The very kind people at Priory Suzuki, have recently given me a lend of their brand new to the market middleweight bike, the GSX-8S. The bike, and it’s sportier sibling, the GSX-8R were launched at EICMA in November 2023, and released into the Irish market sometime around February this year.
I had a good look around the bikes at the show, and wasn’t immediately sold on the look of them. They’re really very pointy, which seems to be the new style that Suzuki is going for. What did catch my eye though, was the bold colour choices they were available in. They’re still Suzukis flagship colours of blue, yellow, silver and black, but bolder and brighter than what’s available in their other models. These were designed to be different.

I read up on the bike before I took it. There were some fancy acronyms like SIRS and SCAS, but what it comes down to, is that the bike has a quickshifter that works both ways, adjustable ABS, and a hill start function that makes it absolutely ideal for entry level riders. The next best thing about the bike? The seat.
Suzuki have made the bike both narrow and super lightweight. That means that even my 5’3” self can comfortably get both feet on the ground. This makes the bike even more agile and manageable, as I can weave safely through traffic without having to worry about if I need to put my foot down in a hurry.

Overall I absolutely loved all 873kms that I’ve so far racked up on the bike. It’s agile, it handles exceptionally well and it has more speed than you can legally use from its parallel twin engine. I’ve checked, so you don’t have to, the top speed is somewhere above 200km/h and the brakes work pretty well too.
The GSX-8S is available on special offer at the moment at €9,950 and the GSX-8R for you sportsbike lovers will cost €10,950. Probably the best value middle-weight bike on the market at the moment. It’s definitely one of my favourites.