Two Schwantz Specials

Ten years after GP legend Kevin Schwantz won the 500cc world championship, Crescent Suzuki are celebrating with two unbelievably quick specials.

The Crescent/Hyside Hayabusa is a one-off, £20,500 special that will wheelspin in top gear, with 180hp on tap. The Crescent Schwantz GSX-R, meanwhile, varies from a £8499 entry-level version, right up to a £25,000 BSB-spec machine.

The Hayabusa has had a diet, resulting in a weight reduction of around 30kg, plus a power hike of 20-odd bhp. Yet it’s actually easier to ride than the standard version, even on freezing cold January roads.

The engine has been blue-printed, gas-flowed and re-cammed. The additions of a Power Commander and Yoshimura race exhaust make it perfect, particularly when it’s been put together by the same mechanics that build Crescent’s race bikes. The result has been tweaked, dynoed and mapped so carefully it feels it has no internals at all. The clutch and gearbox have also been fettered, making it as smooth as silk.

Brembo brakes and Ohlins race-spec suspension suddenly become very important, stopping you impressively quickly, and transforming the handling of the ‘Busa into more of a middleweight than a super-heavyweight.

But if you want to find out what happened when we took the Busa off the road and onto the Bruntinthorpe proving ground, you’ll need MCN, January 22.

The Suzuki GSX-R750 is a great bike as standard. But for only £600 more, Crescent will give you limited edition Schwantz paint, Goodridge hoses, a Brembo front brake master cylinder, adjustable Ohlins steering damper and a set of Dunlop D208 tyres. Plus only 34 are being built, and each one is signed and number by Kevin Schwantz himself.

But that isn’t enough for us, we needed more power. So a Yoshimura Tri-Oval race can and a Power Commander are added. This makes sense, because most sports bike owners are tempted by aftermarket goodies, but if you want to find out how good the Crescent package is, you’ll need Motor Cycle News, out on January 22.

To read the full details on both of these gorgeous Schwantz reps, you’ll need Motor Cycle News, out January 22. It also includes news on the price cuts recently announced by Honda, and how a legendary bike is changing for 2004. MCN, out Wednesday January 22.