Suzuki Gixxer SF review, test ride

The Gixxer SF carries over the chassis and engine unchanged. Which means you have single-cylinger, air-cooled and carburetted engine. There’s no fuel injection, tweaking of gear ratios or ECU remapping here. For the record, the Gixxer SF develops 14.6bhp of power and 1.8kgm of torque. On the suspension front, the SF carries over the Gixxer’s beefy 41mm telescopic front forks, monoshock rear, 268mm Bybre front disc and MRF rubber. Even the suspension set-up is carried over unchanged.

Out on the track, the new aerodynamic package has clearly helped increase top speed. On one run down the lightly undulating 2.3km straight (yes, that’s longer than an entire lap of Kari Motor Speedway), the Gixxer clambered to an indicated 131kph as it nudged gently into the limiter in fifth. However, on most laps, the Gixxer stayed in the mid 20s and we expect that 110-115kph cruise shouldn’t be a problem. As the bikes were running on Japanese fuel and had been tuned to cope with that, we would like to see how it performs in Indian conditions.

The fairing seems to work as advertised, giving a better sense of what is happening at the front wheel.  No doubt, the grip from the MRFs – even in the wet conditions – boosted confidence as well. On hairpins, despite a soaking wet (albeit, grippy) track, you could feel the purchase on offer and ride with confidence levels that aren’t expected in those conditions.