A pillion love songs later – it’s the Suzuki GSR 750

IT’S been a while since I visited Edinburgh’s Saltire Suzuki so I was surprised to find they’ve moved to new, larger premises near Sighthill, a couple of miles from their original store in Dalry: a gleaming white barn of a place with twice the number of bikes on display, loads more gear, and, somewhat oddly, a centrepiece of a customised-to-within-an-inch-of-its-life Harley Davidson.

As I chatted with managing director Calum Murray about my plans for the weekend, a dark cloud passed over his face and he asked suspiciously: “Are you just taking this bike for a…jolly?!”

I’m sure it’s not possible that Calum has never read one of my bike reviews so I found it strange he’d think I would be taking one of his press bikes out for anything less than a jolly – a complete and utter jolly.

“Did you think I was about to take it back to the lab and test it under scientific conditions? Or jaunt up to Knockhill for the day just to see what its top speed feels like? That’s not really my style, you know.”

To say Calum was disappointed would be an understatement. He looked gutted. His main concern was that I would be compromising the bike’s magnificence by sticking a pillion on the back. How could I flip it round corners with carefree abandon when shackled with a plus-one?

Admittedly, it’s just possible my passenger and I were not the demographic Suzuki had in mind when they designed the GSR 750. Piled aboard with our overstuffed rucksacks for a weekend’s sightseeing in Perthshire, we made the gorgeous, sleek, little spaceship look like a Blackpool donkey.

And this certainly wasn’t the most appropriate machine for my friend’s virgin motorcycle ride. At 6ft 3in and generously built, my passenger was perched atop the minuscule little pad of a back seat with NOTHING to hold onto. It was a bit of a baptism of fire for the rookie. “I constantly felt like I was going to slide right off the back, or break the pillion or something!” he said, after our return. “Pillion seat. You’re the pillion, you sausage!”

“Oh no. Really?” he said, “I’ve been telling everyone I was riding ON the pillion!”

Despite Calum’s insistence that this was a macho bike that deserved more respect, I found the GSR 750 perfect for my needs. As a middleweight street bike with a detuned sports bike engine, the handling was dreamy in all sorts of conditions. The engine design is based on the popular GSX-R750, but with the power brought lower down the rev range. It’s tuned for strong acceleration, and throttle response is smooth and instant.

In town, zipping in and out of city traffic was a doddle and the gently twisting roads of rural Perthshire were pure pleasure thanks to its responsive handling. The suspension felt more than adequate despite my burly passenger. We were having so much fun we didn’t even mind getting lost and having to retrace our steps, adding 20 miles on to our journey (didn’t mind, that is, until we were tearing down the A90 in the dark, with the low fuel warning light flashing.)

After our weekend “jolly”, having dropped the pillion off at his gaff, I realised exactly what I’d been missing. You know that sensation when you’re carrying a big heavy backpack, you take it off and for a few moments you feel like you might actually be able to float off the ground... That’s how this felt, and I suddenly realised why Calum was hacked off with me for loading the GSR up with a boy and a whack of luggage.

Even though I’d been on the road for several hours, it was getting late, and it was a school night, I couldn’t resist taking the bike for one last spin – solo – possibly the way Suzuki intended.

n Suzuki GSR 750, £7,124, Saltire Suzuki, Edinburgh. Tel: [phone]. Visit www.saltiresuzuki.com