Featured In the September 2022 issue of Roadracing World:
2022 GSX-S1000GT+: Suzuki’s Long-Haul Sport-Tourer (Excerpt)
By Michael Gougis
“I should have been terrified, but being young and dumb blinds you to things. Case in point: Getting caught in a freezing rainstorm on the Grapevine, a mountain pass connecting Central and Southern California, coming back from one of my first long motorcycle rides. Soaked to the bone, riding a decrepit Honda CB550 with bald tires and a chain and sprocket well past their recycle-bin due date, I was riding on the shoulder, watching semi-trailer rigs splash and slide their way past on my left. There were plenty of ways to die in that moment, and I look back and just shake my head.
“I was thinking about that ride on my way to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on Suzuki’s sport-touring 2022 GSX-S1000GT+. Getting caught in a downpour in downtown Portland during morning rush hour brought back those memories—the rain dumped down so hard that visibility was nearly nonexistent. I focused on the less-soaked tire tracks left behind by cars, aiming precisely at the center of the left tire’s narrow footprint and focusing on the taillights of the car ahead.
“The reason I thought about that earlier ride was the difference between then and what I was experiencing at that moment in Portland…”
Editor at Large Michael Gougis rode the Suzuki GSX-S1000GT+ 1,200 miles each way from Los Angeles County to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and back, with a stop at Buttonwillow Raceway Park for an on-track riding impression from racer Jeremy Toye, in five crazy days. Read all about the journey in the latest issue of Roadracing World!
PREVIEW the September 2022 Issue of Roadracing World!
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