The Suzuki That Delivers More Than Anyone Expects
Motorcycling can sometimes feel tiresome. At times, you don’t have enough power to keep up with your friends, and on the other hand, there’s just too much to manage. But there is a sweet spot. The middleweight naked category has some of the best-kept secrets in the motorcycle market. A lot of these bikes are sinfully underrated, and not enough of them get the spotlight. Suzuki has one such naked motorcycle, and no, it’s not the SV650.
Why Middleweight Naked Bikes Make So Much Sense
There is a reason the middleweight naked segment has become one of motorcycling’s most fiercely contested neighborhoods. A smaller motorcycle can be approachable, but riders can eventually find themselves wanting more power for highway riding. Move too far in the other direction and bigger naked bikes become expensive, heavy, thirsty, and almost comically powerful for everyday roads.
Middleweights occupy the much more useful patch of ground between those extremes. Engines in this class generally offer enough muscle for spirited highway stretches, but still maintain road manners when the city limits and traffic constrain speed. Middleweights can commute during the week, attack a favorite back road on the weekend, and cover highway miles without feeling as though it has been asked to perform outside its description.
With that versatility, almost all brands have hopped into the ring. Some get the deserved attention, but others simply fly under the radar. Yamaha’s MT-07 remains a popular choice for riders who want a lightweight package and a parallel-twin, while the Kawasaki Z650 offers another approachable route into the class.
Step toward the upper end, and machines like the Triumph Trident 660 and Aprilia Tuono 660 bring their own interpretations of what a modern middleweight should be. Between all of these popular kids are some underrated machines. Honda’s new CB750 Hornet surely comes to mind, and so does a Suzuki that debuted a couple of years ago. This GSX has more power than its direct rivals, along with other advantages, ensuring it offers more than its rivals would expect.
The Suzuki GSX-8S Is More Than The Sum Of Its Specs
Price: $9,249
The Suzuki GSX-8S is the kind of motorcycle that makes an argument against looking at reputation and displacement alone. It uses a parallel-twin engine, a backbone-style frame, and premium suspension that makes it useful in either the city or the twisties. The company has also given this bike a comprehensive electronics suite to keep it in competition with the rest of the middleweights in the market. This bike is no SV650, but the GSX-8S is an evolution of an idea that sometimes you don’t need to lose out on power to make way for comfort and agility, or even the other way around.
The 776cc Engine Has More Personality Than Its Rivals
Powering the GSX-8S is a 776 cc liquid-cooled parallel-twin engine with an 84 mm bore, 70 mm stroke, and a 12.8:1 compression ratio. These are respectable numbers, but the 270-degree crankshaft gives the engine a V-twin cadence. This configuration also means that, like traditional V-twins, there is strong, controllable torque from lower down in the rev range. Suzuki themselves draw a connection to the character of their own 90-degree V-twins, although with a more powerful experience.
Now, riders buy a middleweight for a few reasons: they are upgrading from a smaller bike, they want an everyday commuter, and they should be capable enough for the twisties. The GSX-8S’s engine is particularly useful for this scenario. More torque lower on the tachometer means the engine is vastly more controllable, and you don’t need to twist the throttle till you get an unexpected surge of power. On city streets, this makes overtakes easy. On twisties, this may feel a little lazy, but only if you’re a speed junkie looking for that top-end rush.
Built Around Stability Without Forgetting Agility
Suzuki has built the GSX-8S around a rugged steel-pipe backbone-style frame that balances straight-line stability with nimble handling. The wheelbase is 57.7 inches, and the rake and trail measure 25 degrees and 4.1 inches, respectively, which contributes to the GSX-8S’s agility. This bike lets you avoid choosing between a city bike and a highway bike. You can swerve around traffic in the city, change direction easily on mountain passes, and yet find it stable enough to keep true on a long straight highway.
Suspension components are more versatile than you think, too. The front uses an inverted fork, and the rear uses a Link-type monoshock. These have been tuned for use in a variety of situations, as claimed by Suzuki. Braking comes from dual 310 mm discs clamped by radially mounted Nissin four-piston calipers and a 240 mm rear disc stopped by a Nissin single-piston caliper. ABS is, of course, standard fitment.
The Suzuki GSX-8S Is Modern Enough To Surprise You
Unlike Suzuki’s other all-rounder (the SV650), the GSX-8S looks unmistakably modern. It does feel like someone took some sheet metal and tried curving it, but folded it in places where they didn’t get the curve right. The vertically stacked headlights are particularly distinctive, flanked by narrow LED position lights. The tank and slim seat also give the impression that the bike has been wrapped nice and tight around the chassis.
There is a comprehensive list of electronics here with the Suzuki Intelligent Ride System technology. A 5-inch full-color TFT display shows all of your important metrics but allows you to browse and change system settings using the switchgear. There are three drive modes, very lazily called A, B, and C, which change power output characteristics. Traction control has four modes to limit how much rear-wheel spin you want to allow. There’s also a Low RPM Assist which increases engine speed in low-speed situations.
A Package That Refuses To Feel Like A Compromise
The Suzuki GSX-8S does not feel like a motorcycle built around an obvious sacrifice. It bridges two worlds so neatly and so seamlessly that it is frankly surprising. Smaller bikes are lighter and easier to handle, and bigger bikes have fire-breathing engines that can take it to absurd speeds. But the GSX-8S makes a case for the middle ground, giving you a decent amount of capability in a lot of places. You don’t have to feel like you’re missing out just because you’re not at the extreme ends of the spectrum.
Source: Suzuki Cycles
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