11,000rpm , you really must be paying attention and know what you are doing . And probably be on a closed road . For a few years around 2010 I owned a Kawasaki ZX1400 . By comparison , the 1400 felt like it had more low to midrange grunt , but was not as linear in its delivery . Which is faster , I don ’ t know . Certainly , the Suzuki has the better chassis . The Hayabusa ’ s Bi-directional Quick Shift has two settings , 1 for fast race speed changes and 2 for an everyday shift feel . I didn ’ t notice a big difference between the settings , but this quickshift is one of the very best I ’ ve used – light , smooth and precise changing both up and down gears – brilliant . The cruise control deserves a mention too just because it works from 30km / h in second gear or above until 200km / h . Is 200-clicks still cruising ? In NZ perhaps not , but there ’ s no question that the Hayabusa engine is very relaxed at this speed . Of course , you can turn the cruise off and press on to the 299km / h limited top speed if that is your thing in that perfect world .
TALL VS SHORT Ergonomically the Hayabusa is ideal for the not so tall . I ’ d say if you ’ re 5 ’ 10 ” ( 178cm ) or below then it ’ ll be happy days . But I ’ m a good five inches ( 13cm ) taller than that , which creates some discomfort . The bent-up position makes my hips suffer after a couple of hours , but then I ’ m not as young as I used to be . My wrists and arms were actually pretty good and the greater comfort here probably comes from the fact that the bars are 12mm closer to the rider on this new machine . Most riders should have no
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