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Ten years after the launch of the extraordinarily successful Suzuki Hayabusa, the man responsible has finally spoken about its controversial appearance.
Koji Yoshiura spoke exclusively to MCN about creating the original 1999 machine, which gained an instant cult following as well as outraging politicians with its near-200 mph capability.
Koji Yoshiura said: “The mission was to create a total new styling that will not be out of date within few years, and a styling that will be the ‘Face’ of Suzuki.
“‘Fastest production motorcycle’ was never a concept nor a target of this bike (at the beginning of the project, the Hayabusa was not 1300cc but 900cc – 1100cc, which was the main market in those days).
“As a consequence of, pursuing the best handling, acceleration, safety, power, riding ability, original styling, etc., for the good of the customers, it became the ‘Fastest production motorcycle’.”
The bike, famous for its speed, was not intended to be the fastest. The speed of the bike was just what happened in the design when the motorcycle designer pursued better performance in other areas.
“My aim was to create a somewhat grotesque design and create a strong initial impact,” stated Yoshiura.
“By doing this, once the model was out in the market and the performance of it have been proven, I thought that people will start to show interest to the weird design, and then the design would be caked in peoples mind.”
And from comments, not everyone does like this bike. Some do think it is ugly. But the look is distinctive and the speed was an empirical record for bikes of the time.
