[neil.jericho]

When Indian motorcycle enthusiasts think of over-engineering, supreme refinement, two-wheelers that will outlast them and can be passed down to their children, they usually think of Japanese products. While Indian companies have come a very long way in the last 20 years (TVS and Royal Enfield are flying the flag with pride!), it is often the Japanese motorcycles that enthusiasts turn to, for a peace of mind motorcycle ownership.

Given Suzuki's tremendous success with its 155 cc motorcycles, I honestly expected the Gixxer 250s to be more of the same. After all, I know several Suzuki Gixxer 155 owners who have easily crossed 1,00,000 kilometers on their bikes, without any complaints and are confident that their motorcycles can do another 1,00,000 kilometers more, without skipping a beat.

A quick recap
In case someone is new to this thread,
- I purchased a new, leftover 2021 Suzuki Gixxer SF 250 in June 2022 from Aluva Suzuki.
- There were zero issuses in the first 6,000 odd kilometers. The bike was used mostly for solo touring on South Indian highways. Typically, I shift early (around 5,000 RPM) and my highway cruising speeds are in the range of 90 to 100 kmph (indicated). I havent even tested the top speed of this motorcycle yet, because I have never felt the need to.
- Slowly, I started noticing that un-Suzuki like vibes were creeping in. Very quickly, the vibrations started becoming more prominent across the rev range. They spread through the handlebar, footpegs, tank and rear of the bike.
- In parallel, a friend who also owns a Suzuki Gixxer SF 250 in Kerala, happened to message me about the vibrations on his motorcycle. They were exactly the same as what I was experiencing, while I was on my ride to Munnar and Kodaikanal.
- While returning from Kodaikanal, the vibrations were so noticeable that I was left with tingling feet, every time I took a break. This was certainly not what I signed up for, when I bought the Suzuki Gixxer SF 250.
- Concerned, I took the motorcycle to Aluva Suzuki, which is easily the most highly recommended SVC in Cochin (technically, its outside the city). The technicians tightened the chain and the foundation bolts. I didnt see them refer to any service manual or use a torque wrench. That improved matters by quite a bit (reduced the vibes by around 40%). However, there still were vibrations in the motorcycle.
- The team at the newly opened Suzuki superbike showroom in Cochin (just a few kilometers away from where I stay) asked me to bring in my bike, so that they can do the needful on the vibrations issue.
- After 1 1/2 days of work, they dropped the bike back at my place. While the bike was still idling, I held the handlebar and immediately knew that the problem of excess vibrations was not resolved. This is without me even sitting on the motorcycle. I mentioned the same to the service advisor, who rightly asked me to ride it over the weekend and give my firm feedback. He said that the issue of excess vibrations was sorted.
- Meanwhile, my friend who is based out of North Kerala, had booked an appointment at Apco Suzuki in Calicut. The technical team connected the vibration test tool to his bike and found that while there were vibrations at 5,000 RPM, it was within Suzuki's tolerance level. I explained all this to my service advisor and asked him to check if the tool was at their SVC in Cochin. I also sent my service advisor several links regarding this problem, including TBHPian SubodhRage's thread ("Free" Hassles at the Suzuki Motorcycle After Sales-Service, Delhi).

That is where we left off. Now, hold on to your popcorn, because things are about to get a lot more interesting.

Recent Developments
- Within the first 10 seconds of riding the supposedly fixed motorcycle, I knew that not only had the team at the Suzuki superbike showroom failed to reduce the vibrations, they had incredibly managed to increase vibrations everywhere! The bike idled roughly. There were tremendous vibrations through the footpegs, and overall, the reintroduced buzziness simply drained all the enjoyment of riding this motorcycle, out of me. This truly was an amazing feat of technical expertise and obliviousness!
- Immediately, I took the bike back to the same Suzuki Superbike SVC and explained that they have made things worse. The showroom manager sat on the bike, and confirmed that there were far too many vibrations, especially through the footpegs.
- The service advisor wanted me to ask my friend to get the details of the service advisor and technician in Apco Suzuki, as well as the name of the vibration tool. Imagine the cheek! I told him that its his job to pick up the phone and find out all these details from Apco Suzuki.
- My motorcycle doesnt qualify for the recall that was initiated by Suzuki.
- While he was calling around to crowd-source a vibration test tool, the Suzuki SVC in Thrikakkara confirmed to my service advisor that last year, another Gixxer 250 had come to them, with the exact same complaint. Sadly, nobody thought it worthy to ask the Thrikakkara SVC team what was done to resolve the problem!
- If you thought that it is time to finish your popcorn, think again. There was another 2022 manufactured black Suzuki Gixxer SF 250 in the service center. The bike had only 3,757 kilometers on the odometer. It vibrated a lot worse than mine did! The owner didnt complain about vibrations. The service advisor and the lead technician hadnt identified the unmissable problem of massive vibrations on that bike! It was only because they wanted to benchmark that bike against mine, did they realize that it was a lot worse. I wont be surprised if they let sleeping dogs lie in that case
- Finally, the service advisor admitted that when he handed over the bike to me, there still were noticeable vibrations on the motorcycle. His defense was that the bike was smoother than when I gave it to them, so he thought that it was enough. Sadly, they made the problem worse before giving it back to me, and were oblivious to it. That speaks for the level of (in?)competence in the technical team.
- I had to explain that this was supposed to be Suzuki's biggest motorcycle dealership in the state. If a fly by night mechanic and his apprentice, did a half baked job and said they couldnt do more, I can understand that they are at their wits end. But this lackadaisical attitude of "we did something, the customer should stop complaining and be happy" is not expected from a Suzuki dealership. It certainly isnt expected from Suzuki's #1 motorcycle dealership in Kerala. God bless anyone, including potentially me, who is planning to buy a Suzuki Vstrom 650, Katana or the Hayabusa.
- Based on my count, there are 5 motorcycles with the exact same issue
a. TBHPian SubodhRage (3.6 K kilometers)
b. 2022 Gixxer SF 250 spotted in the superbike SVC (3.7 K kilometers)
c. My motorcycle (7.3K kms, though the vibrations started somewhere in the 6K kilometers range)
d. My friend's motorcycle in North Kerala (~ 12.6K kms, though the vibrations started somewhere in the 8K kilometers range)
e. Unknown Gixxer / SF 250 with the same complaint in the Thrikakkara SVC (unknown odometer reading)
And this is without me going out into different Suzuki ownership groups and hunting for others with the same issue.

Next Steps
The superbike SVC has promised to borrow the vibration test tool from the Thrikakkara SVC. I dont know what purpose it will serve because we all are in agreement that the motorcycle has vibrations everywhere. The question is what is going to be done to resolve this problem?

Final Thoughts
Im really surprised by how unrefined the motorcycle now feels, in such a short ownership period. 5 1/2 months and 7.3K kilometers of riding is nothing for a typical Japanese motorcycle. You could even say that the engine is only opening up, with such limited riding. And yet, the problem of excess vibrations in the motorcycle, across multiple ownerships (as documented above), is both unexpected and appalling. If this is how bad the Suzuki Gixxer SF 250 feels at this early stage, how terribly will it fare, when it gets to 50 K kms on the odometer? As Ive said before, if I wanted to tour with vibrations, I could have taken my Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, instead ......

Secondly, I dont know how Suzuki has remained oblivious to the issue, for this long. Granted, the 250s barely sell, but in the span of a few days, if I was able to identify 5 different motorcycles with the exact same issue (without any real effort, mind you), then surely Suzuki, with its gargantuan reach, should have found many more such cases from across the country.

Lastly, the technical teams appear to be completely untrained and grossly under-equipped to deal with these problems. I will have to forward this post to some high ranking Suzuki officials, in the hope that it gets them to put the required resources towards resolving what appears to be a wide-spread issue. A technical solution will benefit multiple Suzuki 250 owners, not just me or my friend. If that approach doesnt work, I will write to Suzuki's customer care email ID and see if they can bring in the right technical expertise.

As it stands, with the newly introduced vibrations, that too from Suzuki's biggest motorcycle showroom in Kerala, I cannot take my motorcycle for the extensive touring that I had planned this month. I never thought that I would say that about a Suzuki product .

[Turbanator]

I wrote elsewhere, too; not all Japanese companies operating in India are "Japanese" any longer. From my own experiences in automobiles and other things, anything that's not Made in Japan, we should buy comparing well with other peers, domestic or otherwise and not just because the company is from Japan.

I don't have any advice for you except to find a good mechanic, a good quality torque wrench and the workshop manual. I will start with retightening to correct torque and then try to find the source of these vibrations. If these are coming from the engine at idle or after the transmission is engaged, or after the bike is in motion.

[DustyWanderer]

Reading this post with popcorn in hand on top of Pulsar AS 200 (If you get the vibration context ).

But there is an article already present which says these bikes were recalled to fix the issue.

https://auto.hindustantimes.com/auto...772457011.html

not sure if your bike falls under this.


Reason as per the article :
As per the information available on the Society of India Automobile Manufacturers Association or SIAM India's Voluntary Recall Information page the issue was caused due to fault in the markings of matching positions for the balancer drive gear. This resulted in excessive vibration due to the mismatched positions of the balancer drive gear

[Mr.Bentley]

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

Based on my count, there are 5 motorcycles with the exact same issue
a. TBHPian SubodhRage (3.6 K kilometers)
b. 2022 Gixxer SF 250 spotted in the superbike SVC (3.7 K kilometers)
c. My motorcycle (7.3K kms, though the vibrations started somewhere in the 6K kilometers range)
d. My friend's motorcycle in North Kerala (~ 12.6K kms, though the vibrations started somewhere in the 8K kilometers range)
e. Unknown Gixxer / SF 250 with the same complaint in the Thrikakkara SVC (unknown odometer reading)
And this is without me going out into different Suzuki ownership groups and hunting for others with the same issue.

My bike doesn't add up to the list here as it is a 150CC one. But tags to the list here because of vibration issues.

My 2021MY Gixxer SF150 vibrates during 4500-5500RPM - felt on handlebars, fairing and footpegs. If there is a pillion with me, the vibrations are quite less, but there. I observed this right after my run-in period (as I did not cross the 3-3.5k limit till then). I tried my luck at 3 different service centres, but to no vail. They say they tried something, but its quite evident that they didn't - everytime.

I read someones's similar story here on TeamBHP. Some suggested balancing issues - meaning it would involve tinkering with engine open. I was not confident enough with the same service centre guys opening my engine and testing their (incompetent) skills on it.

With the issue during specific RPM, and its un-noticing vibrations with pillion ON, I thought this was because of some resonance issue. I tried putting some weights and m-seal at few places. It didn't work.

The vibrations do not occur at usual city speeds (I shift just after I feel the vibrations). And in odd occasions where I rev up, vibrations go away after 5500-6000RPM and its smooth as before. So I'm just living with it telling myself that vibrations are there for warning me not to cross speed limits (conveniently, they start at 60kmph in 5th gear) and moved on.

I feel bad, sad and angry about all this though - not (brave enough to be) able to solve the issues and keep avoiding to experience what I paid for.

[Rocketscience]

Originally Posted by Mr.Bentley

My bike doesn't add up to the list here as it is a 150CC one. But tags to the list here because of vibration issues.

My 2021MY Gixxer SF150 vibrates during 4500-5500RPM - felt on handlebars, fairing and footpegs. If there is a pillion with me, the vibrations are quite less, but there. I observed this right after my run-in period (as I did not cross the 3-3.5k limit till then). I tried my luck at 3 different service centres, but to no vail. They say they tried something, but its quite evident that they didn't - everytime.

Well this seems to be a non issue as my bike, a Yamaha R15v3 which is a well engineered Japanese, buzzes at certain RPM ranges, I was concerned for a long time about something wrong with my particular bike but then came across some media reviews which pin pointed to those exact RPM ranges (which I also found to be problematic) as being buzzy, in my bike those are around 5k then 7k and then from around 8.5k till redline, curiously my bike has next to zero vibrations from idle to around 4k but those who have ridden this bike know that is a blink it and miss it range and you are for all intents and purposes way above that almost all the time, this is because they are trying to make the most power from an inherently unbalanced (both primary and secondary engine balance) single cylinder engine, I have learnt such buzzes or mild vibrations are all but inevitable in such cases.

The only singles without them (or minimal vibrations) can be those with way less power for that engine capacity which revv much lower and have lower compression ratios.

However coming to the OP since his has gotten worse with time, there was even an recall and him being a motorcycle legend on this forum, it is a separate and a pretty serious issue from the looks of it, do keep us posted on the updates Neil.

[DRIV3R]

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

Given Suzuki's tremendous success with its 155 cc motorcycles, I honestly expected the Gixxer 250s to be more of the same. After all, I know several Suzuki Gixxer 155 owners who have easily crossed 1,00,000 kilometers on their bikes, without any complaints and are confident that their motorcycles can do another 1,00,000 kilometers more, without skipping a beat.

https://youtu.be/y5AXvBhBowk

Check this out, not a very well made video, but in gist, this guy also had same issues and solution was to re-align the balancer shaft in the engine, as was with the recall course of action. I am starting to think if Suzuki actually managed to accurately capture affected bikes in their VIN checker. Would certainly recommend checking the balancer shaft and correcting as required as a solution.

[gauravanekar]

Fortunately my Gixxer SF250 is behaving well. Crossed around 12000km (havent paid any attention to ODO recently).

But I will check again and let everyone know if something has changed.

[tarmacnaut]

Originally Posted by gauravanekar

Fortunately my Gixxer SF250 is behaving well. Crossed around 12000km (havent paid any attention to ODO recently).

But I will check again and let everyone know if something has changed.

Was your bike manufactured between August 2019 to March 2021 and when did you buy the bike?

The recalls were applicable to many bikes manufactured from August 2019 to March 2021. And the press release states the company will be reaching out to customers, so it seems this was applicable only to the bikes which were already sold.

The OP bought his 2021 leftover Gixxer SF 250 heavily discounted from the dealer in July 2022 (based on his post), which indicates that the bike was still sitting in the showroom when the recall happened in 2021.

So the OP's bike was probably left out as the dealer might not have bothered. IMO, Suzuki should have gathered the affected VINs better.

From this Issue, It seems, It is better to do a thorough check if the bike was part of any recall campaigns when buying a heavily discounted bike/car sitting in the showroom for long time. Else we might end up in a soup. Hope, Suzuki India addresses the Issue ASAP.

[gauravanekar]

Originally Posted by tarmacnaut

Was your bike manufactured between August 2019 to March 2021 and when did you buy the bike?

Yes, I bought the bike in Week1 Jan 2021. If I remember correctly it was manufactured in October-2020 or thereabouts.

[tarmacnaut]

Originally Posted by gauravanekar

Yes, I bought the bike in Week1 Jan 2021. If I remember correctly it was manufactured in October-2020 or thereabouts.

The recall happened in mid 2021. If your bike was affected, the company might have reached out to you as your bike was already on the road (going by their press release). So your bike should mostly be fine.

[RD150]

This is not shocking to me at all. Please let me explain!!

Below is the list of bikes ridden by me extensively over the period of last 15 years.

* R15 V2(Mine): 10 years completed recently, odo reads 85k
* Bajaj Pulsar 150 dtsi (Mine - Sold) : Had it during my graduation (2008 to 2012).

* Gixxer 150( 2016), Gixxer SF150(2015), Honda Hornet (2019), Honda Unicorn (2014), FZ16 ( 2010), R15 V3 (2018). These bikes belong to my friends.

I won't say Suzuki engines are unrefined, but they definitely vibrate a lot in first 2/3 gears. Honda and Yamaha fare much better in refinement as well as vibrations.

To conclude this has been my experience in terms of vibrations.

Pulsar>Gixxer>Fz>Hornet>R15>Unicorn.

[Thatautoguy46]

Originally Posted by DRIV3R

https://Youtu.be/y5AXvBhBowk

Check this out, not a very well made video, but in gist, this guy also had same issues and solution was to re-align the balancer shaft in the engine, as was with the recall course of action. I am starting to think if Suzuki actually managed to accurately capture affected bikes in their VIN checker. Would certainly recommend checking the balancer shaft and correcting as required as a solution.

.
Sorry for the rookie video. It's my channel.
Now coming to the topic, even my bike has that infamous vibration issue and I tried it getting resolved in the initial period as there will be some quick response from the service team during the first few months of ownership. I wanted to understand the exact issue in detail and tried asking the service engineer multiple times, but all he had to say was some "balancer shaft issue". Couldn't pressurize him much about the same because there is only one good service engineer in my city and that's him. If I mess with him, I'll be left in hell. No one services a Gixxer SF250 here.
.
My Chain Sprocket has given up at somewhere around 13K KMs which is early considering the the chain lube ritual I follow (I clean and lube it every 300KMs, at Max ~400KMs). Blame it on my riding skills, hard gear shifts or whatever but it's early than on other bikes I guess. It took the team 3 whole weeks to procure the part and then I had to leave my bike with them for 3 days to get it replaced. It was done only in 3 days because of the service engineer, if not it would have been one week or more. There's no trained personnel in the Suzuki service team (at least in my city) who can look into the maintenance of the Gixxer 250 series, which is the sad reality
.
And coming back to vibrations, they are back. After getting it resolved, the bike went smooth only for about ~3K KMs. That's it. From then, I started living with it.
There were even some comments on some of my videos saying "You need to be a man to handle vibrations on a bike" which is just a lame excuse to support the bike (A hurt fanboy commented that).
.
But in the recent times, those vibrations are irritating me. They are everywhere, Handle bar, foot pegs and near the tank. There's no solution for it, so have to adjust (Till I get a new ride, not anytime soon though :/ )

[DRIV3R]

Originally Posted by Thatautoguy46

.

But in the recent times, those vibrations are irritating me. They are everywhere, Handle bar, foot pegs and near the tank. There's no solution for it, so have to adjust (Till I get a new ride, not anytime soon though :/ )

That sucks.

Did you try using a different engine oil? How often or after how many kms do you carry out engine oil changes ideally?

[tarmacnaut]

Originally Posted by Thatautoguy46

.
My Chain Sprocket has given up at somewhere around 13K KMs which is early considering the the chain lube ritual I follow (I clean and lube it every 300KMs, at Max ~400KMs).

What is the lube you used, oil or spray? Did you use Motul, I have seen many Motul users changing their sprocket/chain early (incl. FZ users), then switching to normal kerosene (for cleaning) and 90w gear oil (for living) and having no issues, even for 30k+ kms.

I used Motul on my previous bike Gixxer 155 for 20k+ kms in 5 years, I lubed roughly every 700kms and cleand once in 2000 kms, so not that regularly, but everything was fine. Just curious what is the procedure you followed for cleaning/lubing.

Asking this as my new bike VStrom also has similar sprocket chain assembly of Gixxer sf 250 and I am thinking of moving to good old kerosene/gear oil combo.

[Thatautoguy46]

Originally Posted by DRIV3R

That sucks.

Did you try using a different engine oil? How often or after how many kms do you carry out engine oil changes ideally?

.
I service it according to the manual ~ every 2500KMs.
I tried Motul 7100 10w40. Didn't see any major improvement, a little of pickup and reduced vibrations (negligible reduction) Also noticed a bit of heating.
I'm now running on Castrol Power 1 Ultimate 10w40. No heating noticed so far (~700KMs), no much difference in the way it rides. Vibrations are too much though.

Originally Posted by tarmacnaut

What is the lube you used, oil or spray? Did you use Motul, I have seen many Motul users changing their sprocket/chain early (incl. FZ users), then switching to normal kerosene (for cleaning) and 90w gear oil (for living) and having no issues, even for 30k+ kms.

I used Motul on my previous bike Gixxer 155 for 20k+ kms in 5 years, I lubed roughly every 700kms and cleand once in 2000 kms, so not that regularly, but everything was fine. Just curious what is the procedure you followed for cleaning/lubing.

Asking this as my new bike VStrom also has similar sprocket chain assembly of Gixxer sf 250 and I am thinking of moving to good old kerosene/gear oil combo.

.
I spray the Motul chain clean (C1) and then clean it with a Blue colour Brush (Bought for chain cleaning on Amazon). Also tried WD40 for cleaning, works well. Then use C2. I've also used Moto Max, TVS Tru and currently using Royal Enfield chain lube.
Right after using the chain lube, the gear shifts are smoother for about ~80KMs. After that, the gear shifts are hard again.
Go with your old pattern (Kerosene and Oil), even I've read about it. That works well I guess