50FR
Sporty
Words : Noel Priestley Photos : Geoff Osborne looks and axelike reliability combine to make the GSX250FR an appealing LAMS machine .
Take a quick walk around the GSX250SF and it ’ s plain to see the sporty stance and fairings pay homage to the larger GSX-R models in Suzuki ’ s range , as well as its MotoGP racers . This test bike was in an unassuming , plain silver finish , but you can also acquire this sport lightweight in a fantastic Suzuki racing blue and yellow with Ecstar GP livery , which frankly looks the bees ! Not only that , this mini- Gixxer retails at a very competitive $ 4999
+ ORC , so , on first impressions , it seems like incredibly good bang for your hard earned buck . Climbing aboard the small GSX and the bar , seat , peg ergo ’ s feel very good , the riding position being very neutral . On the road the bike is comfortable and manoeuvrable and excellent for working through commuting traffic . On open backroads , it ’ s actually quite fun to flick around and the sport tyres felt to have very good grip in the mixture of both dry and wet road surfaces I encountered . Power from the fuel-injected 250 single is modest , but at 161kg the bike is no heavyweight and feels even lighter when either manoeuvring around the garage or working through traffic . It also achieves the open road limit effortlessly and I was surprised at the torquey nature of the single as I held 100km / h in top gear heading up a long motorway hill . The six-speed gearbox works well and gearing
is a good match to the engine ’ s output . Some overseas markets get the Gixxer 250 with the Inazuma-based twin 250 engine , which has a bit more mumbo , but adds 20kg to the bike ’ s mass . As such the performance is
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