New Suzuki GSX-8S Announced

[Ecosseven]

Afternoon all,

Suzuki have announced their new GSX-8S at EICMA. Some spec

776cc
82bhp
57lb.ft
202kg
TFT dash.
3 riding modes
Quick-shifter as standard
Tyres are 120 front 180 rear. 17" rims.

Price is TBA.

https://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/new-bikes/suzu...

https://www.visordown.com/news/new-bikes/suzuki-la...

https://www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/reviews/bike...

Looks OK. Will be interesting to see how the price compares with its competitors.

What do you think?

[gareth_r]

Looks good in blue... for a modern "insect".

Why doesn't the blue one have a blue front mudguard?

On the claimed figures it's less powerful, heavier, taller, and has less fuel capacity than the £7k Honda Hornet, and the SV650 (which stays in the range according to 44teeth) is also £7k, so the 800 is likely to be more expensive than that.

[Lukas239]

Looks good, seems heavy compared to competition.

Clearly Suzuki & honda trying to copy Yamaha's CP2 platform so interested to see Yamaha's response.

[A500leroy]

Why are modern bikes so full on ugly?

[stu67]

I saw this on YouTube, and I don't really get it. I've got a SV650 that I use for the commute and if I wanted a bigger capacity bike would buy the GSXS1000
Anyway I suppose they need something to go up against the Hornet in a whole new sub-category. The one thing I'd say is I think it's better looking than the Hornet and if Suzuki get their pricing right it will be a popular replacement for the SV when they quietly drop that. I was reading somewhere that the parallel twins were significantly cheaper to manufacture than the V twins

[Ecosseven]

A500leroy said:

Why are modern bikes so full on ugly?

To be fair to manufacturers most of them have a wide range of bikes to suit all tastes including retro, modern retro, contemporary, etc.

For middleweight naked bikes the different is predominantly the headlight.

Traditional round headlight - Suzuki SV650, Honda CB650R, Kawasaki Z650RS, Trident 660.
Angular / modern headlight - Kawasaki Z650, Yamaha MT-07, Honda Hornet, Suzuki GSX-8S

Looks are very subjective and whilst I prefer a more traditional round headlight I would be happy to consider something else if the price, quality, and technical specs are good.

Personally I'm not a huge fan of stubby seat units on naked bikes (Trident, CB650R, and looks like the new GSX-8S.)

[Yazza54]

Ugly and 202kg sounds a bit heavy to me for a bike of that size and output? Heavier than my 954 blade..

[Ecosseven]

stu67 said:

I saw this on YouTube, and I don't really get it. I've got a SV650 that I use for the commute and if I wanted a bigger capacity bike would buy the GSXS1000
Anyway I suppose they need something to go up against the Hornet in a whole new sub-category. The one thing I'd say is I think it's better looking than the Hornet and if Suzuki get their pricing right it will be a popular replacement for the SV when they quietly drop that. I was reading somewhere that the parallel twins were significantly cheaper to manufacture than the V twins

I have opposite opinion in terms of looks. Between the new Hornet and this new Suzuki I think the Honda is the better looking bike. Life would be boring if we all liked the same thing!

[Iamnotkloot]

Yazza54 said:

Ugly and 202kg sounds a bit heavy to me for a bike of that size and output? Heavier than my 954 blade..

Looks are subjective but that weight doesn't seem competitive - my husky 701 Svart' is 158 kg with similar power

[Krikkit]

Iamnotkloot said:

Yazza54 said:

Ugly and 202kg sounds a bit heavy to me for a bike of that size and output? Heavier than my 954 blade..

Looks are subjective but that weight doesn't seem competitive - my husky 701 Svart' is 158 kg with similar power

Is yours wet or dry? Agree it's possibly a bit heavy.

[Ecosseven]

Krikkit said:

Iamnotkloot said:

Yazza54 said:

Ugly and 202kg sounds a bit heavy to me for a bike of that size and output? Heavier than my 954 blade..

Looks are subjective but that weight doesn't seem competitive - my husky 701 Svart' is 158 kg with similar power

Is yours wet or dry? Agree it's possibly a bit heavy.

I think the comparable (wet) weights are as follows.

Yamaha MT-07 - 184kg
Kawasaki Z650 - 188kg
Trident 660 - 189kg
Honda Hornet - 190kg
Suzuki SV650 - 200kg
Honda CB650R - 202kg
Suzuki GSX-8S - 202kg.

[five50]

Are we going to see a Yamaha R9 launch at EICMA?? (Faired sportsbike based on MT-09)

[Biker9090]

Just seems overpriced compared to the Hornet. You could even get a nice shock and a revalve on the Hornet for the price difference.....

[SteveKTMer]

Are bikes now like washing machines ? All middle of the road boring commuter bikes ? There's absolutely nothing exciting or outstanding about any of the bikes mentioned above. What's fun about 75bhp ? Couldn't pull the hat off a no more oil protester on the M25 and certainly couldn't outrun a police car, even on a 1400 spin.

Strewth, I think I might die slowly of boredom if I sold bikes these days and didn't work for KTM or Ducati ! Oh praise you KTM, thank you for saving me from the packaged white good tedium that is Suzuki ! (And Yamaha !)

[Donbot]

SteveKTMer said:

Are bikes now like washing machines ? All middle of the road boring commuter bikes ? There's absolutely nothing exciting or outstanding about any of the bikes mentioned above. What's fun about 75bhp ? Couldn't pull the hat off a no more oil protester on the M25 and certainly couldn't outrun a police car, even on a 1400 spin.

Strewth, I think I might die slowly of boredom if I sold bikes these days and didn't work for KTM or Ducati ! Oh praise you KTM, thank you for saving me from the packaged white good tedium that is Suzuki ! (And Yamaha !)

There's plenty of good stuff out there. The bikes above are in the commuter / middlewheight category.

[LuS1fer]

My 2016 SV650S had 71hp and weighed the same as this, 202kg.

Difference is that mine was pre-registered and cost me about half what this costs and didn't look like an ugly insect and had a twin-light fairing.

[Abdul Abulbul Amir]

Should be called the sv800.

I think I'd go for the Z650rs out of that lot...or go for its bigger brother the Z900RS.

[stu67]

I think the Trident is the best looking one out of the lot, the Triumph was brand new when I bought my SV650 and there was something like a £2k uplift on the cost of the Suzuki and I just couldn't justify it for a bike I'd drive into the ground as a commuter. To be honest I think I made the right choice anyway, I've got something like 18k miles on the Suzuki and it's not given me one issue.

[trickywoo]

I'm a Suzuki fan and current sv650 owner and think this needs to be closer to 100bhp to compete.

[gareth_r]

The most it could make is 94 (70 kw) because of the A2 licence regulations.