Taking the long way through Appalachia.

By most people’s reckoning, any day that begins at a brewery and ends in intercourse is a good day. In our case, that meant a tour of Yuengling Brewery in Pottsville and a stay in the town of Intercourse, PA — minus the whoopie. My three companions — Gary Price, his brother Scott, and friend Dave Ramm — were each on very different machines: a 2012 BMW R1200 RT, a 2010 Victory Vision Eight Ball, and a 2012 Harley Davidson Electra Glide Classic, respectively.

For my part, this would be along-term test ride of Suzuki’s all-new GSX-S1000 GX. 

From the moment I had started it up at the dealership, I knew the GX could get me in trouble. Just the superbike roar of the 1000 cc K5 engine was enough to rev my pulse. My inner hooligan was undeniably nudged. A little deserted back road experimentation had the bike rocketing from zero to 100 km/h in three seconds — and to 160 in another three. I chose not to go much higher but top speed is reportedly north of 220 km/h. I will say that at 170, a further twist of the throttle and Gigi (I’d already named her) still pulled aggressively. The rider geometry on the other hand was quite relaxed. No longer would you have to lie with your head down and bum up to feel the thrill of a crotch rocket. It was the best of both worlds. 

High Tech Manners

And yet, with all those horses (150 to be exact), the bike was surprisingly well-mannered. Throttle response could be adjusted to one of three levels. The quickshifter was fluid both up and down in all gears (better than I experienced on the V-Strom 800DE), and the semi-active suspension smoothed the road so well that I began looking for damaged pavement, potholes, and sewer covers just to marvel at the electronic wizardry doing its job.

Being possessed of a long torso, I did find it necessary, pre-trip, to raise the windscreen to its highest position. That pushed any serious wind buffeting to the top of my helmet and adding a spoiler improved it even further. But a touring windscreen — were one available — would have been a nice feature. The extra inches in my torso come from a shortened inseam, but the lowered seat, with its narrower front portion, nevertheless allowed me to stand flat-footed at traffic lights. And adding mirror extenders solved my perennial problem of not being able to see behind my shoulders. 

Mountain Bound

We were on our way toward the Appalachian Mountains to ride much of their length south from eastern Pennsylvania. (Technically, they begin…