NEW Suzuki GSX-8TT | 70's Swagger, 2025 SPEED!!

Welcome back to the channel. Well, I'm out in Slovenia and just look at the views behind me. Absolutely incredible around here. But that's not why I'm here, just to do a bit of sightseeing. I'm here to ride these new Suzuki's, the new GSX-S8T and TT. This is the TT version. Basically, it's based on the GSX-S platform. A few little tweaks, which we'll go into, but basically just in a retro body and a lovely cowl. So if you're interested in these two bikes, this is the video for you. So settle yourself down, make yourself a cup of tea and chop seat, roll that intro. So here are the motorcycles. Everyone's getting ready. We've got some quite, we've got the designer with us who actually come up with the design of these bikes. He's the fellow there with the dark visor down. We've got the, there's a Suzuki test rider who's even like testing the MotoGP bikes. He's the fellow with the white Arai helmet there. We've got Chad, we've got the usual crew, Kate and Dan's here as well. But we're starting off on the TT and at lunch, we're swapping to the T. So there's two groups of people and we're going to swap over at lunchtime. But as we know, this is based on the GSX-8S platform. So it's more or less exactly the same. The gearing's the same, the engines are the same, the suspension's the same. So it really is the 8S, but with some slight tweaks. Lithium battery, which saves two kilos. So Suzuki finally added a lithium battery to the bike. And the headlight, they say, is the best headlight they have ever made. So they're really, we had a big presentation last night and you wouldn't believe how much time and effort was made about the headlights. Bar end mirrors, the first bike with bar end mirrors. So we had also a couple of slides of the presentation all about the mirrors. Hand finished, I hope you noticed, there's no cast marks on these, hand finished. Oh, it's all in the details. Just sliding into the seat. It's nice and wide, actually. I fancy that seat is more comfortable than the 8S. Bit wider, nicely padded. The TT version is actually 10mm or so taller than the T and that's because of the seat. But yeah, that feels comfortable from Luke's point of view. For me, I think the TT has it. I like the little exposed radiator cap there as well. Anyway, here we go. So we've done about five miles so far, just out from the hotel. It's been a bit damp. The roads are incredibly slippery. I've never felt, when you touch your boot down, it's so, so slippery back there. So we've taken it very, very steady for the moment. But, you know, first impressions of the bike is it's actually very, very nice. I mean, there's no surprise. This GSX 8S platform is a brilliant platform. You know, the 8S is a great little bike. This motor, 776cc, I think, 82 horsepower. It doesn't sound amazing on paper, but it's so grunty, this bike. And the way it makes that power, the power's delivered in a manner of exactly how you want power to be delivered on a road bike. So you just got grunty, you can pull out the corners. Yeah, it's a little bit wheezy at the top, but it's just a lovely, grunty, powerful motor. So top marks, this engine, you know, is a great power plant. The same one which is obviously in the V-Strom 800, the 8S and the 8R. Well, it's now also in these ATs as well. And yeah, very, very nice. But what's impressed me so far, even though this is a middleweight, it's a physically decent sized bike. I mean, I'm six foot two, 20 stone. I'll say it again for everybody. Look at that fifth gear grunt, the pull you've got in fifth gear. I'm six foot two, 20 stone, and I feel like I fit on this beautifully. The tank shape is beautifully sculpted where my legs sit. It feels quite low at the back. You know, when I sat on it, it sunk quite a bit. Obviously, that would be my 20 stone. But it's got a very stable feel to the ride, you know, and it feels quality. There's a really nice sort of quality feel to it as well. And the bar end mirror is absolutely stable. No vibration in those, which is which is quite impressive as well. And yeah, it's just it's just a lovely place to be sat. The fuel tank is bigger. We have a 16, I think 16 and a half litre tank on this compared to, I think, a 14 litre tank on the ATs. If that's wrong, I'll correct it on the screen. So you've got a decent increase in tank size. But one thing, Suzuki, you were banging on about last night is the dynamics of the bike, you know, the handling of this platform. And it does handle great. Anyway, we'll come on to that later. For now, let's just ride. So we just stopped. That's a quick 20 minute ride to this point, basically. So we've got some photos and video to do now. Thankfully, the sun is out. Looks pretty, yeah, pretty gorgeous around here, actually. Very quiet, lovely little towns. Must be so nice to sort of live somewhere like this, I think. Absolutely beautiful. Is that your own spray and stuff you brought? Is that, yeah, it's organised, isn't it? Jesus, that's alright, isn't it? Do your tyres some if you want. I'll do the edges, you'll never get near them. I'll be fine. It might improve the grip on these tyres, actually, a bit of that on them. Mine's that one, third one back. Charlie from Vine, mate. That's the one that needs pre-load. That's the one that needs pre-load, yeah, the one with this bit sunken at the rear. We just stopped for another camera, camera opportunity, a bit more up this little twisty, a few snaps. Do you fill your bottle up, Dan? Give it a... There we go, full factory. I'm getting the pre-load adjusted, seven levels of pre-load. The pre-load up to level five. It's on, I think it said it's three standard, so they're clicking it round. Is that done? Oh, very fast, very fast. See how she feels, a bit more support in the rear now. Yeah, there's a bit, feels like there's a bit more support. The drive, that was third gear, well overgeared there. Pulls lovely out of the corners. These are really tight in there, I don't know, tight in the edgy corners quite so much, is this. This is where the photographing individuals are. Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo. Yeah, it's a lovely balanced, you know, this 8S platform. I guess a lot of people have tried this and, you know, it is a great little platform, this. And it's very stable, you know, it does everything, does everything really, really well. You know, I guess it doesn't excel at anything, apart from, I think, the engine, the engine excels with the drive. But, you know, the brakes are good. There's nothing where you go, well, that's not bad, could be better. It just all works very, very well. You know, it's a fine handling. I mean, it's 203 kilos, I think, this version. So it's not, you know, it's not the lightest middleweight, but it's a reasonable sized motorcycle. That's what I like about it. These old nominees middleweights, it was too small. I could never consider a middleweight bike because they're too small. Well, I feel like this isn't too bad. But it's probably still a bit too small for me because I'm a freak of nature. But it's not bad at all, this. So is there anything, obviously, with these sorts of projects, there's budgetary constraints, there's technical constraints, but is there anything which you would have liked to have done a little slightly differently or if you had more time or more money? It's always something you think I would have liked to have included that, but we had to drop it. Is there anything like that? Yeah, of course. The project, like you always want it to evolve and every time you want to do more. But this time, like I was very happy because Italian or Japanese team has quite enthusiastic way. Like the passion, the enthusiasm, the excitement about this project. So we could design many new parts on this motorcycle for the first time as a rounded barrel mirror or some logo like the 8-ball emblem or the 3D emblem on the gas tank. And the new seat can roll. So a lot of development, a lot of new parts. So I was quite happy that we could bring so many new parts on this motorcycle. So that's the first set of photos and video done on the TT. We've got to do it this afternoon on the T. So that's the thing with these launches. Everyone thinks, oh, you're just off riding all day. Most of the day is filled with guffage, if I'm honest. But this is, I think we've got an hour now of fantastic roads to the I think it's going to be the lunch spot or coffee spot. Not sure, but it's been promised some superb views, superb roads. Just hoping this dampness dries out, because when it's been damp, it's been incredibly slippery. But these little villages, just look at that. I mean, it's just, they're just gorgeous. They're just absolutely gorgeous, like some little wood mill there, look. Absolutely beautiful. Slovenia, never been before. Absolutely lovely. It's such a predictable bike in the handling department. I mean, it's quite a relatively long wheelbase. Suzuki's always tend to be, they always go for stability over probably agility. But it's very, very stable. The riding position on this feels very good. So you're quite upright. I've got a slight bit of sort of cantering to my body towards these bars. Bars are nice and wide, foot pegs that are sort of in the middle, back a little bit to give a little bit of a sporty feel. I think the riding position is really, really good. You can get around the bike easily. I mean, like the 8S. You know, I think it is the same as the 8S, no different. But it's just a sort of sporty, I don't know, it gives a bit of everything. It's comfort there, but there's also, the ergos are there if you want to climb around it and get sporty, even if you're six foot two. Oh, slippery there. No likey when it's wetty. I mean, the roads aren't billiard smooth. I mean, there's a few potholes, loose tarmac. And this suspension, I've not had it crash over anything yet. You know, as I say, it's a bit of a Suzuki trait, I think, to get suspension just nicely set up. You know, it's not the most premium suspension, but Suzuki get it set up really well. You know, and it works with the vast majority of size of riders. You know, that's that's what's impressive about it. So I don't think it's the actual kit they're using. It's because I've got it set up and sprung properly and just adjusted properly. And not all manufacturers do that. Looking at you, Honda. If I had one criticism so far, the quick shifter, very good. But the blipper, it's a little bit harsh. It's like, you know, really? It doesn't it doesn't blip that smoothly. You know, and it's like it's sort of like it's not actually blipping. It doesn't seem to actually actually hear it blip the throttle as you change down. It just you just sort of like into gear. So, I mean, it's fine and I think they're all like that. But it does feel like you're banging it down through the gearbox a little bit. This is quite bumpy down here. There's a little bit of wallow through the suspension, a little bit. But, you know, it's high, higher speed stuff. I think it can show up sometimes. A little bit of inconsistency with the suspension. It's still, you know, it's still doing it. It's that drive out of the corners. Look at that view now, look at that. Absolutely gorgeous. If you rev it, you know, it does still pick up power. But it is really more about the torque, this engine. The direction changes are good, but, you know, the bars are wide. You know, you have to put a little bit of counter-steering to get it to change really quickly. Broke bridge, I don't know if you can hear the drones. There are crocodiles at the bottom. I mean, there's no sort of need to hang out of the seat, really. You know, it's light enough and well balanced enough just to move your upper body around. You don't have to clamber over the bike to get the best from it, which I like that. And even now the tyres are all warm, even these OEM Dunlops, they're actually providing a reasonable amount of feedback, dare I say it. Dare I say it. That's the foot pegs down. Is there any sort of special little details anywhere which may not be quite so apparent? Someone mentioned something about the tail being easier to remove on this to fit a tail tidy and stuff like that. Is there any other little, or maybe little vents under these for cooling? Yeah, there's some touches. Maybe, like, because, for example, the radiator cover is one of the parts that I like on this one, that's why we put this 8-ball logo. And because if you do a kind of revival on a motorcycle, for example, the T500 was in the 70s, a two-stroke, so it has oil inside the engine, and so it has an oil tank situated around here. So we could have said, OK, let's bring a part here that looks like the old one, but to just match, to have a matching bike. But, of course, it doesn't make sense because it's, like, a bit fake because what's the tank for? It doesn't make sense. So, for example, the radiator cover, the goal was to say, OK, Suzuki Evolve, nowadays we've got a water-cooled engine, so let's emphasize it. And so if you look at the T500 tank, it has, like, a cap on it, a logo on it, and a nice shape, it's quite iconic. So it's, like, kind of moving it forward, so we've still got the cap, the logo, and then implemented some good, for example, in motorcycles, one of the important things when riding, especially during this hot day, is to not have the hot air of the engine. So radiator sometimes gives you a lot of hot air. But behind this, we could, like, make, for example, a wall that makes when, for example, the ventilation starts on, all the hot air doesn't escape back here, but completely outside. So you don't feel it. I don't know if you noticed today, but... Well, a lot of people in the past have said these can get quite hot to ride, and I didn't notice that today. And, you know, towards the end of the ride, it was quite warm. So, I mean, that's great, isn't it? That's what style's all about, isn't it? If you can build practicality and style together, I mean, that's the ultimate fusion, isn't it, really? That's why. And so the work was, like, for example, wanted that shape to the cover, and then the engineer take it, calculate, and say, OK, but with that shape, we will have a lot of heat going on the legs. So, OK, what do you suggest? Maybe putting a hole? OK, let's integrate it into the design to make it working well. Afternoon. How are you? Here we go. Here's lunch. Not too shabby, is it? Not too shabby. Not a bad view. I do say so myself. Yeah, look at that. Bit of coastline over there. So Slovenia does have a little bit of coast. There's a little bit of coastline over there. And I think Croatia is that direction. But, I mean, what a view. What a view. So here is the TT with that backdrop. Oh, it's good, isn't it? That's a view and all. But never mind the view. I guess we should look at the motorcycle. The paintwork is very nice. And I do like the raised badging, the raised 3D badging they've got on the tank. A bit more of a retro look and the little speed, speed blobs. The TT has this different seat, which has actually been really comfortable. And there's plenty of padding in this. And I've been pretty impressed with that. All morning riding, sat on there. It's not too bad. It's almost like the premium seat standard, if you like. Even the pinion one doesn't look too bad. That front cowl with that headlight, which we heard so much about yesterday. It's the best headlight they've ever made, they say. It's the best headlight they've ever made from a beam spread point of view. One thing you do get on the TT is the indicators stay on all the time as running lights, which is a bit like the Honda do. But you don't get that on the standard T. And the reason for that is it's some sort of legislation. You know, for the running lights, when the bike's to the side, you've still got to be able to see the running lights. And because the headlights recess slightly, they had to make the indicators running lights to meet the legal legislation in Europe. There are those mirrors we heard so much about yesterday. One of the things I pointed out is normally you'd have a cast line down the edge of the mirror, but the cast line's been polished out, if you like. So they say these have been hand finished, these bar end mirrors. They're very proud of these bar end mirrors, Suzuki. And I must say, there's no vibration. You've got really good visibility behind. So, yeah, well, job well done, I suppose. So we've had a bite to eat. Very nice bit of fried chicken, soup, like chips and something else. Top of onion. Local food. And this delicious looking banana roll. Very nice. It was very nice. But now I'm done with the TT now, done all the stuff on the TT. Now we're going on the T. So, yeah, let's jump on her. Let's jump on the T. Slightly different seat on the T. Maybe not quite as much padding. Where, see, comfort wise, the TT was really good. The suspension is non-adjustable. Preload on the rear. That's it. Nothing else. Nothing on the forks, just preload on the rear. But yeah, let's jump aboard. Take it for a spin. What a stunning view. I mean, that was the lunch spot up the top with that view behind you. I don't know what altitude we are, but it's blooming high. So you can feel your ears popping. Yeah, it's absolutely, yeah. I mean, the scenery, the roads, everything's just so beautiful. Really quite surprised. I knew it was nice in Slovenia because when Mossy obviously went away on the Tracer, did the Tracer launch, I went through his footage to edit the video. And I was like, good God, it looks stunning. And I think maybe in that there was a few more mountains, maybe because they were in a different region. I think they went more towards Italy. So a different region to where Yamaha went. But even up here, I mean, it must be in the whole country. It's bloody gorgeous. Such a beautiful place. And everyone seems to have big houses, lots of land. Well, there you go, there's a triple garage, anybody. You know, and you've got these roads, these incredible roads on your doorstep. So, I mean, look at that. Absolutely gorgeous. Hell, yeah. The chassis is bloody, bloody good on this. It's got to be said, loads of control. There's a load of support as well. I've been up to any stone. This one doesn't even have the preload increased on the rear. It matters not. This is like a bloody racetrack. Look at Dad's all over the place, chucking it around all over the shop. What a stretch of tarmac this is. What a bit of tarmac. That's got to be worthy of a fist pump after that. Boom. And which is your favourite out of the two? My favourite, personally, I'm a bit of a sort of a 70s, 80s sort of retro man. So I love the cow, I love the belly pan. So it's the TT for me. But what about you? Yeah, I understand. A lot of people get emotional about it. That's great. I love it. Yeah. For me, let's say, firstly, it was the TT because it was, let's say, from the two babies, it was the first born. For the twins, it was the first born. And because it was like matching my idea of coming back with a homage to a model, the T500. And so it was well matching, could push with the colour of gold. So it was the same colour of my old bike. So I really love with the iconic headlights and all these elements that I wanted. And we wanted to push into production. So it was the first one. And so it was the first love, let's say. And then when we continue and we say, OK, that's fun to bring past the 70s of Suzuki. We are really having fun. Maybe we can do like a more sporty model for because we've got a lot of customers looking more for sports model. So we think about like some wind protection. And then we say, OK, let's move on maybe to the 80s to continue with this revival of a timeless model. And one of the inspiration was during the American AMA Superbike race. It was with Kool-Aid GS 1000, which has a really nice fairing with some chin spoiler and everything. And so it was looking great. So when drawing on this base, inspired by this model, it's getting really nice. And when I saw it in real, because then you sketches and you do clay model, but then you see really real after all production, like I get too emotional about it. So I say, oh, it's difficult because I was in love at first sight. But now I'm like a contender to this. And I'm still struggling to know which one is my favourite. You love them both. It's like choosing between your best, your favourite child, I suppose, isn't it? They're both your children, you love both of them. That's right. Very, very impressive, actually. I mean, it is a really good fun package this and it's actually much better than I remember it because I guess that was a big old bump. When we did the 8S launch, I think it was in February and it was Route Napoleon in France. The temperatures were very low and I guess the tyres never really got up to the temperature, really. But even though this is identical, we've even been asking the developers, are you sure the suspension is the same as the 8S? Are you sure the tyres are the same? Because there's just a level of performance here that I didn't realise this platform had. The motor's got the drive, got the torque. It's really quite impressive what you can do on this. As I say, it's very stable. You know, if a corner tightens up, you can lean it in more. There's good ground clearance. I mean, on the really tight, nudgery stuff, I've had the pegs touch down, but when you're actually rolling, it's got a surprising amount of ground clearance to enable you to have that fun, exploit that performance. Yeah, it's very good. We mentioned it to the designer about, you know, the bike. What's different? He said, well, the headlight is closer to the headstock, so it's less weight. So that over the front, it's more mass-centralised. The weight is more centralised. It's like, well, that's 500 grams. They're 30 millimetres closer to the bike, but that isn't going to make the sort of differences we're talking about. Obviously, it's got the lighter battery, which is quite high up in the bike, so that's less weight, but it's surprising. I do not remember this bike having quite the credentials, performance credentials, as what this seems to have. Yeah, it's impressive. I mean, I guess the big thing with this bike, both these bikes really, is people are going to say, oh, they're a bit expensive. I mean, 9.6 for this one, 9.99 for the TT, and we sort of raised it with the Suzuki guys at lunch, you know. I mean, the 8S, I think, is an £8,300, something like that, and it's actually on a bit of an offer at the moment, so you can actually get it cheaper. So this is, with the current offer on the S model, this is like £2,500. Well, not this one, but the TT is £2,500 more expensive, but, you know, yes, it's a slightly more premium finish, but it's not like it's got fully adjustable suspension on this one. You're paying, really, for the styling. You know, at the end of the day, you're paying for the styling. Yes, I think these look much better than the 8S, so I guess only you can decide whether you think it's worth the extra money. Obviously, the TT, you can sort of say, well, it's got a belly pan, it's got the cowl, you know, it's got more bodywork, obviously lithium battery, mirrors, barred mirrors, but it's the, you know, it's whether it's worth paying the extra for style, you know? So, yeah, that's what it comes down to, isn't it? Because from my point of view, you know, obviously there's a development cost for all of this as well, but, yeah, it's really a case of if you think it's worth paying the extra to have that retro flavour, and only you can decide on that. I can't tell you whether it's worth it or not. That's for you to decide.