VOLUME ISSUE APRIL , P85
I
t's hard to believe it's been nearly 25 years
since Suzuki released its last all-new motor-
cycle platform, the SV650. The beloved SV went
on to become one of Suzuki's greatest hits, but
the market has moved considerably since then—
even if the capacity of the new wave of motor-
cycles has barely moved.
The midsize-capacity roadster market is a hot
one indeed. One only must look at the bikes that
all retail under $10K to realize this: You have
Yamaha's MT-07 at $8199, Honda's CB650R at
$9299, KTM's 790 Duke at $9199, and Kawasaki's
base Ninja 650 coming in the cheapest at $7899,
with a $400 premium on for ABS. Given the long-
lasting success of the SV, this new GSX-8S has
some huge shoes to fill.
Circling in at a competitive $8849, the swanky
blue, black or white GSX-8S is by far the newest of
this bunch. The GSX-8S is actually one of a pair of
bikes, as its development was shared in parallel with
the V-Strom 800DE adventure steed and utilizes
pretty much exactly the same engine to power it.
Suzuki released its first new street-bike-model platform since 1999 (yes, 1999)
with the GSX-8S, and we rode it in the beautiful confines of Nice, France.
The Firstof Its Kind
