2019 Suzuki Gixxer SF 250: First Ride Review

The Visuals

The Suzuki Gixxer SF 250 does well on the design front. It’s not something that will make you go weak in the knees, but it will have you do a double take. It’s a distinct design. Not odd, just something different. 

It has good proportions too. The bike finishes between the wheels. It has enough and more creases and surface changes to give it a modern stance. And, there’s some bling too in the form of a chrome double barrel exhaust on an otherwise stealth theme. Plus, with the high set tank and the upswept tail, the 250 looks the part of a supersports bike. If anything, the micro visor could have been a bit taller. It would have looked good, and it would have been useful.

The Gixxer SF 250 gets new instrumentation. It is identical to the new SF 155’s, then be it the fonts, design or interface. But, while the 155 gets black on white display, the 250 sports white on blue for better contrast.

The Package

As far as cycle parts go, the Gixxer SF 250 gets a slightly revised chassis. It still uses a tubular single downtube with the subframe welded on to it. But, it is stiffer, and heavier. And it runs a sharper steering geometry compared to the 150.

The front forks are 41mm and, like the 150, are the right way up. The rear monoshock is mounted straight on the swingarm, and is pre-load adjustable. And the brake setup employing single discs front and back is again similar to the 150. There are two crucial differences though. The brakes on the 250 use a larger diameter front disc, and the bike comes with dual-channel ABS as standard. The tyres meanwhile are radials.

There’s no slipper clutch, however. And, the 250 doesn’t get LED turn indicators; or winkers as the Japanese like to call it. The instrumentation isn’t very detailed either. It is a fully digital unit with readouts for two trip meters, a clock, engine and road speed, and the gear selected. But, it’s nothing special or something we haven’t seen before. In fact, the readouts are identical to the SF 150. But, the 250 does get all-LED head and tail lamps, it has split seats, and it gets clip-on handlebars as well.

The engine on the 250 is something Suzuki is particularly proud of. It is a single cylinder unit. But, instead of liquid-cooling, Suzuki has decided to go for oil-cooling on the bike. Now according to the company’s presentation, not only has this helped reduce weight, but it is as effective in keeping things cool as a liquid-cooled engine. And if you are wondering, no, there are no cooling fins on the engine either.  Furthermore, Suzuki says it has used technology derived from MotoGP on the bike. And that, going for this layout instead of traditional liquid-cooling will also help bring down maintenance costs.

In terms of specs, the engine displaces 249cc, the power is rated at 26bhp, and the peak torque is 22Nm. It uses a single overhead cam layout but employs four valves. And no, it only gets one spark plug. Now, given that the engine makes its max power at 9,000rpm and peak torque at 7,500rpm, and it runs a seriously oversquare layout, it could very well have peaky power delivery. Which, again can be compensated by smartly applying the ratios of the 6-speed gearbox it is mated to. 

Well, like they say, the proof of the pudding is in eating it...

The Ride

Or riding it, in this case. 

But, first let’s get the seating ergos out of the way first. The clip-ons aren’t upright, but these aren’t low either. The seat at 800mm isn’t too low or too high either. And the footpegs, although rearset, are marginally so. It makes for an accessible and friendly seating posture, it’s quite middle-of-the-road and safe in that sense. If you have ever ridden the Gixxer SF 150 then you will feel completely at home on the 250.

On the track, there’s surprisingly enough room to crouch without you wanting to ride the pillion seat. That’s for a 5 feet 9 inch guy. Taller people, especially those touching six, will find it cramped. The heel plates are usable, the footrests are grippy, and the shape of the tank allows you to lock in your knees properly too.

It’s light to steer as well, is the Gixxer 250. And quick. It’s easy to run deep into corners, and then flick it quickly into the corner. And when leaned over, there’s no real flex, or mushiness, or even a hint of vagueness in the motorcycle’s responses. It just feels solid and predictable. The only downside is the footpeg positioning. It’s a little too conservative for the bike’s abilities. And so, the pegs ground early - early enough to not allow the bike to use all of its tyres even. And that’s a bit irritating, especially when you come to a race track.

As with the handling, the engine performance is friendly too. Does the bike feel underpowered? Not really. Suzuki has used the gear ratios well to ensure you are mostly in the engine’s sweet spot. And it’s power delivery isn’t peaky. So, the bike’s torquey sweet spot kicks in around 6,000rpm. What’s more, the grunt doesn’t seem to taper off even close to the motorcycle’s near 10,000rpm. It’s also an easy revving engine with a slick shifting gearbox and a very linear throttle response. Oversquare layouts and high rpm power peaks do have their benefits, after all.

Our take

On the race track, the Suzuki Gixxer SF 250 felt friendly, exploitable, and adequate. Could it do with more power? On the BIC, absolutely! On the road? Although we haven’t ridden it on the road, but from the seat of the pants, we feel it will be. What’s more, we saw it cross 150kmph on the long back straight of the BIC. And it didn’t take up all of the straight to get there either. 

It’s also both light and sure footed when it comes to handling. It has conventional but sturdy cycle parts. And even though there’s nothing that really stands out as game changing about the motorcycle - at least not on paper, or the race track - the sum of parts make it easy to recommend. Its final test though, will be when we ride it on the road, in our backyard.

Photography by Kaustubh Gandhi