A future for high performance bikes?
The ultra-fast sports tourer is a dying breed but could be ripe for a revival
Rewind a quarter of a century and the global motorcycling landscape was very different to today’s: adventure bikes were leftfield oddballs while superbikes and 600s ruled the sales charts, but one class – high-speed sports tourers – dominated the headlines and formed a raging battlefield for the world’s motorcycle manufacturers.
Today it’s a category of one. Suzuki’s Hayabusa provides a direct connection to that late 90s, early 00s heyday, but it was far from the first of its type. Bikes like the original Kawasaki’s ZX-10 and ZZR1100 and Honda’s CBR1100XX Blackbird preceded it and sparked a top speed battle that grabbed the imagination of customers who were desperate to own the ‘fastest’ bike, even if they had no opportunity to exploit that speed. Later machines like the Kawasaki ZX-12R pushed the boundaries further, and European manufacturers got in on the action, too, notably BMW’s K1200S and later K1300S. Even Triumph developed a Hayabusa rival, a 1300cc, four-cylinder project with some innovative aerodynamics that was cancelled in 2003, before the bike went on sale but not before spy photos had appeared in the motorcycle press.
That project’s cancellation reflected a sudden change in the market that came at the turn of the millennium in the form of the now-famous ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ between manufacturers in both Japan and Europe to call a halt to the pursuit of ever-higher top speeds. It came under the threat that legislation might be introduced to restrict motorcycle performance, with EU lawmakers considering a 100hp limit like the one that was, at the time, already used in France. Voluntarily limiting bikes to 186mph (300km/h) was the industry’s way to defuse the issue, directly leading to a decline in the high-speed touring class and an increased focus on lightweight, 1000cc superbikes focused on track performance rather than outright top speed.
Today, those litre superbikes’ descendants are faster than the sports tourers that sparked that 186mph limit: Ducati’s latest Panigale V4 R is good for somewhere in the region of 205mph with the optional track kit fitted. But the pursuit of racing success means they’re far too focused for the sort of long-distance use that the Hayabusa and its rivals excelled at, and for the last couple of decades trends have seen adventure bikes topping sales charts, arguably as a direct result.
All these years later, while the Hayabusa is the only survivor of that late 90s battle for the highest top speed, it remains popular. The first-gen model, from 1999-2007, sold 100,000 examples globally, and by 2023 the total had passed the 200,000 mark. Today’s third-generation machine still has direct ties to the original in its engine and chassis construction, but has less power than its predecessor – at a claimed 187hp it splits the difference between the 175hp original and the 197hp 2nd-gen model.
That power drop illustrates the problem that bikes like the Hayabusa have when it comes to meeting emissions limits, as their large-capacity, high-revving fours have to juggle the requirement for power against ever-stricter limits on CO2 and NOx, but the bike’s continuing popularity proves that there’s still a large group of riders who appreciate the real-world, high-performance abilities and long-distance comfort of large sports-tourers. With no rivals entering that segment for years, we can only speculate how successful a genuinely brand-new Hayabusa rival might be.
The combination of the aerodynamic priorities and the generous proportions of bikes like the Hayabusa mean it’s a market segment that’s uniquely well-suited to the WMC aerodynamic duct concept, which has the potential to more than offset any power reductions due to emissions rules. Since drag is proportional to speed squared, the aerodynamic benefits of the duct increase in the high-speed regime, allowing better outright top speeds and improved acceleration in the upper speed ranges where wind resistance plays a more significant role. Since comfort is an essential element of high-performance sports tourers, making tightly-tucked riding positions, ultra-narrow bars or high-set footpegs out of the question, the duct makes the most of a wider-spread, more relaxed riding by channelling air through the bike, below the rider and between their legs. In concert with a smaller, more efficient engine, which in turns opens more space for the duct, it has the potential to combine the sort of long-distance, autobahn performance of a Hayabusa-style bike with even better fuel efficiency and lower emissions.