FAREWELL TO THE BUSA

Speed fans of the iconic bike are disappointed

The word “Hayabusa” represents a “Peregrine Falcon”, which is Japanese bird that symbolises as a metaphor for speed thanks to its hunting dive at the speed of 290 to 325 kmph, the fastest in any bird.

Hayabusa is the legendary yet contemporary model which awards Suzuki the first place on the ladder of the sports bike world. It is the fastest production bike of its time which has beaten its rival Kawasaki with a margin of 6 km/hr. This was significant at the time when hardly any of the other bike manufacturers could race ahead of Suzuki.

The other existing models were not much of a competition. However, despite its iconic popularity and position in the world of bikes, its numbers are dwindling as the company plans to discontinue the version by 2020 end.

The bike has been a favourite poster bike and a dream possession of almost every young speed fan since 1999. It received further popularity by the projection as a great machine by some of the top Indian actors like John Abraham in the film Dhoom, and Salman Khan in Ready and Kick. Besides that, high voltage publicity has been given by Youtuber’s like Jayson and Turbo Xtreme.

It needs to be noted that in USA Oklahoma highway patrol too uses Hayabusa. In fact, the Oklahoma government converted Hayabusa into a pursuit vehicle. They designed the bike with a radar unit, police siren and lights and painted it in their official colours and insignia!

Shutting down of the Hayabusa model by the brand means possibly there is a plan for raising the bars of standard yet further. It could also be due to related to EURO VI norms because of which there is the move to discontinue the model.

Either way Busa lovers hate the thought of having to miss the bike and are upset about the news.

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