those gears. But 3rd gear on, where i can keep the throttle wide open, I'm moving away from the kawis like their running on 3 cylinders. When I get out of it at 180 and look back, and of course they stay in it and pass me, but from where I can first see them I'm at least 10 lengths ahead of them. And from a second gear roll on to 180 from 70MPH it's all Busa. There is no comparison in the roll on. I don't know how far I was ahead of them on that one but it was way more than 10 lengths. From comparisons I've read on the handling of the two bikes, the Busa is rated better than the kawi. My own experience tells me the new Busa handles better than the old. So you will have to figure that one out for yourself. But I have read the new kawi is more comfortable. Also as indicated by above pictures by War, kawis have frame problems. And I've read about that problem too, so now you have two people pointing this out to you. But ultimately you have to decide what to spend your money on. I've spent my money on four of these of these bikes now, and I haven't been disappointed yet. Well that's my two cents.

Jim

Your races with a zx14 mean nothing ...Just as the two 08 busas i raced and ran off and hide from them ..It has more to do with rider than bike ...The bikes are so close in HP and TQ the out come of any race roll on or dead stop is up to the rider weight and skills ...My thinking is buy the one you like and go have fun ...

 

[Tybalt71]

Just got this off a post on the zx13.5 site ...Injoy ...

Cycle World Magazine- February 2008 Edition, page 33

"Hayabusa by the Numbers: KING of the Dyno/QUICKEST in the Quarter"

CW explains they were only allowed two passes at the 'busa intro. But now they have received a Suzuki test unit and not only is it KING/QUICKEST but it has 1.2 more ponies than the ZX14.

..............................................................

Well the Busa with 1.2 hp over the zx14  it's going to be all rider on who gets to the finsh line first ...That should make for some good good racing ..

Txs, do u have a link to the article ? pdf, or linky to read it?

 

[1300hemibusa]

Just got this off a post on the zx13.5 site ...Injoy ...

Cycle World Magazine- February 2008 Edition, page 33

"Hayabusa by the Numbers: KING of the Dyno/QUICKEST in the Quarter"

CW explains they were only allowed two passes at the 'busa intro. But now they have received a Suzuki test unit and not only is it KING/QUICKEST but it has 1.2 more ponies than the ZX14.

..............................................................

Well the Busa with 1.2 hp over the zx14  it's going to be all rider on who gets to the finsh line first ...That should make for some good good racing ..

Txs, do u have a link to the article ? pdf, or linky to read it?

No sorry i don't have a link ..If you find one please post it ..I would also like to read the hole story ..

 

[select20]

Coming from someone who owns both bikes Here is my advice.

If you want a comfortable ride, more knee room, smoother ride and accelertation, more upright sitting position, awesome stok breaks, get the ZX14.

If you want better handling, more aggressive sitting position, get the Busa. There are alot of little things on the '08 Busa I don't like that I love about the ZX14. Over all I love both bikes equally, but the just feel alot different.

I can't tell by the seat of my pants which is faster. I've raced them against eachother me driving each bike and switching, had differnt friends race with me and the outcome is always the same. I win on whichever bike I'm on. Lauching the ZX14 with Flies in is alot easier because don't worry about the throttle being too much. With the Busa, launching is harder becuase its all in the wrist.

You won't be sorry with either bike. If I had to choose between the bike? I go with the ZX14 because I do alot more long distance riding. But if you like sipping in and out of traffic, you'll feel way more comfortable doing things like that on the Busa due to the effotless, Liter-bike- like handling.

 

[4 time busa owner]

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1256782[/ATTACH] PM]

ZX14s have been prone to pop on the strip when a little power was added. The Busa has always been strong. The 08 Busa shows that it is and will reign as the king of hyperbikes.

Yes, I have seen them both at the track. The Busa wins hands down.

600+ 1/4 passes on my 06 zx14 and a bunch of them on the spray  and no pop.....Only pop is the Busas trying to keep up with me ...

Wait aren't you the same guy running a NONE factory motor....  

Weren't the Florida guys claiming that you hurt the factory motor or something and had to find another to run while you rebuild the original.  

True i picked up a wrecked 06 blue zx14 to have a spare motor to build a stroker...By having a spare motor i would have no down time and could keep racing non stop ..You know we race year round here in fl ..I pulled the motor that came in my zx14 and put in the spare motor and i'm now building my factory motor to 1530...It made more sense to take my  stock motor with 3000 race miles and build it than tear down a motor with less than 600 miles on it ... I have friends that run Busas and have 5 or 6 extra motors... But for some reason you find it strange that i have an extra motor and not stange to own a busa with 5 or 6 spare motors?  

If i get a deal on another zx14 motor i will buy it also ... I plan on owning my zx14 for a long time, I was going to pick up a new Busa but it's not any faster or better than what i have right now...

The topic was, is the new 08 busa or the new 08 13.5 kawi the better bike.( I call the new kawi 13.5 because it's only 1356cc.)
This of course depends on your perspective of what constitutes better. In every catagory, according to my run ins with the new kawi, 2 of them to be exact so far, the new busa is more powerful. From 0 to 180 the kawis stayed with me in 1st and 2nd gear and that's mainly because i had trouble keeping the bike down, the busa walks up easily in those gears. But 3rd gear on, where i can keep the throttle wide open, I'm moving away from the kawis like their running on 3 cylinders. When I get out of it at 180 and look back, and of course they stay in it and pass me, but from where I can first see them I'm at least 10 lengths ahead of them. And from a second gear roll on to 180 from 70MPH it's all Busa. There is no comparison in the roll on. I don't know how far I was ahead of them on that one but it was way more than 10 lengths. From comparisons I've read on the handling of the two bikes, the Busa is rated better than the kawi. My own experience tells me the new Busa handles better than the old. So you will have to figure that one out for yourself. But I have read the new kawi is more comfortable. Also as indicated by above pictures by War, kawis have frame problems. And I've read about that problem too, so now you have two people pointing this out to you. But ultimately you have to decide what to spend your money on. I've spent my money on four of these of these bikes now, and I haven't been disappointed yet. Well that's my two cents.

Jim

Your races with a zx14 mean nothing ...Just as the two 08 busas i raced and ran off and hide from them ..It has more to do with rider than bike ...The bikes are so close in HP and TQ  the out come of any race roll on or dead stop is up to the rider weight and skills ...My thinking is buy the one you like and go have fun ...

You could be quite right about that, because like you I've been doing this as a hobby for well over 30 years. I'm 57 years old and when we stopped to chat, I think by they're reaction that, that disturbed them more than the fact that I was on a Suzuki.

Jim

 

[The Big Red One]

Just got this off a post on the zx13.5 site ...Injoy ...

Cycle World Magazine- February 2008 Edition, page 33

"Hayabusa by the Numbers: KING of the Dyno/QUICKEST in the Quarter"

CW explains they were only allowed two passes at the 'busa intro. But now they have received a Suzuki test unit and not only is it KING/QUICKEST but it has 1.2 more ponies than the ZX14.

..............................................................

Well the Busa with 1.2 hp over the zx14  it's going to be all rider on who gets to the finsh line first ...That should make for some good good racing ..

I am sorry all of you feel like there was some agenda here. If anything I would have thought the dyno operator would have a bias TOWARD the ZX-14 not against it. The ZX-14 was owned by the dyno owner and the Busa was mine.
I watched him make the runs back to back and no funny business was done. I have no axe to grind either way and there are usually just as many Kawasaki's in my garage as there are Suzuki's. I have owned a ZX-10 nitrous bike a turbo ZX-12 and currently I have a 07 ZX-6 so I am not exactly a Suzuki diehard either.

We just reported what happened on two stock bikes and both were 2008 models not a 2007 ZX-14 as claimed earlier. Again I am sorry everyone feels scammed but we will wait and see what other dynos report to see if this is consistent or not. As for the numbers being low overall, this dyno is known to be very conservative overall when compared to others so it doesnt surprise me that the busa only pulled 170 here (back to back with the 08 14, which pulled 159). Motorcyclist got 172 on their busa and of course it had more miles than our 290ish bike. But the point is these were ran back to back and are good for comparing one bike to the other. Not comparing this dyno number to somebody else's dyno numbers.

As both 08's start getting tested by more and more mags, the general public, shops ect, I'll bet money that they'll be within 3-5 hp of each other. And I'll refer back to this post when that time comes  

I'm just referring back to this post  

 the time has come........
Thanks for the info Hemi.....I knew they'd be close...but not that close