Suzuki GSX-8S

2023 Suzuki GSX8S -3,000 Kilometers – Hi All, Thanks for reading my review of my bike, which I have now sold and I'm continuing to the 8R faired version soon. It's a excellent bike, but has only one real drawback which is suspension related. It's too hard at both ends of the bike for my riding weight of 93KG on our poorly surfaced Qld Roads. Well, it's not going to rattle your fillings out, but it doesn't need to be racetrack firm in my opinion.

The suspension, front and rear, is mostly non adjustable at all. No front preloads or rebound adjustments, only rear shock preload, BUT Suzuki no longer provide the adjusting spanner. They tell you to see a Dealer or buy your own (part number supplied). The front end bounces off sharp ridges followed by the rear end. But this gives sharp sports bike like handling on the occasion when you can use it.

The motor is a good one, it doesn't excessively vibrate, there's a little in the Riders foot pegs, but the state of your boot soles (softness) will be the deciding factor in how you feel it. Fuel, being 95 Octane, is fairly economical, and a lot better than a 4 cyl GSX-S1000. Around 4 L/100 KM is the average of what I got.

Seat comfort is OK, and not having the Rider hard against the tank is a good feature. No idea what the lights are in the dark, not part of my riding. Tyres were hardly worn at 3,000 KM, being the stock Dunlop SportsMax 2 fitting, and good in the driving rain showers too that I couldn't avoid.

The quick Shifter action was not the best that I have used with other brands. It was preferable to just use the tried and true methods, and not try to down change while the transmission is under heavy load.

All up, for mid level Rider bike, Suzuki has spun a lot of good engineering with a very fair price. You'll enjoy it as much as I did for sure.

Bob.

Purchased in Jan 2024 at Brisbane Motorcycles.

Mileage: 3,000 km

Hey Everyone, This will be my 2nd GSX8S., bought in September 2025, a MY23 White/Blue bike that has sat in the Shop unsold for a year, so it is a 2024 production. A year newer than the January 2023 bike I have reported on. So far, it's due for the 1,000km service, and no issues for the Workshop to attend to. The quick shifter, which never worked in the 2023 bike, on the new one, works fine. Brakes are more aggressive than the 2023; they faded noticeably after the first 500 km's. Ride comfort is better on the 2024 bike, the 2013 one had front forks that had too much compression over big hits or rutted roads. The 2024 bike, is smoother and the only change I have needed to do was to the rear shock absorber, changing pre set 3 to setting 4. To do this, Suzuki no longer provides the C spanner, the tool kit is 2 by allen keys and a screwdriver under the two seats. An optional change that I have made is to raise the forks through the clamps by 2 mm to put more weight over the front end which helps to preload the steering when filtering slowly and in faster turns at speed.

EDIT 17.10.2025 The bike now has had the first service, no issues to complain about. I've swapped back and forth several times with the preload setting and seems that #4 is the better setting for rough roads, while stock 3 is preferred for most city and suburban smooth roads. The spring seems to be OK, the damper is set to harsh. Only a replacement after market unit would fix it. Unfortunately, Suzuki cheaped out here and did not provide any damping adjuster.

Also, I have a new Honda Hornet 750, and here I'll write a comparison between the two :-

<Edit below added 05//11/2025>

The Honda and this Suzuki are like two different classes of bike. The Honda is for those who want a compact ball of energy, always ready to wind up the front wheel off the ground in eager excitement IF you so wish. Or it can just poke along and always maintain a air of refinement.

If you have ever ridden a Hornet 500 (also the 500F), it's closely related to the 750 in many ways. The 750 cc engine just makes the 500's wishes come true faster.

It by virtue of it's ergonomics feels 3/4 the physical size of the heavier Suzuki and uses it to it's advantages as less weight moves sooner. The Honda would suit a smaller framed person, and the 8S a larger person. I am 5' 11' 1800 mm and in riding gear weight, 95 kg.

In my mind, I see the ideal rider of the Honda to be younger than the Suzuki 8S. It feels it's been made to be 'your first big bike' as it's all about the engine, where as the 8S is for the more older rider who has come down from a GSX-R and wants a more steady bike that has a chassis that can bite just as hard as the Honda, but doesn't have to prove it. It just does the business and moves on.

With now 2000+km traveled on the 8S, I have return everything to the Suzuki stock settings as the suspension parts have now bedded in fully. The Hornet 750 is now at 3,500 km.

I have found the 8S chain tension is quite critical to rear shock comfort. The settings from Suzuki say 20 to 30mm of movement of the bottom side of the chain with the bike on the side stand. Ditto the 8R.

For some reason the Mechanic set at the first service a 1,000km, the chain slop to15mm top to bottom stretch, even though I had the day before set it correctly. The same Person decided the rear tyre needed to be pumped to 46psi when Suzuki say 36. The front he left at 36psi. This made the rear shock absorber very very harsh over cratered roads

Over several attempts to see what 30 mm did, I found it gave a mellow ride at the expense of a jerky sloppy throttle. So I ended up some where half way between 20 to 30 mm as it hard to measure accurately with a hand held ruler in free air.

In comparison, the Hornet 750 is quite happy with either a tight chain or a loose chain.

The Hornet drinks slightly more 91 fuel at 3.8l/100km, the Suzuki uses 95 and is more frugal sometimes as low as 3.5 on the highway at 100 kph. I use 91 in the Honda and 98 in the 8S as my self serve servo sells 98 at the same price as others sell 95. Using 91 to 98 in the 8S makes no difference that I can tell.

Recently, I made the decision to sell the Hornet for personal health reasons. I found that the nerves in my damaged lower pelvic area were being affected by pressure from being constantly hard up against the Honda's tank, and the 8S does not ask for the rider to hug the tank, so reluctantly the Hornet and I have parted company. For anyone else, I doubt that would be an issue, but with 50 years of riding motorbikes, some times old age and past injuries dictate your future. Bob.

EDIT 01/06/2026

The bikes continued to preform as expected since the other time, I changed the stock Dunlop Road Smart 2 tyres for Bridgestone T33 at 5900 KM. They still had many thousands left in them. The bike also had it's recommended 6,000km service at a Suzuki Shop to maintain the 3 year warranty conditions. No problems detected, nothing needed under warranty, As I had made the decision to sell it at 7500km (which I recently did), I had decided to change the tyres earlier than need was because I did not want to have to change them as a condition of a roadworthy report, and I wanted to see how this tyre worked as it was said by the Bridgestone to have a thicker wall construction. After a few rides, I came to the conclusion that a more softer walled tyre may be a better choice. Grip, wet conditions, comfort were the same as for the stock Dunlop RS2 tyre. If I had to change them again, I would have picked a set of Dunlop Road Smart 4.

Bob.