Quote from: David W on April 02, 2015, 01:09:43 PM
Why can the Japanese not help themselves castrating their naked bikes and pretend they are doing it to 'improve the mid-range'?  They do it every single time.

they will learn eventually...

Quote from: Tiiimmmaaayyyy on April 02, 2015, 01:05:32 PM
A bit like the GSXR really, good bike but not up there with the rest of them. I think it looks good enough and will be fine ridden in isolation but compared to the S1000r and the 1290 duke it'd be a bit flat.

On the up side it's £2 or £3k less than those machines..

Quote from: Carbon_ZX6R on April 02, 2015, 02:47:09 PM

Quote from: David W on April 02, 2015, 01:09:43 PM
Why can the Japanese not help themselves castrating their naked bikes and pretend they are doing it to 'improve the mid-range'?  They do it every single time.

they will learn eventually...

I'm not holding my breath.  They've been doing it for a long time.

Quote from: Farmer Giles on April 02, 2015, 04:34:15 PM

Quote from: Tiiimmmaaayyyy on April 02, 2015, 01:05:32 PM
A bit like the GSXR really, good bike but not up there with the rest of them. I think it looks good enough and will be fine ridden in isolation but compared to the S1000r and the 1290 duke it'd be a bit flat.

On the up side it's £2 or £3k less than those machines..

It will potentially be less desirable and loose value at a bigger percentage...so false economy.

well I rode the GSX yesterday and I really enjoyed it.

Before I give my opinions let it be known that it's the newest, most powerful bike I've ever ridden and I have not ridden the latest and greatest machines like alot of you have so I may wax lyrical about it where other may have better machines they experienced to compare it to.

Anyway enough of that..

It was dry and sunny and the bike was the black and red version as in my first picture. It had about 800 miles on it and the rear tyre was already starting to square off a little.. Unfortunately it was not the demo bike they were supposed to be getting and this machine was one of Suzuki GBs own bikes which meant I had to be accompanied on the ride, which sucked somewhat.

The riding position was comfy and the weight was well hidden in the chassis, I think the dealer told me it was 214kgs wet but it didn't feel cumbersome on the move at all, maybe helped with having the wide bars on meaning you could pull it around were ever you needed.

As for power..  well it was fast but it didn't have a real top end rush and I guess thats the old 'tuning for more midrange'. It was way quicker than the Tracer that the other guy was on.

Brakes were pretty special and it handled really well but compared to the budget items on my FZ8 I was expecting it to be better and it was.

Gearbox was lush but Suzuki are good at gearboxes but it did have a really long first gear and I was constantly trying to down shift again when I was already in first..  Should have looked at the gear indicator and that brings me onto my only real critisism of this bike. The instrument cluster is a single LCD display with everything laid out on it. I found it a bit busy and although I'm sure you'd get used to it it was not something you could easily read at a glance.

In the flesh the bodywork around the sides of the motor and radiator looks quite fat and actually today I went back to Pro Bike to try on a new helmet and I parked my FZ8 next to it and TBH I prefered the looks of my bike against the GSX-S.

Overall it was great fun, fast, comfy, handled and stopped well and it was quite keen on lifting the front wheel at any opportunity  and as an everyday bike it would be an excellent choice IMO. Will I be parting with 9 large of my hard earned, I don't know even though they offered me a great part x value on my current bike..

Before riding it I was expecting it to be 25% more everywhere than my bike and it pretty much was, apart from the looks and the instrument cluster.

If you can get a ride then do so..  It was a blast..

Thanks for the report FG.

I'm guessing the FZ8 will be staying in your garage for a while yet.

it is tempting to get one but having seen them side by side I'm not sure, and the fact it's a further 5k investment on my part for what is essentially a toy..

They are not released until June or July so got time to think about it but the PX they offered against my bike was basically £500 less than I paid for it 18 months ago which I was pretty shocked by TBH..