2024 Suzuki GSX-8R SW Sport Bike Makes the Mid-Weight Mighty

• Suzuki introduces the GSX-8R middleweight sports bike.
• It has a fairly new and relatively potent 776-cc parallel twin that makes 82 hp and 58 lb-ft of torque, more than enough to move the 452-pound bike.
• The price is $9999, including destination and shipping.

It was you need at least 1000 cc in a transverse four-cylinder to really have fun. Maybe even 1200cc, gold 1250. And maybe you do too. It’s hard to argue with the pleasure provided by 1000 cc of almost everything, especially when it comes to sports bike displacement.

Purpose the new Suzuki GSX-8R makes a good argument that you can still have fun with 224 cubic centimeters less. As your grandfather used to say, “There’s no substitute for cubic inches, unless you’re talking about digital port fuel injection via 42mm throttle bodies mated to 10 pinhole injectors and a 270 degree firing order”.

The GSX-8R is all that, with a robust new two-cylinder from the sportbike kings at Suzuki – the same guys who brought us the original GSX-R (pronounced “Jixxer”) in 1985. The new 8R is similar to the naked-bike GSX-S in many ways, except that the 8R has a smooth and aerodynamically efficient fairing at the front. The price is a reasonable $9999 including destination and shipping.

This is another benefit of a mid-size sports bike: the cost. Two less cylinders means a lower sticker. Compare the price of the new GSX-8R to the 1000cc GSX-R1000R but with an MSRP of $19,059 and you begin to see the benefits of the mid-size sport bike category.

The GSX-8R is built around a new upright parallel twin with 776cc. That compact and tidy powerplant makes a solid 82 hp at 8500 rpm and 58 lb-ft of torque at 6800 rpm. The peaks of power and torque can be a little high, but you can access all the heights and the tach.

On a very pleasant day bombing the apex through the lower desert of Southern California and over the local mountains, that engine felt completely usable, offering as much torque as I wanted in what I wanted. it started out as a very slippery and wet day.

And if it ever exceeded my ability, Suzuki’s electronics stepped in to keep the bike upright and going strong. Ride modes were easy to access via a switch operated by the left thumb. That controlled the Suzuki Drive Mode Selector (S-DMS) and the Suzuki Traction Control System (STCS).

The modes are A for Active, which has the fastest throttle response and power delivery; B for Basic, a slightly softer throttle; and C for Comfort, which is a bit like a rubber band on the controls. In the wet morning-with water, mud, and maybe even a little ice, I started in C, then I kept it in B. Later I answered by a click and lived to tell the story.

The modes are displayed and easy to read on the TFT screen, which also offers a tachometer, speedo, gear position, gas gauge, odometer, battery charge level and coolant temperature, as well as a few lights d notice.

The bike starts with a touch of the start button and travels. At first, you’re missing your full-size sports bike of larger displacement. Who can blame you? But within a few miles, your brain has adjusted to the lighter midsize setup—452 pounds—that you’re riding and soon you’re enjoying what turns out to be surprisingly meaty power and torque curves.

At first, in the rain and the cold and the humidity, I took it easy, enjoying that power and torque in appropriate dollops. But soon enough the sun was out and the roads were drying and I found myself at the peaks bombing along with all the highly qualified full time cyclist writers ahead of me.

“Say, this is fun,” my brain said.

SEE PHOTOS

The TFT screen is easy to read and has everything you want.

There have been patches where I happened to look down and see 111 mph or more on the speedo and I didn’t even know I was going that fast. Top speed is 134 mph, which is an extra 3 mph over the GSX-S (and more front-end stability) thanks to that fairing. The engine is perfectly balanced, with two counter-rotating balance shafts to keep everything running smoothly.

You can cruise happily in sixth at 75mph with the heel parked at 5000rpm and be perfectly happy. It is the same rpm my carbureted 2001 Suzuki SV650 is happier. Life is full of ironies. Or coincidences. Or something.

With a relatively long set of intake runners, the GSX-8R also delivers a good stack of mid-range torque for such a low displacement. This means you can get out of a corner without necessarily needing to drop into the middle of it, thus adding to the fun of the day.

After a long day in the saddle, I wasn’t tired. Other commitments prevented me from attending the next day’s track time at Chuckwalla Raceway in the desert, but all reports from those who went said that the bike performed well at that track, as if it was perhaps more comfortable as a track bike.

Suzuki, meanwhile, is trying to present this as a sort of all-round bike.

“Yes, it’s a sports bike, but it can do so much more than that,” said Avery Innis, director of training and publishing at Suzuki Motor USA. “This is like the decathlete of sports bikes: sport touring, track days, transportation, you can do almost anything you want to do with it.”

It worked like a sports bike, and I could see taking it to a track day, but the only saddlebags offered by Suzuki are relatively small, and for real touring you’ll want a bigger windshield, plus luggage capacity is wider. , softer seat.

You could travel with it and probably have a good time doing it, but I don’t know that I would call it a carrier, per se. It is first and foremost a sports bike and a good one – accessible and fun. And that’s more than enough.

Is 800cc displacement enough for you? Or do you need the full liter? Let us know in the comments below.

Mark Vaughn grew up in a Ford family and spent many hours holding a trouble light on a straight six miraculously powered by a one-barrel carburetor while his father cursed Ford, all its products and everyone who worked for it. This was his introduction to objective automotive criticism. He began writing for City News Service in Los Angeles, then moved to Europe and became editor of a car magazine called, creatively, Auto. He decided that Auto should cover Formula 1, sports prototypes and touring cars – no one stopped him! From there he interviewed with Autoweek at the 1989 Frankfurt Motor Show and has been with us ever since.