MOTOFOODIE

The Suzuki GSX-S1000F is the epitome “more than meets the eye” as its bulbous styling will “turn-off” most riders from even riding the motorcycle. Once past the looks, it’s a fantastic road going sports bike.

Being positioned as “sports-tourer”, the GSX-S1000F is more “sporty” than a “tourer” – in fact it handles like a sports bike, has the top-end rush of the iconic Gixxer-1000, but is kitted with a “Renthal Fat bar” & a relaxed riding position making this a “comfortable sports bike”.

The show stopper in the 2017 GSX-S1000F package is the “Engine”, a retuned version of the Suzuki GSX-R1000 K5 that ran between 2005 and 2008. This 145bhp inline 4 engine is smooth, torquey and brilliant for road riding with loads of low-end + mid-range torque and a massive top-end punch that sounds good too.

Let’s get to the real world ownership experience of the 2017 GSX-S1000F:

City Commute:
The GSX-S1000F is a comfortable motorcycle to putter around the city – a combination of relaxed rider ergonomics such as – upright riding position, foot pegs right below the seat and wide handlebar make it easy to navigate the traffic.

• A redesigned bigger radiator ensures that the heat dissipation is manageable.
• Expect a real world tank range of 180-200kms in the city

Touring:
Comfortable riding position with good wind deflection and a creamy spread of torque across the rev range makes the GSX-S1000F a lovely motorcycle for tarmac touring. With the right suspension setup, it will even soak-up broken tarmac/gravel-roads with elegance.

Tank range: expect a full-tank range of 240kms on the highway

Suspension: It’s got a fully-adjustable upside-down fork and a shock that’s adjustable for pre-load and rebound damping, both from KYB

Luggage: The motorcycle doesn’t have any provision to mount hard-luggage. One has to do with soft luggage options of a tail-bag or a tank-bag.

Cost of Service: Avg of INR 8000 per service (includes oil and oil-filter replacement)

What I like about the GSX-S1000F:

• Engine: Borrowed from the K5 GSX-R1000, this is one of the smoothest inline4 engine in the market – it’s just brilliant!!
• Chassis: the aluminium beam frame chassis and the swing-arm are designed to be fun-to-ride with agile handling and feels incredibly well-balanced
• Suspension: Fully-adjustable front and rear suspension from KYB or Kayaba allows the rider to dial-in the settings suitable for a plush-comfortable ride and a responsive hard setting to chase corners.
• Brakes: Front brakes are 4-piston Brembo callipers derived from the GSX-R1000 and a single pot Nissin caliber at the rear providing good bite and feel during braking.
• Rider seat: is broad, soft and is very comfortable even over long distances
• Traction control: is less intrusive and doesn’t take away the riding experience. Operated via the handlebar switch on the left, the traction control has 3 settings – 1 is the lowest sensitivity allowing rear wheel slide, level 2 is for regular road riding, and level 3 is for wet or cold riding conditions.
• Comfortable Rider Ergonomics: the neutral seating position, relaxed reach to the handlebars and foot-peg position have been designed to put long distances on the GSX-S1000F, making this a great sports tourer.

What I don’t like:

• Unlike a text-book sports tourer, touring with a pillion and luggage is NOT BUILT-IN
• Rear seat comfort: the passenger seat is narrow and uncomfortable for anything other than short trips.
• NO options from Suzuki to mount a luggage side-rack or hard panniers
• NO built-in steering damper
• Full LCD Instrument Console: Simple, non-colour digital display shows sufficient information, but under bright sunlight, it’s difficult to read the dial.

The Suzuki GSX-S1000F is blessed with a ‘brilliant engine’, ‘agile chassis’ and ‘comfortable rider ergonomics’ which translates to a wonderful riding experience out on winding roads, boring expressways, city commuting and even bad roads.