Fifteen years ago, I fell in love with the Suzuki Hayabusa. A courtship that started well-ahead of my formal indoctrination to two-wheels, the Hayabusa was the capstone of motorcycle performance in my youthful eyes. I lusted after its sleek wind-tunnel tuned lines, and marveled at its outright speed, which at its debut, trumped everything else on the market. Approaching the 200 mph mark with their designs, Japan sold us on a “gentleman’s agreement” between the factories to govern their machines to 186 mph — I call it the pinnacle of technical collusion of the first degree.

It is so much easier to compete against another manufacturer when you don’t actually have to compete against them. The Suzuki Hayabusa could co-exist with the Honda CBR1100XX and Kawasaki ZX-12R in bubble that assured no one bike, on paper, could trump the other, after all…they all went 186 mph in the newly declared speed war. It is debatable whether this self-governing measure by the Japanese OEMs avoided a nanny state imposition of laws and regulations onto the motorcycle industry, but there can be no debate about the stagnation the gentleman’s agreement caused in the marketplace.

Once designated as being hyperbikes, a term that gave a nod to the performance specifications being beyond the superbikes found on the race track, we have watched the cessation of the Honda Super Blackbird (2003 in the USA, 2007 worldwide), and witnessed the Hayabusa and ZX-12R, later the Kawasaki ZX-14R, morph into capital “s” sport-tourers that are a far cry from their original intents.

Whether you caste the current Suzuki Hayabusa as the second-generation of the machine, or simply a massaged version of the first-generation GSX-1300R, it has stood motionless for far too long since its beginnings 15 years ago, and revision in 2008. It is time for the Hayabusa to return to its hyperbike roots, and once again captivate the imagination of little boys, and grown men, with what its possible on two wheels.

It’s hard to believe that for over a decade, the Suzuki Hayabusa has gone relatively unchanged from its original form. Sure, there have been some updates — a nose-job here, a face-lift there, but let’s be honest, the engineer responsible for the Suzuki GSX1300R has mostly just been pushing paper around his desk since the Clinton administration.

That tradition has not come to a close for the next model year, though the 2013 Suzuki Hayabusa does get some massaging from the Japanese brand. Updated with an anti-locking brakes system (ABS), the 2012 Suzuki GSX1300R, as it name implies, joins the rest of the GSX-R family in getting Brembo Monobloc calipers.

I’m going to date myself here, but I remember when I first got into motorcycles, I watched a video of this guy named “Ghost Rider” storm the streets of Sweden. Weaving through traffic like it was a rolling chicane and evading the cops with reckless abandon, I would find out later that Ghost Rider had made a name for himself by doing something all motorcyclists have wanted to partake in at some time or another, but never had the stones to follow through with.

Releasing a number of DVDs of his street antics, Ghost Rider’s identity has remained somewhat of a secret throughout all this, though locals tell me that everyone knows who the man clad in black is, but because of how Sweden handles its burden of proof, Johan Law has never been able to knock on the Ghost Rider’s door. Whether you think his videos are cool, irresponsible, or both, it look like Ghost Rider’s 499hp turbo-powered Hayabusa streetfighter is going to a new home…and it might be yours.

True to its teaser campaign, the 2012 Kawasaki ZX-14R (2012 Kawasaki ZZR1400 to our friends abroad) finally got revealed today. Tweaking its hyperbike offering, Kawasaki has confirmed that the ZX-14R (note the added R to the name) will get a displacement bump to 1,441cc, along with a cosmetic overhaul and other basic features. Most notably added to the Kawasaki ZX-14R is the addition traction control, and ride-by-wire throttle control system. Kawasaki hasn’t spilled all the beans about the new ZX-14R, but power is said to be over 200hp at the crank with ram-air.

Kawasaki is already pitting the ZX-14R against Suzuki’s Hayabusa, perhaps in an attempt to re-ignite the speed wars of the 1990′s. While no top speed has been touted, the Japanese company is quoting the Kawasaki ZX-14R as “the world’s fastest accelerating production motorcycle.” A lengthy superlative, but it will be interesting to see if Suzuki responds with an update to the aging Hayabusa, which hasn’t had a meaningful upgrade since its 1999 market introduction.

Racing his 1,299cc turbo Hayabusa to 311.945 mph, Bill Warner (you may have heard of him) became the first man to break the 300 mph barrier while sitting on a motorcycle. Eeeking close to 312 mph, Warner set the speed at Loring Air Force Base in Limestone, Maine, which has a 2.5 mile concrete runway that serves as the LSR course. With 1.5 miles to hit a top speed, the Loring Timing Association certified Warner’s run, though it would appear that a follow-up pass in the opposite direction was not undertaken, meaning that the speed is not an official FIM land speed record. Don’t let that fact leave you unimpressed though, few riders see a true 200 mph, let alone 300 mph in any direction.