Commuting , road-trips , gymkhana and more are what we ’ re going to throw at Suzuki ’ s all-new GSX-8S middleweight over the next six months .
Some of you might have read that I ’ ve been looking for a new bike to fill a vacant spot in my garage . I ’ ve been keen on something that ’ s very obviously ‘ not LAMS ’. The reason for this is that ever since I gained my full licence , I ’ ve only owned either LAMS bikes , or bikes that aren ’ t too far off LAMS ( apart from the bikes I have been privileged to ride for KR ). Mainly I ’ m talking about my MT07 ( 655cc LAMS ) and Tenere 700 ( 689cc not LAMS ). I ’ m just keen to ‘ move on up ’. So , when KR editor Ben called me to talk about a long-term Suzuki GSX-8S , it was a no-brainer . As a naked sports bike , the Suzuki GSX-8S is going up against the Yamaha MT09 , Triumph ’ s Street Triple , KTM ’ s Duke 790 , Honda ’ s 750 Hornet , the list goes on . There ’ s a lot of muscle and a lot of tech in these bikes - and price tags to match , so , Suzuki has to pull something out of the hat to be competitive . I ’ m not too worried though , Ben came back from the AU / NZ launch of the GSX-8S last year quietly raving about the bike . And he ’ s not that easy to impress .
WHAT IS IT ? The Suzuki GSX-8S was released in 2023 and is powered by Suzuki ’ s brand-new , liquid-cooled 776cc parallel-twin which surprised a lot of people when it was released . It ’ s got a bit of burble in the exhaust sound , characteristic of the 270-degree crank configuration , which also helps with the power output . It puts out a claimed 62kW ( 83hp ) at 8500rpm with a healthy 78Nm of torque at 6800rpm . There ’ s a six-speed transmission ( with a quick-shifter come as standard equipment ), three rider modes , four levels of traction control ( TC ) including off , and a colour TFT display . Suzuki has come to the party with the specs on this bike . Front suspension is by way of a non-adjustable 43mm KYB inverted fork with 130mm of wheel travel . At the rear is a KYB shock with preload adjustment only . Rolling on a set of cast-alloy
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