Suzuki GSX-8R – Pocket Rocket

The Suzuki GSX-8R is Suzuki’s much-anticipated follow-up album to the capable and fun GSX-8S. As soon as the 8S hit the streets, the public were crying out for an R version and Suzuki didn’t disappoint, delivering this little beauty.

It was introduced in 2024 and is a fully-faired middleweight sportbike, joining the growing movement towards smaller, more affordable, more accessible middleweight sportbikes. It shares a platform with the naked GSX-8S which is a great bike, so I when I collected my press bike, I was expecting good things. 

The 8R has a 776cc parallel-twin engine with a 270-degree firing order, typical of the new breed of middleweight bikes. The benefit of this configuration is that being a parallel twin, it’s compact and light, but the firing order mimics a V-Twin, creating a strong, V-twin-like torque delivery, making the engine feel punchy and responsive. 

This is a great engine, producing 81.8 bhp at 8,500 rpm and 57.5 lb-ft of torque at 6,800 rpm, the power delivery is smooth, thanks to the cross balancer system and there’s strong low-end torque for 776 cc.

Chassis and Suspension:

The GSX8R has a lightweight aluminium frame with a sporty riding position. It’s not a full-on sportsbike crouch, in fact, it’s surprisingly comfortable. The pegs are higher than the 8S and the bars are lower, but it’s not uncomfortable, I’d happily ride this for hours and hours. 

The Suzuki GSX-8R features non-adjustable Showa SFF-BP (Separate Function Fork – Big Piston) inverted forks and a Showa monoshock adjustable for preload only.

Despite the budget and unadjustable nature of the suspension, it works very well. It’s comfortable and compliant, absorbing bumps and imperfections while maintaining it’s composure, but when you turn up the wick it’s responsive, gives a good level of feedback and is predictable. You can really press on and feel confident. The GSX-8R is stable and agile and changes direction quickly and confidently. 

It’s fitted with Dunlop’s Sportmax Roadsport 2 tyres which work well, gave predictable feedback, never gave me a moment and gripped well. 

Compared to the Triumph Daytona 660, this is not in the same league. The Suzuki is more taught and capable, where the Triumph is a bit soft and gets a bit sketchy when you press on.

Overall it’s a decent package, and like rest of the bike, offers a good level of performance for £9k. 

Brakes:

The 8R shares its brakes with the 8S, which is good news because they are excellent.

Nissin four-pot calipers and 310mm discs at the front and a single-pot caliper with a 240mm rotor at the rear give progressive, strong braking with a nice feel, not harsh. You have ABS but it’s not intrusive. It’s another example of how well-balanced this bike is. The brakes are very good, but not intimidating. 

Electronics: 

Suzuki have done a great job with the GSX-8R. You have the modern day essentials, but the bike is simple and the electronics aren’t intrusive and you’re not sat there for ages deciding if you want level 8 or 9 of traction control. It feels simple and more or less just get on and ride.

You have Suzuki Intelligent Ride System (S.I.R.S.) which gives you three drive modes; A (Active), B (Basic), and C (Comfort) and four levels of traction control. It sounds a bit complicated, but Suzuki group the settings together to make your life easy. For example, A mode has the sharpest throttle response and the least traction control, and so on. If you want to, you can change the presets, but I just stuck it in A and left it there.

There’s a standard-fit up/down quickshifter, a one-touch ‘Easy Start’ system and Low RPM Assist to help prevent stalls.

Gearbox:

The GSX-8R comes standard with a bidirectional quickshifter, allowing for clutchless upshifts and downshifts. It was more or less faultless and a joy to use. It also features a Suzuki Clutch Assist System (SCAS). This system acts as both an assist clutch and a slipper clutch.

The assist part means it reduces lever effort, making it easier to pull in the clutch and the slipper part helps to prevent rear wheel hop during aggressive downshifts, improving stability and control. It all works perfectly and helps to make the 8R so effective and easy to ride.

Styling:

We first saw Suzuki’s new more angular styling language on the GSX-S1000 2001 model. The stacked LED projector headlight and sharper, angular bodywork. This carried on to the GSX-S1000GT in 2002 and now the GSX-8R has the same styling language. It’s a bold look with a stubby seat unit and stacked LED headlight, but looks great in my opinion. It’s available in 3 colours; Metallic Triton Blue (YSF), Metallic Matt Black No.2 (YKV), Metallic Matt Sword Silver (QKA).

Conclusion:

Overall, It’s a well-balanced and very capablebike that is fun and easy to ride. If you’re stepping up from something smaller this is an excellent choice, with enough power at 80 ish bhp to have a lot of fun, but not intimidating. You can really explore the limits of the performance without risking a holiday at his majesty’s pleasure. Don’t worry though, it’s plenty fast enough to get you in trouble if you want.

It’s pretty close to a one-size-fits-all. You can commute in comfort, it’s small so filtering is easy or you could jump on a motorway and spend hours in the seat without staggering around a service station with cramped legs and aching wrists.

I found the 8R a joy to ride. It’s fast enough, alot of fun and easy to own. If you’re stepping up from a smaller bike, you will absolutely love this. If you’re stepping down from a bigger bike, you will be surprised how capable this is.

If you have an A2 licence, your Suzuki dealer will restrict the bike which can be undone when you gain your A licence.

Something that particularly struck me was how well it was balanced. I mean everything works so well; tech, chassis, engine, it’s just about right and only £8,999 on the road. 

Engine type – Four-stroke, DOHC parallel twin, Liquid-cooled, 776cc

Maximum power – 82.9PS (61kW) / 8,500rpm

Maximum torque – 78Nm / 6,800rpm

Fuel consumption (WMTC) 67.23mpg

Electronics

5-inch, colour TFT multi-function instrument panel showing;

Speedometer / Tachometer / Riding range / Odometer / Dual trip meter / Gear position / Water temperature / Engine rpm indicator / Average fuel consumption / Instant fuel consumption / SDMS mode / Traction control mode / Quickshifter (on/off) / Fuel gauge / 12 hour clock / Voltmeter / Service reminder

Overall length – ,155mm (84.8in.)

Overall width – 770mm (30.3in.)

Overall height – 1,135mm (44.7in.)

Wheelbase – 1,465mm (57.7in.)

Ground clearance – 145mm (5.7in.)

Seat height – 810mm (31.9in.)

Kerb mass – 205kg (452lbs.)

Tyres; Front = 120/70ZR17M/C (58W) tubeless / Rear = 180/55ZR17M/C (73W) tubeless

Fuel tank capacity – 14L

CO2 emissions – 99 g/km

Price – £8.999 otr

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