Ninja ZX-14 vs Suzuki Hayabusa

A bitter duel between monster mounts mightier than the majestic massiveness of the Pacific Ocean they cross - the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14 and the Suzuki GSX-R1300 Hayabusa!


We discovered as much when we pitted the duo against each other in our 2006 Hayabusa vs. ZX-14 Comparo. In that encounter, the all-new ZX-14 got the better of the, until that point, unchallenged Busa. Fast forward to 2008 and we have new versions of each bike in our garage. But which will come out on top in this latest clash of the titans?


Now, the Suzuki may be the challenger by our '06 comparo score, but there is no doubting the potency of the mighty Hayabusa through the years. 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.

The Hayabusa did not take kindly to its split-decision loss at the end of '06 so the '08 machine comes to the table ripped to the nuts, fueled by rage and more powerful than ever. We'll get into the nitty gritty details later, but the long and short is Suzuki bumped the displacement to 1340cc, an answer to the stinging 1352cc Kawasaki salvo. The result is increased horsepower and torque complimented with upgraded brakes and suspension.

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. Just for the maniacal hell of it, we also buried the speedos during our final dyno runs. 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.
Even though the Suzuki gets a slim nod by our testers in the engine department, the Kawasaki motor is a beautiful thing. A dangerous beauty, as the potent 16-valve Inline-Four can get you in trouble just as easy as the Busa mill. Although overall power numbers fell from '06, the big Ninja still crested 160 horsepower and matched its torque figures. The 7.4-horsepower drop from '06 can in part be explained by our dyno, which tends to be more modest in its power numbers. That said, the internal tweaks to meet Euro III emissions and sound regs, which include the addition of a third exhaust catalyzer, must have played a part as well.

As far as value is concerned, the two bikes run side by side. The ZX-14 is $300 cheaper, but the advantage is offset by the Suzuki inclusion of OEM stabilizer and slipper clutch. The special-edition flames on flat-black paint scheme on our test Kawasaki brings the price up to dead even with the Hayabusa. But, like so many other things on these two mounts, it's a wash as to which is better. And so this leads us to the most difficult part of any comparison test - picking a winner