Since it first came into being, the Suzuki Hayabusa was one of the fastest motorcycles in the world and it blew everyone away with its ballistic performance.

While the ‘Busa was quick to gain a lot of popularity, the Yamaha V-Max with similarly insane numbers always went under the radar, even though many people claimed the V-Max was actually faster than the Busa off the line!

To find out whether this is indeed true, we did a little scouting on YouTube and came across this drag race between a 2009 Suzuki Hayabusa and a 2009 Yamaha V-Max which…well, blew our minds.

The Contenders

At one end of the spectrum is a 2009 Suzuki Hayabusa. Using its 1340cc, inline-four engine, the second-gen Hayabusa pumped out 197 ponies and 114 pound-feet. Meanwhile, it tipped the scales at 585 pounds (wet).

At the opposite end lies a 2009 Yamaha V-Max, which used a bigger 1679cc, V-4 engine churning out 197 horsepower and 122 pound-feet. What made life worse for the V-Max’s rival, though, was Yamaha’s Chip Control tech to boost engine performance between 6000 and 9000 rpm, basically working like a ram-air duct.

Besides, the V-Max was quite hefty at 685 pounds (wet).

2009 Yamaha V-Max vs 2009 Suzuki Hayabusa Drag Race

Judging from the specs, both bikes are quite evenly matched but things look in favor of the 100-pound lighter Hayabusa.

As soon as it's go-time, however, it’s actually the V-Max that jolts off the line to take a lead over the Hayabusa, thanks to the V-Max rider getting the reaction time spot-on.

What’s more surprising here is that as the race progresses, the V-Max manages to keep the lighter and more aerodynamic Hayabusa at an arm’s length, ultimately taking an astonishing win.

Now, many will argue the Hayabusa rider had a slow reaction time which gave V-Max the win, but hey, let’s not forget that the V-Max pulled hard and stayed ahead till the very end!

What Did We Learn?

While there isn’t an official timing sheet here, the video clearly shows the V-Max taking the cake, meaning it was simply the faster bike in this race.

This is backed up by the fact that people have achieved sub-10-second quarter-mile times with a stock Yamaha V-Max, which goes to show how insanely fast it is.