2021 Suzuki GSX250R Breaks Cover

Could this bike replace the Gixxer SF 250 in India?

The quarter-litre segment is seeing quite a lot of action in India, with everything from faired sportsbikes to nakeds to power cruisers and even adventure motorcycles. The 250cc displacement mark offers a great balance between entertaining performance and frugalness. Overseas, the 2021 Suzuki GSX250R has broken cover, so let’s take a look at the bike and see if it might come to India.

Yes, this is a fully-faired motorcycle, but it isn’t quite as sporty as the design would have you believe. The clip-ons are fairly high and the pegs are pretty low so the seating position is relatively relaxed and roomy. It also has to borrow its 248cc parallel-twin motor from the Inazuma, a bike which doesn’t really have any sporting intentions and is more of a tourer instead. The result is a fairly average 24PS and 21.6Nm. For reference, even the smaller KTM 200 Duke produces 25.83PS and 19.5Nm.

The GSX250R is suspended on a telescopic fork/monoshock setup and stopped by disc brakes at both ends. The only major change for the 2021 model year is the addition of dual-channel ABS. It gets digital LCD instrumentation that’s quite similar to the units seen on the Gixxer range here in India. Speaking of which, will this GSX250R come to our shores?

Well, it’s priced at 59 million Yen or around Rs 4.20 lakh in its home nation of Japan, and that should answer your question. The higher costs associated with building a twin-cylinder motorcycle would make the GSX250R far too expensive to be competitive in the Indian market, and Suzuki is better off selling the single-cylinder Gixxer SF 250 at a more reasonable price in India.