SUZUKI GSX-8S

After a bit of a hiatus, Suzuki's back in the lucrative entry-level sector

- BIG MAC

Hats off to Suzuki – it isn’t afraid of making brave and bold decisions. It recently pulled out of MotoGP, just a couple of years after winning the world championship, and then it announces it’s pulling out of the World Endurance Championship. Next, it makes the GSX-R1000 obsolete due to not enough sales, swiftly followed by an announcement that it’s building a completely new bike to get a slice of the hugely popular sub-£8000 category... and this is a very brave move. Brave because that price point is rammed with what are simply great bikes, regardless of price tag.

The competition the GSX-8S faces is fierce, with the main contenders being the Yamaha MT-07, the Triumph Trident 660, KTM 790 Duke and the Kawasaki Z650, all under £8000 – and all making extremely compelling cases for your hard-earned cash. So, Suzuki got a clean sheet of paper and predictably started by opting for a parallel twin-cylinder layout for the engine. It’s the easiest way to achieve a decent capacity without the cost of making a four-cylinder engine or the lack of flexibility of a single-cylinder engine. It’s no coincidence that it’s the preferred choice of engine layout for all its competitors with the exception of the Triumph, which gets a three-cylinder engine.