Words: Bill Hunter.

If you mention the Indian motorcycle brand TVS most people will instantly think of commercial bikes, justifiably so. Indeed TVS currently sells over one million, yes over one million, bikes throughout Africa alone, and many, many more into the rest of the planet. These stratospheric figures make TVS the third largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world, and possibly rising into second place in the very near future. Don’t forget that TVS has recently been assertively established into South Africa as well, with the aim to achieve similar and envious figures, and who are we to disagree on the outcome.

Words: Bill Hunter.

It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed a symbiotic relationship with a new motorcycle. For sure we test a multitude of bikes that have their own distinctive attributes that induce a warm feeling inside your apparel. However there’s always something that doesn’t quite swing your desirability meter towards its zenith. For that reason we typically ‘demand’ that we have any bike for at least a week that will, or might not, expose these galling affects of the ride in mention. Well, without dribbling into my helmet’s chin piece too much this most certainly was not the case with Suzuki’s GSX-8TT.

Words: Bill Hunter.

So why on this tortured Earth would one want a gargantuan motorcycle of this size? With a (wet) weight of over 270kg, and that’s before you lather it with a multitude of accessories, then it’ll easily tip it over the 300kg mark. Yes, I hear you say, many bloated touring bikes are even heavier, and I agree, but this bike has wider shoulders than a stern buffalo and it’s also intended to venture off road, ridiculous machine! Well so I thought until I had the eyebrow raising experience of having one around my garage for a week.