, and a 2007 Bus made 175hp - apparently both stock !! 
and guess what ? The dyno chart came from a Busa owners forum !! how incredible !! In order to redress this obvious imbalance, I undertook some research, and here is the result................Enjoy !!
WARNING - ENORMOUS (but informative) POST !!!!
nice picture Max.......
I think its time we injected some objectivity into this debate. And, an opportunity for anyone reading this thread to learn a bit about 'dynos' and what it all means.........btw this is a very long post, but very informative and almost abuse-free !! (almost )
First thing - Exactly the same bike, on the same dyno, on the same day, can return dyno figures that vary by as much as 6-8hp, depending on the conditions (low pressure, humidity, temperature etc).
The whole point of using a dyno as a tuning tool is to determine exactly what improvements, if any, have been made to your bike, by the addition of aftermarket air filters, exhausts, PowerCommanders etc. Just check the development of the ZX14 in the dyno charts later in this post...........and this is as good a spot as any to lay out the basics of performance upgrades:
Stock - No improvements or additions whatsoever.
Stage One - Airfilters, exhaust (either full system or end cans), PowerCommander, TRE etc (TRE is a timing retard eliminator, allows for full ignition advance in the lower gears).
Stage Two - Engine capacity increases, headwork (porting, bigger valves etc). Improved igntion systems
Stage Three - Blowers, turbos, nitrous etc. Big-block kits.
For most punters, we never get past Stage One.....
Its important to lay down a baseline figure for your bike, so you can see what improvements have been made. It is also important that these improvements are tested *on the same dynamometer*, otherwise you may as well piss up a rope. Different dyno's can produce *wildly* varying readings, and it is not a good idea to rely on these figures.
The fact that a ZX14 was tested at 159hp, and a Bus at 170-odd, and the dyno test was sourced from a Hayabusa Owners forum , well sorry to be a bit sceptical, but heh thats just me. I am sure that a Hayabusa Owners forum would not advertise any dyno tests that showed a ZX14 to be more powerful than a Hayabusa now would they ?????
Speaking of which, here is just such a dyno chart. Sourced from SportRider, who have no vested interests at all, this chart shows a mighty different picture than the one painted by the Bus drivers......
Both bikes stock - dynoe'd on the same day, on the same dyno - Just as per the dyno test sourced from the Bus forum.......
However in this instance, the ZX14 shows a peak hp figure of 174.7hp, and torque of 105.3ft/lb
and the underpowered Bus only comes up with 167.6hp, with a peak torque of 97.4ft/lb (although the chart looks like it says 2005 models, it is in fact 2006, just shitty resolution)
What is the point here ? Is this dyno chart any more or less valid than the one posted on the Bus forum ?? Of course not. All it shows is that on *that* particular day, on *that* particular dyno, one *particular* stock ZX14 made basically 175hp, and one *particular* stock Bus made 168hp.......
So the argument that a Bus is more powerful than a ZX14 is a whole load of crap !!..............Isn't it ?????
It MUST be, I have the dyno charts to prove it !! Anyway, moving onwards, lets have a look at some *facts* about the Hyper-Tourer brigade....
Fact # 1 - In 1999, the GSX1300R was indeed *The Fastest Motorcycle In The World*.
Fact # 2 - In 2000, the ZX12R was indeed *The Most Powerful Motorcycle In The World*......but it wasn't the fastest !! How could this be ? How could the most powerful motorcycle in the world not be the fastest ????
In order to find out, lets take a look at some quotes from Cycle Canada, who also wondered about this paradox, and did some wind testing to get to the bottom.......
Earlier this year we began to wonder about the relative aerodynamic qualities of the 2 fastest motorcycles on the market - The Suzuki Hayabusa and the Kawasaki ZX12R. The 12R in particular seemed something of a mystery, having been announced with much fanfare, yet proving to be slower in top-speed tests than the Suzuki. Some explained the result as a measure of political correctness : Kawasaki had capped the 12R's speed potential voluntarily, to avoid antagonising European authorities.
One way to help determine why the more powerful Kawasaki ZX12R was slower than the Hayabusa would be to measure aerodynamic drag in a wind tunnel. The drag measurement could then be used to calculate theoretical top speed, working with horsepower at the rear wheel and an estimate of rolling resistance.
Our greatest curiosity, however, regarded one simple question ; which bike has the most slippery shape, the Hayabusa or the ZX12R ? In previous top-speed testing at the Transport Canada speed oval, something seemed to be limiting the ZX12R's velocity to a "politically correct " 187.5 mph , which failed to match the 190.5mph we'd recorded earlier for the Hayabusa. The Suzuki had recorded 153hp at the rear wheel (NOTE - same HP as the Bus at Gecko earlier this year), while the Kawasaki had made a blistering 164.5 hp. Yet, the ZX12R was slower. Was it the much-rumoured electronic speed control ? Or something else ?
(Please note I have bolded the important bits
) The wind-tunnel provides a simple answer. What limits the ZX12R's top-end speed is aerodynamic drag. The ZX12R produces significantly more drag than the Hayabusa. The Suzuki can therefore go faster with less horsepower. Its not the threat of political intervention that has limited the top-speed of the ZX12R, but rather simply the shape and size of the motorcycle.
So, from the very outset of the Hypertourer history, the Bus had a higher top-end, due to better aerodynamics. The ZX12R was more powerful. In any event, the title of *Fastest Motorcycle* all became irrelevant in 2002, when the EU convinced all 4 Jap manufacturers to a voluntary restriction of 299kmh.
The Editor of Cycle Canada had an interesting footnote to add to this story -
Editors Note: Since this story first ran in the Sept/Oct 2000 issue of Cycle Canada, some interesting issues have come to light from our Man in Japan.....Eight years ago, when Kawasaki engineers were designing the original replacement for the ZX1100 (ZZR1100 in our market), the prototype resulting from wind-tunnel testing was almost a carbon-copy of the Hayabusa - only the company figured it was too ugly to sell !! Subsequently, a Kawasaki engineer has confirmed that the ZX12R was in fact "neutered" to a lower top speed in its final stages of development.
Gotta love the bit about being too ugly to sell !!!
Still, there is no accounting for some peoples taste is there ?? 
Fact # 3 - The worlds fastest motorcycle tag is now held by the MV Augusta F4 R 312. Notwithstanding any tinkering with TRE's etc, in bog-stock form, all the big Jap bikes are limited to 299kmh, and the MV will do 312kmh. End of story. You can modify your bike to do 320, 340, fuck me I can gear the MFP12 to do 370kmh on the Nullabor Plain, but does that make it *The Worlds Fastest Motorcycle* ??? of course not. And the MV is no 'Limited Edition' bike either, over 4,000 of these bikes are slated for production.
Moving right along.......
Here are some further independent charts produced by Motorcycling USA, regarding *stock* Hayabusa's and ZX14's.
You won't find these on any Hayabusa forums out there either !!!
ZX14 - 169 hp. Busa - 155 hp (almost identical to the Bus dynoe'd at Gecko earlier this year.......)
The torque chart for the same bikes - measured on the same day - on the same dyno.....
Here is the exact quotes from the magazine that did the tests :
First up: the Hayabusa. The Suzuki posted an imposing 155.9 horsepower at 9,900 rpm on its best run. The power curve gets the jump on the ZX-14 until just before 5,000 rpm and then arcs across the 150-hp mark around 8,600 rpm. Its torque output was equally impressive thanks to a whopping 94 lb-ft at 7,000 rpm. Again, the Busa takes the early lead with a 7-8 lb-ft advantage from 2,500 to 4,000 rpm. It's easy to see why this bike has been so popular with the speed-crazed freaks all over this miserable little politically-correct planet.
Next it was time to find out what the ZX-14 could do. Pre-run predictions ranged from 170 to 180 horsepower, but that would end up an optimistic postulation. The ZX could only muster a best run of 169.1 hp at 9,500 rpm. Pathetic, isn't it? Did you catch the sarcasm there? Nearly 170 horsepower from a stock bike - what is the world coming to? Seems pretty extraordinary but, wait, there's more. As impressive as the Busa torque figures are, the ZX holds a clear torque advantage over the reigning champ from 4,500 on to redline, pumping out its peak of 103 lb-ft at 7,800 rpm.
Now that seems to me to be a completely unbiased, objective opinion about the *true* nature of dyno-testing, and not something hatched on a Bus Forum !!
BTW, I could have gone to any number of ZX14 sites, and found a million dyno charts of *stock* bikes, with simlliar baseline dyno figures,(all of which show much better stock horsepower readings than the HayabuttUglies), but in the interests of objectivity and fairness, felt it was a far better option to get the charts from actual non brand-specific bike magazines..........not that I doubt the veracity of owner forums in any way........
Speaking of owner forums, the actual site which spawned this pissing contest, Bikeland.org, did qualify their post with the following statement about the A/F curve of the ZX14 ...( which also seems to have mysteriously dissappeared from Max's quote......)
"......And as you see the air fuel curve on it is really rich and no doubt a lot of power is being lost......."
So the site owners already identified that the bike was running rich, and without a PCIII fitted and mapped ( as the Bus had).......its hardly surprising that with such a shitty set-up, the Bus ran a higher baseline hp figure !
Anyway, this brings me to the whole point of the discussion - That is, how dyno's can be used to measure the improvements made on your motorcycle.
Max - I am sure as a Bus owner, you have heard of the *Legend* that is BROCK DAVIDSON. If you haven't, give yourself an uppercut !!
For the rest of you, Brock is a drag-racing guru, and has built and developed umpteen numbers of very fast Hayabusa's over the years. He is considered one of the top tuners in the US, and has much respect on all Bus forum's I have ever lurked on......
Anyway, Brock thought it would be a good idea to get a ZX14, a 2006 one to be exact, and develop it with some simple bolt-ons, much like you or I can do with our street bikes. Here is the story, told in pictures of dyno charts, of how Brock turned a stock ZX14, with a baseline horsepower reading of 163hp, into a nearly-stock ZX14 with over 194hp at the rear wheel.......
WARNING - If you are a Hayabusa owner, you will not be happy with the contents of the following images......
Image One - Stock ZX14 dyno charts. 17 miles on board..... Bog Stock
Image 2 - 124 miles on board - 169.5 hp.......Bog Stock.....loosening up a bit
Image 3 - still 124 miles on board - PCIII with base map (172 hp), air cleaner removed (175)
So far, with only a PCIII with no custom map, and air cleaners removed, the 14 is up to over 175hp at the back wheel....
Image 4 - still 124 miles - Gen3 muffler added (stock pipes gone) - Up to 182 hp now. Still no custom map, basically put a good 4 into 1 on it..........
....FMD !
Image 5 - After a map session on the PCIII - up to 185 hp. Change oil to good US brand (Alisyn ??) - How does 189 hp sound ??
Image 6 - In this chart, further development of the exhaust system was undertaken. It is still a basic off-the-shelf 4 into 1 that you and I can order from the States......horsepower is now up to 194 !!!!
The above dyno-charts are the real reason that dyno figures are important - These show a continuing increase in measureable horsepower due to the relatively simple modifications undertaken by Brock.
These modifications are Stage One mods !!! ie anything you or I could do. Better air filters. A really good exhaust system. A well-mapped Power Comander. ..........And if you own a ZX14, you can reasonably expect almost 195hp at the rear wheel. !!!!
I have left the best till last of course . Like I said earlier, Brock also develops Busas. Here is a chart, comparing a worked Busa (same exhaust, mapped PCIII etc, as the 14 - check the difference in HP !!)
ZX14 - 195hp. Busa - 177hp. End of Story. Owned comprehensively.
In closing this marathon post, I hope that a lot of misconceptions about dyno testing and dyno 'readings' have been cleared up. There is no doubt that the Bus is a fast bike. But it is not the fastest bike. It also makes a lot of horsepower. But it is not the most powerful, in fact from its inception it was *never* the most powerful, just the fastest due to slippery aerodynamics. Nothing has changed at all really - the Big K is still the bike to have if you appreciate horsepower !!!
Thanks for staying with me this long (if you have.....)
