FOLLOWING a theme that started a couple of years ago, Suzuki France is celebrating its most famous endurance racing team, as the new Suzuki GSX-8S SERT Edition is announced.
As with the GSX-S1000 and GSX-S950 launched in 2021, the latest bike takes the stock GSX-8S and blesses it with a peppering of aftermarket parts, trick race-replica graphics and a smidgen of exclusivity. Unlike the bikes mentioned above, the latest SERT replica comes in two flavours, Style and Premium.
The Style pack comes in at €899 and includes the race-replica decal kit, the bolt-on winglets, a USB socket, the belly pan and the seat cowl - both of the latter also gain the race-replica decals.
The Premium pack is priced at €1,399 and for the extra cash on top of the Style pack you bag yourself the neat-looking tail tiding featuring the integrated LED turn signals.
Like the previously mentioned GSX-S1000 and GSX-S950 SERT specials, the base bike is the same in terms of spec, tech, and performance, meaning what you are basically buying here (if you live in France, of course) is a rarer bike with which to roll up to the bike meet on, and not a more focused machine on the road or the track.
SERT stands for Suzuki Endurance Racing Team, the French-based squad which has secured so much success for the Japanese brand. What is clear from the sheer number of these types of bikes that Suzuki France is churning out, is just how proud it is of its racing team’s achievements. Suzuki withdrew from MotoGP in 2022, leaving the top-flight class and claiming to withdraw from two-wheeled motorsport altogether. The decision left Suzuki’s riders, fans, and championship organisers perplexed, especially as it came just a short time after Joan Mir wrapped up the MotoGP world championship, although the SERT squad continued to race, win and receive support from the Hamamatsu factory. It seems that this is a fact that Suzuki France is very keen to publicise, and possibly why Suzuki UK (which has no official presence in the British Superbike Championship anymore) isn’t.
