THE Gixxers, as GSXs are known in bike circles, have a reputation as an all rounder.
If you are convinced you want your first bike to be a sports bike, but know you’re not ready for something really nuts like a Yamaha R1, then it won’t be long before someone will recommend Suzuki’s evolving and varied GSX range.
Older bikes can be found for as little as £1,500 and £3,000 gives you lots of choice among bikes registered in 06/07. Or for those that can, it’s £8,000 - £9,000 for a nearly new bike similar to the one on test.
If you have ever driven a Suzuki car you will be expecting the bike’s switches to have the same flimsy, vague feeling.
But the first surprise is how well made the ignition, switches and instrument binnacle are. The new digital instrument display is extremely clear but also stylish whether in day light or at night (where it offers up a charming salmon pink illumination).
The clutch, something that I expected to be fierce as this is a sports bike, is smooth and friendly.
You still tend to fly off the line until you get the feel for it, but it’s far from difficult. The Suzuki may look intimidating if you have only ridden 10 year old street bikes, but as soon I pulled away I felt it was on my side.
It built on this initial promise by soaking up the pot holes which I occasionally crashed across; whereas failing to see a pot hole on some bikes leads to a nasty whack that sends a tremor up both arms and along the shoulder blades before it meets and fizzes out at the top of the spine.
The 650cc engine is theoretically a better starting engine than the 1,000cc bikes. Less power should mean that relative novices won’t get into too much trouble.
The problem with that idea is that you can still be sitting on the 650 at a red light as it goes to red and amber light but off the line and across the junction before it’s gone green. Without trying.
That ability to put power down, combined with the nature of sports bike tyres nearly caught me out a couple of times on greasy, drying, country lanes.
Coming out of tight corners at 20mph, aware from my mirrors that a van was charging along behind me, I wanted to pull briskly out of the corners, to ensure I was clearly visible to him.
The back of the bike squirmed, threatening to step out if I didn’t lift the power and straighten the bike out. A reminder, as if it were needed, that this is a friendly sports bike, not a friendly push bike.
But then, out on the open road, or cruising at a 50mph speed limit there is a bit of a vibration in the bike because the small engine was revving quite high to give me that speed.
I don’t notice it when on the bike, but when I get off for a break, all my nerve endings were tingling; dialing a number my mobile phone felt really peculiar.
This slight vibration, even after I had spotted it, didn’t stop me overtaking. Why would it when the bike can still offer so much?
Coming out of a 30mph zone into long stretch of straight and clear national speed limit, it was almost instinctive to indicate and overtake the cars in front of me. The bike delivered a silky wave of power and the maneuvers felt safer than any overtake I have completed in a car.
It is in these moments that biking comes into its own. It delivers a sense of freedom rarely felt in a car these days and the Suzuki is an ideal bike to discover this new found pleasure.
FAST FACTS
Suzuki GSX650F
Price: £5,561
Engine: 4cyl, four-stroke, liquid-cooled, DOHC
Max speed: 140mph
Transmission: 6-speed constant mesh
Brakes: 310mm disk brake, twin (F) 240mm disk brake, single (R)
Dry weight: 216kg
Fuel capacity: 19 litres
Seat height: 770mm