While it might sound cliché, the saying “things get better with age”, we make an exception for ‘the saying’ every year with the Suzuki Numbi Weekend Away—it really does get better year on year. Each year, the team at Suzuki SA make it their priority to spice up the recipe, making it an exciting experience for the Numbi faithful and a blast for all newcomers. Fun, a bit of competitiveness, plenty of sightseeing, top riding in the country, bonding over motorcycles and sharing the love for the open road. This is the makings of the Suzuki Numbi Weekend Away and the framework that brings the “family” back each year.
Last year saw the biking media join forces at Hotel Numbi & Garden Suites in Hazyview, Mpumalanga, bringing a cluster of personalities together that shouldn’t share the same room slowly morph into a functioning Frankenstein of a team. We did pretty well and even bonded over the experience, which we never really get to do. This year, however, we joined forces differently, not as a team but as a group of Suzuki GSX-S1000GX riders.
A month or so ago, Suzuki very generously pulled an Oprah Winfrey on the media. Suzuki SA: “But it’s not just one, two or three. You get a GX! You get a GX!” We all got long-term GXs, and we have all seriously fallen for the bike. In Suzuki’s versatile lineup of motorcycles, the GX ticks many boxes, from comfortable two-up touring, twisty road and track days, daily commuter, open road mile muncher, and it’s a bike that you still turn around and look at before you head to the office. It’s smooth yet characterful, powerful yet poised and feature-packed yet functional—it’s the clever man’s cherry on the cake kind of motorcycle.
With time on our hands before Numbi, we got to prepping, accessorising and protecting our longer-term GX, “Big Blue”, for the open road. Big Blue is honestly near perfect right out of the box. The GX is a cross-over sports tourer equipped with Suzuki’s first ever shot at electronic suspension, it has a K5 GSX-R1000 derived motor, cruise control, adjustable windscreen, brembo calipers, decent travel for our sometimes dodgy road surfaces, it’s packed with a hoast of easy to use rider aids and I personaly find the looks very attractive.
If near perfect, why mess with the GX? Well, because Suzuki has specced the GX the way they have for our market, the GX is almost 40k cheaper than the nearest “performing” competitor, which leaves room to personalise and fit some tasty extras to make the GX even more worth the spend. Overseas, we see the GSX-S1000GX available in a “+” model, which gets you more touring-based upgrades like colour-matching panniers and a centre stand. Now, although not available on paper as the + model in SA, Suzuki genuine accessories are available for you to go wild on your GX and build your own + model, if that is what you’d like.
Without the price loaded on the standard bike, it also leaves you with an ocean of goodies and practical accessories, both OEM and aftermarket, to take a closer look at, again, if building your own GX+ is the plan. Otherwise, saving nearly 40k gives you room to plan some funtastic open road trips and a couple of track days too.
With a figurative 40k to juice up Big Blue in mind, we rang up Suzuki SA’s genuine parts and accessories division and negotiated a set of colour-coated panniers for practical storage and touring needs. Doug got cracking and before we knew it, they were installed by simply removing the rear plastic block offs and replaced with plastic brackets with pannier hooks and two sliders were mounted to the back of the rear passenger stays.
The boxes add 30L of storage per side, which is big enough to fit two medium helmets or his and hers luggage for a weekend away. Shad, Givi and many other brands were options, but Suzuki’s genuine accessory panniers both look better and fit better on the GX.
The local wizards of exhaust pipes, VYKON, came to the party with their latest slip-on system offering better looks, a lighter pipe and a very clean exhaust note. Yes, it’s not a full system, but honestly, the GX doesn’t need it; the VYKON elevates the thrill without aggravating everyone around you—no one wants to be dubbed “that guy” status on a group ride.
Instead, the VYKON elongates the look of the bike. I personally like a longer pipe on a big bike versus a small stubby exhaust, and with the new evolution of VYKON, you get a high-quality finish in the form of good build quality and a high-end look thanks to the glassy carbon exhaust tip. Best part is, the VYKON fits the GX with good clearance for the OEM panniers—this was a big bonus for me. If you want to keep your Suzuki warranty, enhance the looks and performance, VYKON, in my opinion, is a very good option for the GX.
If you love your bike, you’ve got to put on some PPF. What the flip is PPF? PPF is paint protection film, similar to a wrap but less to do with branding and more to do with protecting your paint and in Big Blue’s case, the stunning Suzuki blue paint work and the gold Showa forks had to be protected at all costs. Our good mates from Empire Graphics in Alberton took one quick look at Big Blue, drew up a stencil for a kit and printed us PPF with some subtle graphics, because why not, right?
The main man at Empire, Mark Dos Santos, also agreed that subtle works best for that OEM plus look we were going for. Shortly after, Mark sent me a design on some very sick rimtape inspired off of the early 2000s GSX-R models—finishing off the look but adding an extra bit of sportiness to Big Blue too.
In the week leading up to visiting “Empire”, I had already picked up a chip on the OEM GX sticker, loose stones and gravel on our roads are bound to at some point damage our bikes and that’s the importance of this clear film, its damn cheap, can look pretty cool if you opt for graphics, and it keeps your pride and joy good as new.
Lastly, we pulled into Liqui Moly headquarters for some Motorcycle Care products for the road, so we could keep Big Blue looking, running and apparently with Liqui Moly products, smelling pretty good too. Lisa hooked us up with Motorbike Quick Detailer, Chain Lube, Helmet Interior Clean, Visor Clean and Multi-Spray to keep our GX and anyone else’s bike up to scratch. Over a dozen Suzuki faithful got me to lubing their chain and detailing their bikes with these products, and with the Liqui Moly smell literally in the air, everyone had a good comment to make on these fantastic products.
All these extras, cleaners, PPF and tasty modes fitted to the GX still saw us left with “money” for a Suzuki Numbi Weekend Away and leftovers before creeping up to the GX’s German competitor.
With Big Blue ready, we rolled into the 14th rendition of the Iconic Suzuki Numbi Weekend Away to meet up with around 20 other teams who would be taking part this year. 200 km of twisty and very scenic roads saw us circle navigate, answer historic Suzuki and geographic questions on Mpumalanga, figure out riddles, fly and attempt to land drones, build a block tower and take funny pictures all around Hazyview, Graskop, Sabie, Mashishing and White River.
It was like “The Amazing Race”, but rather than crossing the line first, you have to focus on earning as many points as possible, putting effort into executing the required photos and being a team player. Yes, there was a cut-off time at 16:00, but 99% of the teams finished in the required time.
Talking about team players, Meredith, my better half, filled that role very well as she loves these quiz-type games, is extremely competitive and always has her head in the game, unlike my easily distracted self. ‘Meri’ kept us on track, directing us on the “GO TEAM” app from checkpoint to checkpoint; she even managed to save Shuan and Donovan a few km of riding in the wrong direction. Thanks Kyle!
Meredith: Suzuki Weekend Away 2025 is only my second year of attendance, but it sure raised the bar for the next one. Having won three separate prizes, including a First Aid course, a 3rd place medal, and best of all, a Caberg helmet, I’m not sure how we can top that! I guess a gold medal would be the ultimate prize, we’ll see… Apart from doing so well this year, I can honestly say that regardless of whether you win, the fun remains the same. This event is the perfect opportunity to step away from the busy life that we live and step into what feels like being a child again—from pulling the ugliest faces to finger painting, you get to enjoy every moment.
This year, our partner in crime was the GX, and I must say, I have grown a little fond of it in the past month. I can honestly vouch that it is a great bike to have for trips like these. The paniers surprised me, I was able to fit everything I needed for the weekend into just ONE! Yes, I packed light, but I was still able to fit all the goodies Suzuki gave us as well, so that says something. I can proudly say that my butt survived the 1000ks we did, and the suspension spared me a lot of bumps in the road. Overall, the GX is remarkably comfortable, and if we had to add a top box, I might be tempted to take a nap on those long straights…
I’ve come to realise that there is a “family” type atmosphere that revolves around the Suzuki Weekend Away, and people from all over come together to participate in the fun and games. This year, however, two couples chose to share their very special milestones with the Suzuki family—one couple celebrated their wedding anniversary while another stepped into a new phase of life by getting engaged. This only proves that the event is more than just a bunch of people attending; instead, it’s an occasion in their “life calendar”, and I’m so excited to have experienced it as well. I’m hoping to be privileged enough to attend the Numbi 2026; I’m sure the Dream Team and Suzuki SA will once again bring us an immense amount of fun.
Some medals, a prize or two, amazing chow and good company saw us wind down the weekend with smiles all round. The GX got us there and helped us enjoy every second of it, so much so that we planned a long trip back home through Sabie and into Kaapschehoop before munching down the highway kilometres back to Pretoria. Shaun was enjoying his GX so much that he decided to join us and extend the ride back home on Sunday. We dialled in our Showa suspension and instantly became Maverick and Goose to our brunch stop at the Bohemian Groove Cafe.
The trip saw Meri and me put just over 1000 km on Big Blue, and we could have happily set our cruise control on to the next destination. We averaged 18 km/L with Big Blue minus the 15 km/L mountain passes, which saw a reasonable 300-plus km from the 19-litre tank. The GX can easily do 20 km/L plus, but when you’ve got Thor’s hammer in the form of a K5-derived GSX-R1000 motor underneath you, you are going to want to have the full experience, and that’s what we love most about Big Blue—if you ask him to party, he parties hard.
So, if you are reading this, and you either own a Suzuki, want to be part of next year’s Suzuki Weekend Away or are eager to ride a GSX-S1000GX, then visit your nearest Suzuki dealer now.
Suzuki GSX-S1000GX
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