I hate to say it guys, but with the speed wars called off there in no reason for them to make our Busas any better at breaking speed records. That kind of devlopement costs money and unless you can point to sales figures and bragging rights at the end, there is no point in spending that money in the first place.
The Liter class bikes will eventually catch the Busa in terms of power and perhaps top speed. Or at least get so close that the difference is academic. All that and they will be lighter and more agile than they are now, which is awfully good and certainly more than our Busas.
So where does that leave the Busa? They can keep making the beast just as it is. They have certainly covered the expense of its development and manufacturing set up by now, so every sale is gravy. But at some point the Liter class bike will be right there in terms of performance, which begs the question, what is the point of the Busa?
Coming up with an answer to that question is what could drive the direction of changes to the Hayabusa. They might work on getting it lighter and more agile. But I rather doubt it. Then it starts to get to be more like the GSXR1000 and no matter the changes the Busa won't be able to compete with that track weapon on its terms. So lighter and more agile would only make the Busa competition for the better selling bike Suzuki already spends large sums of money on.
I think they'll go in the other direction. If top speed increases are no longer important. And the 1000cc bikes are in the same league of power and speed. Then the only way to go that makes sense is more comfortable. They'll make the Busa more humane for sport-touring. They'll want to keep the edgy looks that make the Busa stand out, but they'll alter the egonomics and make attatching luggage easier.
Oh we might see an increase in power along the way. More low end and perhaps some extra HP on the top for bragging rights. But they won't alter the top end restriction so that power will either not really get used or they'll alter the power band to give us more on the low end. Not a completely unpleasant thought!
Just my predictions.