RIDE REVIEW I 2023 SUZUKI GSX-8S
P88
You can be lazy and lug this little twin
around town. Sub 5000 rpm torque is excep-
tionally smooth (there's that word again)—you
can leave it in a higher gear than you'd typical-
ly expect and just let the motor pull you from
point to point, as we did in the endless traffic
of the French Riviera. (See how hard we work
for these reviews?)
This quite flexible performance is mated
to three modes of the full gas A, standard B,
and wet/rain mode of C. I can only see a few
riders venturing into C mode, even in the wet,
as B offers good acceleration without it being
too abrupt. However, most riders will hang out
in the premier A mode. This mode provides
the sharpest point-to-point acceleration
and is quite a step up from B mode; plus,
the motor is so creamy smooth at its core
that I don't think having variable modes is
even required on this bike.
It's quite a compact engine with a rela
-
tively quiet note to the stumpy little exhaust
exiting at the back of the rider's right boot.
The exhaust runs a dual-stage catalytic
convertor neatly ensconced under the engine
with just the black endcap showing. Suzuki's
done an excellent job of packaging everything
as neatly as they have. You can find
little bits of space around the chas
-
sis that would otherwise be taken up
by larger motor components.
The engineers have moved the
airbox from the top of the motor,
as per conventional wisdom, to be
-
tween the tubular steel frame rails,
allowing the engineers to make the
gas tank slim and long. This offers
quite a rangy riding position com
-
pared to something like an MT-07,
so it'll be handy for taller riders (i.e.,
around six feet tall).
Dude, where's my airbox?
(Above) Suzuki's
twin-counterbalancer
crankshaft. Suzuki
says it's worth the extra
weight to get rid of
more vibrations than a
single balancer setup.
They might be right.
