I really don't give a shit if the mighty stock/slightly modded Kawi 13.5 is very marginally quicker than my stock/slightly modded Busa. I can look at my Busa, be proud to be seen neon or near to it, and not cringe at its sight. My '01 Busa is as dead stone reliable as any piece of transportation I've ever owned. It's comfortable enough (with aftermarket seats) for LD touring two up (Lets see you get the little lady on the Kawi more than once - piece of shit seat and no grab bar). I get 40±2 mpg at an indicated 100 mph (probably really 90 mph). I recently got 42 mpg after riding the hell out of it, on a road which shall remain un-named to protect my license. I never gotten less than about 35/36 mpg (like say at Deals Gap in 1st-2nd gear with some R's). People say they don't care about bike gas mileage, until they get about 30-32 mpg or less ( I have a much modded 79 GS1000 in that range) and gas will soon be $4 a gallon. The differences in dragging ability and/or twisty riding on the street is going to be 90% rider every time. I've embarrassed a few 600's on my old GS1000 up to 100 mph and in twisties and it's relatively a POS. On the strip, there may be an advantage to the Kawi, but to mod it is going to cost you more because of the engine architecture. And if you drop that monocoque frame, good luck! I believe the Busa will continue to be the top speed top dog because Suzuki got the aerodynamics right and Kawi went for "styling". Unless Suzuki has written off this market segment, we should expect them to at LEAST one-up the Kawi boys within a year or two. But if history holds, look at what their engineers did with the Busa to best the BlackBird (seen a lot them lately?) and with the 1000 the past few years (to own the class). I've rambled and ranted, but I wouldn't trade my used 01 Busa straight up for a new 06 ZX-13.5 and that's the bottom line for BOTH manufacturers!
