I saw a Zx14 commercial last night

[1300hemibusa]

2008 Ninja ZX-14 vs Suzuki Hayabusa - Motorcycle USA

Anyone who thinks otherwise need only be reminded that in 2005 John Noonan took a turbocharged Zook up to 256 mph on the famed Bonneville Salt Flats, making it the fastest conventional, non-streamlined motorcycle in the world.

just enough power to keep the Busa on its heels.

Peaking at 166.8 hp at 9600 rpm, the new Hayabusa mill enjoys an advantage of 5.1 ponies over the ZX-14, which registered 161.7 hp at 9200 rpm.
Torque saw the Kawi hold its mastery with 102 lb-ft at 7700 rpm, but the new Busa is right there at 101.4 lb-ft at 7200 rpm, 500 rpm quicker than the Ninja
Pinned in sixth gear until they hit the rev-limiter, we saw a top speed of 182 mph for the Suzuki and 185 mph for the Kawasaki.

In our best uncorrected runs the Suzuki just nipped the Kawasaki, running a 10.378 to the Ninja's 10.398

Trap speed was also marginal, with the Busa coming out on top 139.36 to 139.08 mph.

In almost every clean pass the Busa was faster in outright speed and that shows the Suzuki seems to have an edge.

"The ZX is easier for a novice to go fast on and have fun," explains Adam. "On the other hand, I believe an experienced rider who knows how to extort full performance out of a bike will have more fun on the Busa. I feel confident that given more time on both bikes, I would go faster and have a better time on the Busa."

"The Hayabusa motor just feels more-gnarly than the ZX," explains Hutch. "Both are fast, but its just got some rip-snorting power to it that makes it feel faster during roll-ons and general riding."

see I thought that the Kawi had added turbo crap and such to make it as fast as the busa. I still pick my busa over the Kawi any day hands down. You know what your riding when you ride the busa and the busa knows you. Ok I'm also bias cause honestly I've only sat on the Kawi never ridden it. I just like SUZUKI baby. just my two cents.

Nothing wrong with that ... Ride what you like .. It would suck if we all road the same bike ..

 

[URBAN COWBOY]

I went to an open house today at the dealer I bought my bike from. Suzuki was there with the 2012 model line for people to test drive. I asked one of the reps about a gen3 in the near future. He may be talking out of his butt, however from what he told me, Suzuki is still in the customer feedback stage of the new model. Trying to figure out how much current customers are willing to pay for more cubes and electronics such as abs and traction controll. From what he says the gen3 is still at least 2-3 years away.

You should have told him they are not going to have any customers if they don't get on the ball. Who's going to buy 5 year old tech Busas when Kawasaki got traction control, abs, and 89 more cc's?

 

[black diamond busa]

I agree with you .. But the new zx14r will set records as time goes on .. The busa has been around since 99 and has tons of R&D over those years .. the zx14 Gen1 has 6 years of R&D and the new ZX14r has only a few months of R&D and has allready gone 201.76 with a stock motor at Ohio ... That 201.76 was with a female non pro LSR at the wheel on her second ever pass on the bike ..Chad Millholland still holds the production record at Maxton at 196.2 on a Gen 1 ZX14 ...

Yes I agree that new 14 is nuts and I can't wait to see what it can really do. With more R&D I think it will take some more titles. Hopefully in the next year or 2 the 14 will take enough records from Suzuki that it really pisses them off and they redo the busa. I want a gen3 I don't want it to die off like the blackbird.

 

[rudeboy109]

Funny, they have to advertize the 14, it doesn't sell it self like the Busa does, hummmm too bad.

 

[1300hemibusa]

Funny, they have to advertize the 14, it doesn't sell it self like the Busa does, hummmm too bad.

Funny you can find a ZX14R at the dealers around here , they sold out .. But you can find Busas still in the crate around here with 0% financing and still not selling .. Busa sales were so slow they didn't bring any in for a year to get rid of old stock ..
I paid for ZX14R before they came in to my Dealer , they had 9 more coming all were pre sold like mine ..They could not keep one on the floor for people to even look at .. They asked me if they could keep mine a week before i picked it up .. I said hell no .. I was there when it came in and stayed as they put it together and rode it home ..

 

[1300hemibusa]

Yes I agree that new 14 is nuts and I can't wait to see what it can really do. With more R&D I think it will take some more titles. Hopefully in the next year or 2 the 14 will take enough records from Suzuki that it really pisses them off and they redo the busa. I want a gen3 I don't want it to die off like the blackbird.

Give zook a little time , they are on hard times right now .. They will come back and come back hard !!! I'll bet money on that .. My money is they allready have it in the works ..But with their cars sales in the tank it may take them awhile before we see it ..

 

[black diamond busa]

Give zook a little time , they are on hard times right now .. They will come back and come back hard !!! I'll bet money on that .. My money is they allready have it in the works ..But with their cars sales in the tank it may take them awhile before we see it ..

Yeah I understand if they ain't got the money then they can't do much. I'm just hoping that they can turn it around soon. Just thinking this new 14r will give them a kick in the pants. As long as they improve alot on the gen3 I would go buy it new it doesn't have to beat the 14 but a nice improvement is much needed for the busa.

 

[Blanca BusaLess]

I think it's time for me to do some motor modding for any sneaky Zx14 around here.
Between Blais Cycle here and Frank from powerhouse they both seem to think I can get 220rwhp with just a proper port and head polish. Blais gave me an excellent quote on that and I think that's my goal before yrs end.

 

[m_ridgeway]

Funny you can find a ZX14R at the dealers around here , they sold out .. But you can find Busas still in the crate around here with 0% financing and still not selling .. Busa sales were so slow they didn't bring any in for a year to get rid of old stock ..
I paid for ZX14R before they came in to my Dealer , they had 9 more coming all were pre sold like mine ..They could not keep one on the floor for people to even look at .. They asked me if they could keep mine a week before i picked it up .. I said hell no .. I was there when it came in and stayed as they put it together and rode it home ..

its crazy and it sucks for suzuki. i hope they dont end up killing off the busa. im pretty loyal suzuki guy but unless they do something with their current lineup their sales are going to be obliterated by all the other manufacturers.

 

[Blanca BusaLess]

Doesn't matter to me cuz I plan on keeping Blanca long enough my son will ride it himself.

 

[black diamond busa]

Doesn't matter to me cuz I plan on keeping Blanca long enough my son will ride it himself.

It will be an antique by then

 

[1300hemibusa]

I hope they build that big 6 hole bike we all saw pictures of a few years back .. Nothing but nothing sounds better than a high rev 6 . Big 6 with a 6 into one at 14,000 RPMs !!! hell yes .. I loved my 1979 CBX and if Zook built one i would have to own it ..
Busa+2 or Six pack Busa . While i'm dreaming make it at least 1800cc and 260 hp to the tire ..

 

[masterblaster]

I went for a spirited ride today, the only thing the Busa or I imagine the 14 needs in my opinion is ABS. This thing is fast, cant imagine gettine bored with this speed as it already scares me off the throttle a bit.

 

[Rollin20z]

Isn't a GSXR750 faster than a 600? Or a 600 Ninja faster than a 500? Well common sense would tell you they should be.


Honestly I what all the hype is truly about. ??? Since 99 and the Busa came out to rule the roost and set the bar pretty high it has been the "one to beat" right? And Suzuki stuck with the same design all the way till 07 even though Kawi brought out the 14 in 06 but even then they had to add 53cc to even get in the busa's neighborhood.

So as I see it Suzuki figured well they want to try well then let's make the playing field a little more even and bumped the Gen 2 up to 1340cc mind you, not even the 1352 of the ZX14 and well we all see what happened then right? ??? And then in I guess you would call it "getting ur azz whipped again fashion" Kawi I guess figured the only way to win is throw a bigger fighter into the ring alas the now 1441 cc 14r which makes an additional what 20-25hp over the Busa? I don't know about any of you but I for one would sure hope it would be faster, if not Kawi should fire everyone and recruit some guys from Suzuki right? So until Kawi wants to compete on an even playing field why should it even matter. Would the Kawi guys accept a heads up race for a stock 14R against a busa with a 50 shot? Nah, that wouldn't be fair right?

I'd say take a new Busa(heII doesn't even have to new, take a 4 year old 08) and just bolt on a 1441 kit(just to even field) and put it up against the new 1441 2012 14R and then see where they are. And if they can still beat it then they can hold their head up, but as it is now I say they ought to keep their hoodie on and keep walking away, cause even with an extra 101cc and 20 hp or so they still are running away by any means.

But that's just me, and I've been known to be an azz ??? but then again I'm not one to take home the ugly bug eyed looking fat girl just because she's a guaranteed score either.

 

[The Big Red One]

its crazy and it sucks for suzuki. i hope they dont end up killing off the busa. im pretty loyal suzuki guy but unless they do something with their current lineup their sales are going to be obliterated by all the other manufacturers.

I think the busa can survive a few more years on just its name and cult status. Everybody would prefer a new busa now tho of course

Suzuki was planning and designing the 2nd gen 08 busa in 04. I'm sure they are working on the 3rd gen right now, but like somebody mentioned earlier I think it'll be another couple of years or more before we see it. These companies always seem to know what the other has in the works....I bet suzi knew about the new 14R before anybody else, and have been planning their counterstrike for a while. When designing the 08 they had to make a few changes mid design because they got early info about the 06 14's performance, and needed to beef up the 08 design to keep pace and then some.....they have it covered

I think the economy and suzi's financial situation will dictate when its economically viable to manufacture and release the new busa. I'm sure they'll watch how current busa sales go.

I don't know if the majority of members know, but a group of members here were involved in suzuki's customer feedback group when they were getting ideas on what folks wanted from the 2nd gen busa. A forum search would bring up the threads. It was pretty interesting

 

[proud dad]

Do you know how much more money it would cost to build a zx-14 to that level than it would a busa? It is all because of the design on the zx-14 making it harder to build. Bill would never use the 14 because the busa is so much easier modified and cheaper.

There's a parts list around the net somewhere giving all the mods and cost of Bill's 272mph busa (texas mile) It was over 90k to build.Never seen the cost of the 300 mph busa.You can bet it was a lot more.

 

[Taylor]

Truth be told I hope every year something from a manufacture comes out bigger and better, I am not brand loyal and will own what ever the latest and greatest is. I just like speed and horsepower, keep on building them please.

 

[squale147]

im so sure about that because they where there a up till then the big k knew top speed

 

[Rocketmn]

Didn't Kawi have to add another 100cc"s over the Busa to get this Busa Killer? This is common sence. I want to see an equal comparison! 1441 to 1441. THEN, if the Kawi is Faster, the Kawi is Faster.......

 

[Flicka]

What's with all the bruised egos over this new bike? ???

Assuming there is a next gen Busa on the way, it better be at least as strong as the 14R or Suzuki is just wasting scarce resources. I just don't get why so many folks seem to be taking it personally that the Busa isn't the baddest kid on the block this year. Everybody knows that there's plenty of tech out there to put a future Busa back on top of the heap, so what's with all the fuss?

It's time again for Suzuki to put up or shut up.

I, for one, hope they put up.

Competition drives innovation!