Access 125 – a name which turned out as an ace card from the deck of Suzuki Motorcycles in India. The scooter turned out to be a keystone in company’s solo stint in our country. This solid and simple scooter became the brand’s identity in a flash, since launch. But unfortunately remaining cards in the deck failed to prove their mettle in the fiercely competitive game of Indian two wheeler industry. Earlier, Suzuki Motorcycles played the role of ‘behind the screen hero’ with products like Suzuki Shogun and Fiero, in association with TVS. But the new age two bikes from the brand couldn’t find an edge over others. But efforts put in more than two years of research & development and vast expertise of the domain merged together to give birth to a bike that left the competition aghast – the Suzuki Gixxer. The bike has won 9 different titles for automotive excellence till now and today we test it on our scale to find out it’s worth.
Looks: The Chiseled Masculinity
With Gixxer, company is willing to change the brand perception in customer’s mind and in aesthetic department company secures the victory in this perception changing game. ‘Lean yet masculine’ is the term which perfectly describes the motorcycle.
Whenever we look at the existing Suzuki motorcycles, except bike we are testing, we notice no nonsense designs with smooth lines flowing all around the body. But this subtleness of design overshadows the true character of machines like Access 125 or GS 150R. It is very well understood by manufacturers that, the form should portray the image which you want your product to carry into the market. Now with this product, it is quite evident that Suzuki Motorcycles too has grasped this lesson very well. Going by the recent trend, naked street fighters have been fetching the most limelight and hence company has chosen to go with the flow. Suzuki Gixxer is one of most beautiful naked street fighters running today on Indian soil. Urge to stick to its character has resulted into a design with minimalistic body panels and maximum exposed skeleton. Bike looks the best when looked-on along its side profile.
Cuts and creases play a dominant role in the design of the bike, especially on the tank and in tail end design. Swept back headlight and cut short tail gives it a very compact stance. Headlight design is inspired by that of brand’s flagship product – the Hayabusa, while the LED taillight cluster looks impressive with its unique pattern. Suzuki designers have achieved the wise interplay of matte black plastic, colored body panels and partially exposed frame while crafting the body and which eventually gels out as a treat to your eyes. Designers have tried to give faux perimeter frame like appearance with design of its side panels, which are located beneath the seat and fuel tank. The unmistakable and one of its kind twin port stubby exhaust add some more spice to the design while retaining its functional value. This exhaust is the only place which receives chrome treatment and it does complement the overall design very well. The other functional elements which end up adding some more stars to style are fat rubber and 41 mm front fork. Red stitching on the seat, carbon fiber textured plastic panels, riveted fuel tank cover and aluminum finished fuel cap shows the detailing which company wanted to attain in design of this bike.
Color options: Metallic Triton Blue (Signature Gixxer shade), Candy Antares Red, Metallic Oort Grey, Glass Sparkle Black, Pearl Mirage White.
Engine & Performance: New Engine – New Surprises
Company’s fresh attempt at the segment is powered by an all new light yet powerful engine. This engine is one of the most powerful unit and all this power is complemented by its vibe free nature. This 154.9 cc mill will surely be a marathon runner in company’s future portfolio.
When the first news aired about Suzuki’s new offering in 150 cc segment, including us, many people had strong belief that company will use the re-tuned version of unit which is powering the GS 150R. But company was serious when it came to an all new product and hence wanted every crucial element, like engine, to be worked up from the scratch. The Gixxer is powered by an all new, light weight, 154.9 cc under-square motor. This motor is one of the most powerful units amongst the competition, as it develops peak power of 14.8 PS @ 8000 rpm. Gixxer produces second best in the segment torque figures which read 14 Nm @ 6000 rpm, best being that of Honda CB Unicorn 160 which produces 0.61 Nm more with its bigger displacement engine. Moving away from the on paper figures, it was fun finding out engine’s real world performance. The throaty note of exhaust will make you fall in love at the first cranking of the engine itself. The on road performance of the bike is dominated only by torque all the way. The engine redlines at around 10,500 rpm and screams for gear change every time by flashing the white indicator on the console. If you take the throaty exhaust out of the picture, then you would hardly notice the engine running beneath the tank, thanks to super refined and vibration free operation of the mill. You might only notice fewer vibrations even when the engine is revving vigorously. This takes out the biggest cause of stress during any ride.
This bike has the slickest gearbox in the segment which handles shifts on just light tap of the toe. Initially we wondered why company has kept the six speed box of GS 150R at the bay and employed an all-new 5 speed tranny. But new gearbox has lot to offer and does the job quite well. In gear acceleration is good between all pairs except the top one, as it loses out the steam quickly. The fifth gear is meant more for cruising than for accelerating. That could be the reason why bike falls prey to nervous nineties syndrome, which also means that the bike refrains a bit while touching the triple digit speeds. Top speed for Gixxer, noted during our test run, was 106 kmph. Practically, the strong mid-range performance comes handier than higher top speed figures and that’s where Gixxer delivers its best. The rev range between 4000 to 8000 rpm produces the pleasurable ride. Fueling is taken care by a conventional carburetor, instead of the electronic gadgetry, just to keep the cost in check. Finally coming to the most important aspect for any vehicle in India – the fuel efficiency, we found bike scoring 42 – 45 kmpl on the course consisting of 70% city and 30% highway roads. During short ‘highway only’ run the figure climbed up to 48 kmpl. Gixxer manages these figures with the help of Suzuki Eco Performance technology, acronym-ed as SEP. With tank of 12 liter capacity, this bike can manage a run of 500+ km before next refueling.
Ride & Handling: The New Gem on the Horizon
It is not too often when we see a company trying to please the enthusiastic riders with thrilling machine and Suzuki Gixxer is one such rare example.
Let us make it clear that this is the strong most domain of this bike. Yamaha did set the benchmark in the segment long ago and has managed to defend its forte till now. Many launches took place after the launch of FZ series but no single product out of them can be termed as a serious attempt of making such aggressively handling machine, till now. Suzuki motorcycles have succeeded in loading the springs and balancing the body weight between set of wheels to the utmost perfection levels, such that FZ series now gets equally weighed opponent in the domain. The seven step adjustable rear mono shock coil and fat 41 mm front forks absorb potholes quite comfortably. But you can expect thuds reaching the saddle because of rear coil’s stiffer tuning and these thuds reaches pillion with more intensity. On the positive side, this stiffer setup throws the confidence into its ride. While describing the cornering ability of the bike, one silly example popped up into our mind and hope you won’t kill us for that. Bike behaves like the ‘Hit Me’ toy, which means we can easily lean into the corners to do the knee downs and return back to normal in a flick of a second.
Center of gravity of the bike lies comparatively closer to ground, which can be well felt during each and every corner. Gixxer just weighs 135 kg and is the second lightest bike in the segment. Wide and flat handlebar, scooped out tank which accommodates rider’s thighs comfortably and rear set foot pegs completes the chemistry needed for that aggressive and confident ride. Under the skin, Suzuki engineers have deployed the rigid diamond frame which provides the necessary strength and composure. The geometry of the front fork lends this bike a bigger turning radius. This doesn’t affect the maneuvering through city traffic but more efforts will be required if you need to take U-turns or park the bike in tighter spots. Overall Suzuki did a tremendous job while fixing up the fine details of ride and handling department.
Comfort, Convenience and Ergonomics:
Suzuki Gixxer comes with all bells and whistles which could be termed as features, as per the current set of segment standards. This bike proudly carries the Value for Money tag on its back.
All-digital instrument console is the most value adding element on-board of Gixxer, after engine and chassis. This rectangular display packs in maximum information which fulfills need of every single rider. The console houses obvious speedometer, odometer, tachometer and fuel level indicator. In addition to this, two trip meters, a clock and gear shift indicator provides the special touch. No other bike in the segment, and only few bikes from the segment above it, offer the gear indicator. The courteous bike welcomes you with ‘Go Ready’ text, as soon as you turn on the ignition.
Apart from usual turn indicators, high beam and neutral gear indicator, there is one more LED asking you to upshift as soon as engine reaches preset engine rpm levels. This indicator comes handy as its bright light easily catches your attention.
You will get all the switches, including the choke lever, within reach of three fingers. The switch gear design pleases the fingers and has least possible play. Some rough edges can be found on a switch or two though.
The built quality is top notch as seen on the other vehicles from the brand.
The saddle is well contoured and well-padded for the rider. But story is totally different for the pillion. Pillion gets enough support to rest on, but seat’s inclination angle and not so comfortable rear grab rails spoils the story. It is highly advisable to go solo if you plan to take this machine out on long touring runs.
Suzuki Gixxer comes with low slung set of rider footpegs which tend to kiss the floor while leaning. Going further, you should be extra cautious if you have a habbit to tug your toe under the gear shifter. We had several occasions of shoe getting scratched badly while leaning into the bends.
Putting this bike on center stand becomes uncomfortable sometimes and we see this as an ergonomic flaw. Getting on and off the stand needs lot of efforts at specific point during the act.
Few companies pay attention to the design of key and Suzuki is one of them. Gixxer has very well designed key but the position ignition is equally odd. Keyhole is positioned between speedo and handlebar but it lies too deep. Further, due to special design, key clashes with handlebar sometimes and whole operation become bit tricky. This also is an ergonomic flaw and engineers should take care of it in due course of time.
The headlight design looks to be inspired by that of Hayabusa’s, which is good. But the amount of light it throws is just average and someone might feel need for more illumination at certain moments.
Duty of harnessing the speed is left to Bybre disc upfront, coupled with conventional drum at the rear end. The disc upfront does the stupendous job of bringing these 14 horses to halt and has good feedback available at the lever. When compared to this disc, rear drum feels under-powered and doesn’t add confidence to braking.
Conclusion:
Yes, Suzuki Gixxer is clearly a well worked out attempt at niche entry level performance bike segment of our country. But it won’t take a second to boil down the bike which actually is on cross-hairs of this Japanese brand, which is Yamaha FZ series. This intent always retains the driver’s seat while setting up the ride, handling and till some extent design language of this new bike. With Gixxer, Suzuki put forth the next generation design language and result is the bike which is designed to kill with its sharp contours. An all new engine is the most refined unit in its category and its vibe free performance leave others far behind. After long time a new bike arises on the horizon which has confidence inspiring riding dynamics and can thrill you to your bones, if experienced to its full potential. Company has managed to put together a combination which packs maximum fun and maximum thrill per rupee quotient. Finally, with Gixxer, Suzuki Motorcycles lock horns with the competition and is confident to throw some out of the ring. Suzuki Gixxer marks the beginning of next generation Suzuki era in India on very strong note. Going further, this beast is set to evolve into a full faired version soon which could be the cheapest and most value for money offering in full fared bike segment.
Things We Like:
– Riding dynamics.
– Bold styling.
Things Which Can Improve:
– Comfort levels, especially for pillion.
– Small ergonomic flaws.
| Engine |
| Type |
4-stroke, 1-cylinder, air-cooled |
| Valve System |
SOHC, 2 Valve |
| Displacement |
154.9 cm3 |
| Bore x Stroke |
56.0 mm x 62.9 mm |
| Engine Output |
14.8ps@8000 rpm |
| Torque |
14 Nm @ 6000 rpm |
| Fuel System |
Carburetor |
| Transmission Type |
5 Speed, MT |
| Brake |
| Front |
Bybre Single Disc |
| Rear |
Drum |
| Suspension |
| Front |
41 mm, Telescopic |
| Rear |
Swing Arm, Mono Suspension, 7 Step Adjustable Coil |
| Tyre & Wheels |
| Front |
100/80-17-Tubeless |
| Rear |
140/60R-17-Tubeless |
| Wheels |
Alloy |
| Dimensions |
| Length |
2,050 mm |
| Width |
785 mm |
| Height |
1,030 mm |
| Wheel Base |
1,330 mm |
| Ground Clearance |
160 mm |
| Seat Height |
780 mm |
| Kerb Mass |
135 kg |
| Fuel Tank Capacity |
12 Ltrs |
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