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This Week’s Suzuki Hayabusa Rumor, Redux

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In this installment of “This Week’s Suzuki Hayabusa Rumor,” we again take a look at the motor of this venerable sport bike. The rumor going around the interwebs right now is that the 2019 Suzuki Hayabusa will feature a “semi-automatic” gearbox.

Side-stepping the part where saying a gearbox is semi-automatic is  a lot like saying someone is “semi-pregnant” (you either are, or aren’t), the rumor stems from a patent filed by Suzuki that shows a gear-shifting mechanism with the foot-shifter that doesn’t require a clutch.

If this sounds a lot like an up/down quickshifter system, then you score extra bonus points today for being a rational human being, but you would be very wrong about what this whole rumor should actually be about.

This is where reading the patent is actually really useful, because it turns out that this patent has a lot less to do with some sort of new transmission type, as the internet rumors would suggest, and a lot more to do with repackaging the transmission of a motorcycle (or any engine with an integrated gearbox) into a tighter unit, while retaining a standard manual shift mechanism.

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Rumors

This Week’s Suzuki Hayabusa Rumor

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A new Suzuki Hayabusa is coming, this much we know. What that bike will be, what features it will have, and what it will look like though have been open to much speculation.

Unsurprisingly then, the rumor mill surrounding the Suzuki Hayabusa continues to churn out ideas about what this hyperbike will be, and today’s latest tidbit of gossip comes courtesy of Italy’s Insella publication.

In it, the Italian journos wager that the Suzuki GSX-1300R will in fact become the GSX-1400R for the 2019 model year, with the venerable Suzuki Hayabusa getting a displacement increase to the tune of 1,440cc for its four-cylinder engine.

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Bikes

Suzuki Shows Unchanged GSX-R600, GSX-R750, & Hayabusa for 2018, But What’s to Come at EICMA?

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Suzuki Motor America today sent our first view of the 2018 Suzuki GSX-R600, 2018 Suzuki GSX-R750, and 2018 Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycles – now before you get too excited, they are exactly the same as last year’s models (save for some bold new graphics).

This is of course all according to plan. We have already written about Suzuki’s plan to bring new middleweight GSX-R600 & GSX-R750 sport bikes to market, as well as a new Hayabusa.

As such, we expect still to see new sport bike models debuting from Suzuki at this year’s EICMA show in Milan, and all three bikes should arrive mid-2018, as 2019 model year machines.

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Bikes

Turbocharged Suzuki Hayabusa Coming Mid-2018

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If you haven’t listened to the latest Two Enthusiasts Podcast episode, you should.

In it, myself and co-host Quentin Wilson break some industry news, with our sources in Suzuki confirming that the Japanese manufacturer will bring a turbocharged Hayabusa model as an early 2019 model year bike.

This news is well-timed, as the Suzuki Hayabusa will turn 20-years-old in 2019, and it has changed very little during that two-decade time period.

Additionally, the introduction of modern forced induction to Suzuki’s motorcycle lineup is sea change moment for Suzuki, with the Hayabusa being a perfect fit for such an endeavor.

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Podcast

Two Enthusiasts Podcast #60 – Diet Pepsi & Milk

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Episode 60 of the Two Enthusiasts Podcast is out, and in it we cover some of the newsy items from the motorcycle industry that have caught our eyes recently.

But before we get to the news, Quentin and I break a pretty big story concerning a certain turbocharged motorcycle, which you won’t want to miss.

We then turn our attention to the plethora of recalls that have beseeched BMW Motorrad, and we also talk about the company’s halo bike, the BMW HP4 Race, and its 3,100-mile engine life.

We also talk about Triumph’s partnership with Bajaj, and how that will affect both brands’ futures, before we talk about Ducati’s software performance upgrade for the 2015/2016 Ducati 1299 Panigale owners.

Before the show ends, Quentin also gives a really insightful talk about plug chops, which unless you have ridden an older two-stroke machine, you have probably never heard of, until now.

There is a lot going on in this episode of the podcast, so you don’t want to miss it. And, if we have and Diet Pepsi and milk drinkers in the audience, please identify yourselves and explain this madness.

You can listen to the show via the embedded SoundCloud player, after the jump, or you can find the show on iTunes (please leave a review) or this RSS feed. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well.

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Bikes

No New Suzuki Hayabusa for 2018?

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We keep hoping that Suzuki will reinvigorate the venerable Hayabusa brand, and bring an updated version of its high-speed hyperbike back into the mix. There has been some chatter that such a project is in the works, though it doesn’t seem that 2018 is the magic year for it to appear.

Looking through the current filings with the California Air Resources Board (CARB), we can see that Suzuki Motor Corporation has filed for the 2018 Suzuki GSX1300R – and the quoted emissions (of which, there are quite a lot) remain exactly the same as what’s quoted for the 2017 model.

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Podcast

Two Enthusiasts Podcast #48 – Mechanical Masochism

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In Episode 48 of the Two Enthusiasts Podcast, we didn’t set out to talk about all the weird technologies in the motorcycle industry, though our conversation certainly covered its fair share of them.

We start the show talking about the Vyrus 986 M2 supersport, which features a unique hub-center steering chassis. This leads us into a conversation about the supersport market, and the rumors that Suzuki is bringing out a new GSX-R750.

From there, Quentin breaks some news that a reliable source has told him that there will be a new Suzuki GSX-R600 for the 2019 model year, which goes against what had previously been rumored. We then finish up the Suzuki talk with a quick discussion about the Suzuki Hayabusa, and hyperbikes in general.

The show ends with us talking about KTM’s new fuel-injection for two-stroke dirt bikes, and what that means for that segment of the industry. Q also tries his best to explain how transfer port injection works, though we would recommend googling some visual adds when you get to that portion of the show.

A fun show, though we think you will also find it very insightful as well.

You can listen to the show via the embedded SoundCloud player, after the jump, or you can find the show on iTunes (please leave a review) or this RSS feed. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well. Enjoy the show!

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Rumors

Report: New Suzuki GSX-R750 Coming, But No GSX-R600

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For Suzuki, the debut of its first all-new superbike design went swimmingly well, with the 2017 Suzuki GSX-R1000R impressing journalists at its launch in Phillip Island earlier this year.

We would hope so, as the Japanese manufacturer once laid claim to being the King of Superbikes, but then cowardly abdicated its throne for an eight-year period, where only modest updates came to the line.

Like most of Suzuki’s motorcycle lineup, the GSX-R models have suffered from abandonment by their caretakers in Hamamatsu, and while there is a new GSX-R1000 for us to drool over (though its true mettle yet untested against its rivals), what is to come of its 750cc and 600cc counterparts?

Our friends from Down Under seem to have the answer, as Australia’s Motorcycle News reports that a new Suzuki GSX-R750 is in the works, likely to debut as a 2019 model year machine.

As for the GSX-R600, well…that appears to be going the way of the dodo, as Suzuki seems set to follow Honda’s on its exit out of the supersport market.

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Bikes

A Turbocharged Suzuki Hayabusa Really Should Happen

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I have been trying to avoid this story, mostly because I think it is a pipe dream concocted from a dubious source, but the word circulating through the interwebs is that Suzuki is working on a turbocharged Hayabusa motorcycle, in the 1,500cc territory, for the 2017 model year.

While we are not confident about this exact rumor, we know two things for certain: 1) that Suzuki is finally ready to breathe some life into the GSX-R line; and 2) that the Suzuki GSX-1300R Hayabusa is in desperate need of an update.

The first of the new GSX-R sport bikes is the 2017 Suzuki GSX-R1000 superbike, though we can expect to see all-new iterations of the GSX-R600 and GSX-R750. There is even word of a GSX-R250/300 in the works.

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Bikes

Suzuki GSX Concept Hints At…Something

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Unlike the Honda “Light Weight Super Sports” concept, which gives a clear indication as to the cut of the Japanese manufacturer’s jib, the Suzuki GSX concept leaves a bit more to the imagination.

We know that the Suzuki GSX-R line is woeful need of an update, and our best information pegs the Suzuki GSX-R1000 finally getting a refresh in mid-2016, as an early 2017 model.

Other rumors suggest we’ll see something interesting from the Suzuki brand at the upcoming Tokyo Motor Show, and hopefully that doesn’t mean just this GSX concept.

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