Got me a 'Kat' I ave

[Stan]

OK, I know this is my first post but I've gotta correct a couple of things.

1/. Katanas didn't come to New Zealand (or anywhere in fact) until 1981. I know because I bought one of the first 30 1100cc (120hp, wire wheel, slide throttle carbs) Katanas to come in to New Zealand in September 1981. And because of a cockup on the part of my dealer (Marlborough Suzuki) I ended up with one of the five that was supposed to go to the Wellington Motorcycles race team. :-) It had a different clutch and big bore pipes.

2/. The seats on 1100 Katanas were a fake suede and were grey in the pillion section and blue in the rider's section. 750cc Katanas had blue vinyl seats. Any confusion over this probably comes from the fact that most of the race teams used the 750 seats on 1100s because it was easier to get off the seat in corners with the vinyl seat.

The first pic is of the first Katana in New Zealand. This was a factory prototype sent to the Easter motorcycle show in Christchurch in 1981. I ordered mine on the Tuesday after Easter.

The next pic is my new Katana on the day it arrived in September 1981.
Thats me on the back and my wife on the front. Actually, she wasn't my wife then, we got married in October 1981 and we rode to the wedding on the Katana.

[Morepower]

OK, I know this is my first post but I've gotta correct a couple of things.

1/. Katanas didn't come to New Zealand (or anywhere in fact) until 1981. I know because I bought one of the first 30 1100cc (120hp, wire wheel, slide throttle carbs) Katanas to come in to New Zealand in September 1981. And because of a cockup on the part of my dealer (Marlborough Suzuki) I ended up with one of the five that was supposed to go to the Wellington Motorcycles race team. :-) It had a different clutch and big bore pipes.

2/. The seats on 1100 Katanas were a fake suede and were grey in the pillion section and blue in the rider's section. 750cc Katanas had blue vinyl seats. Any confusion over this probably comes from the fact that most of the race teams used the 750 seats on 1100s because it was easier to get off the seat in corners with the vinyl seat.

The first pic is of the first Katana in New Zealand. This was a factory prototype sent to the Easter motorcycle show in Christchurch in 1981. I ordered mine on the Tuesday after Easter.

The next pic is my new Katana on the day it arrived in September 1981.
Thats me on the back and my wife on the front. Actually, she wasn't my wife then, we got married in October 1981 and we rode to the wedding on the Katana.

We need an after photo to go with that Cool pics though

Dave

[paturoa]

Thats me on the back and my wife on the front.

She seems to be enjoying herself!

[Kickaha]

The first pic is of the first Katana in New Zealand. This was a factory prototype sent to the Easter motorcycle show in Christchurch in 1981. I ordered mine on the Tuesday after Easter.

Where was that held? was that the one in Pioneer Stadium?

[Stan]

Where was that held? was that the one in Pioneer Stadium?

No, It was in the old King Edward Barracks in Cashel Street. I think its a car park now.

[DemonWolf]

Got any stories of your Kat Stan? and more pics? I owned a GS550M Katana.. she was a beaut. My first big bike. Travelled the north island on her.. mainly King Country, wellington, taranaki

[Kickaha]

No, It was in the old King Edward Barracks in Cashel Street. I think its a car park now.

I went to one there about that time, and yes it is now a car park

[Stan]

Got any stories of your Kat Stan? and more pics?

Got a lot more pics. I think I may even have an original brochure around somewhere. I'll have a dig and see what I can find.

To be honest, the Katana wasn't the greatest bike I've ever owned. Our previous bike was a GS1000ET and the Katana was a whole different kettle of fish. It was pretty radical in its day; the riding position was totally different to anything on the road and you couldn't take it anywhere without people asking lots of questions about it. The answers to the standard questions were: $7,200, 240kmph (Two-up on the Sanson Straights), and 120 horsepower.

But, it really wasn't very user friendly. This version had big, (40mm from memory) slide throttle carbs and the throttle springs were so strong that your right wrist and forearm would be in spasm after 15 minutes riding. I replaced the main return spring with a lighter one but then the throttle wouldn't roll-off by itself. Made it a bit tricky on scratcher’s roads

The handling was interesting. The rear springs were about the same rate as a GSX1100E but the damping rate was waaaay higher. This made the rear so stiff that the back wheel would bounce off the ground over sharp bumps even two-up. Also, it pushed the front end so hard coming out of bends that the front tyre (soft compound ribbed Pirelli Phantom) was worn out on the sides after 2,500km and still had a heap of tread in the middle.

We sold it in less than 3 months. Traded it to FCDC Honda in Fielding for what we paid for it. They wanted it for a customer who wanted to race it and couldn’t get a new one. We were going to trade it on a Mike Hailwood Replica but whimped out and ended up with a new CB750F which felt soft, gutless and sit-up-and-beg after the Suzuki.

[scumdog]

My XN85 has the Katana logo on it and looks very similar in style but nowhere does it say Katana (In fact the only wording is just the 'Suzuki' on each side, it's an '83 from memory and a USA import.

[T.W.R]

The Katana was designed by German Hans Muth in the late 70s on contract by Suzuki, he was a designer for BMW, the 1st Katana models were shown a various Motorcycle shows around 1980 but slightly different to the production model , without the minimal bug screen, and fitted with stepped mufflers.

We got the rare wire wheel model (GSX1100SZX), while other countries got the standard model. The US however got a 1000cc (with different carbs as well) model to allow it to be raced in the AMA superbike series.

The XN85 was designed around the same perameters to encapsulate the Katana theme as it used the same engine as the GS650G Katana (673cc 2V DOHC) and not a sleeved 750 4V dohc TSCC engine

[dangerous]

My XN85 has the Katana logo on it and looks very similar in style but nowhere does it say Katana (In fact the only wording is just the 'Suzuki' on each side, it's an '83 from memory and a USA import.

Should have a few markings on it SD, but not the Katana logo.
http://www.turbomotorcycles.org/TMIO...uki_XN85D.html
http://www.xn85turbo.com/index.html

The Katana was designed by German Hans Muth in the late 70s on contract by Suzuki, he was a designer for BMW, the 1st Katana models were shown a various Motorcycle shows around 1980 but slightly different to the production model , without the minimal bug screen, and fitted with stepped mufflers.

The last pic is the 1980 Kat's

[scumdog]

Nipped out to the gargre just then and had a look at the XN, it has a funny whitr 'F' shaped logo with a red samurai sword behind it, this logo is directly behind the steering-head on the fuel tank, just a little on front of the filler.

Got an Aussie 'REVS' newspaper thing with an XN85 write up, may 1982, but no pic of top of tank.

[dangerous]

it has a funny whitr 'F' shaped logo with a red samurai sword behind it,

I'd say someone has put it there, has the bike been resprayed considering the other markings are missing?

[scumdog]

I'd say someone has put it there, has the bike been resprayed considering the other markings are missing?

All the other marking are there D. - ( including the 'OBRUT' on the front of the headlight surround!) and yeah, the logo is exactly as you have posted!

No, there are no signs of a respray - the stone-chips on the headlight surround piss me off though.

[dangerous]

All the other marking are there D. - ( including the 'OBRUT' on the front of the headlight surround!) and yeah, the logo is exactly as you have posted!

Sorry SD... if ya read the quote below it sounded like you were talking about your XN85 having no markings, hence why I posted up a couple a pics and mentioned the respray, were you talking about my bike?

My XN85 has the Katana logo on it and looks very similar in style but nowhere does it say Katana (In fact the only wording is just the 'Suzuki' on each side, it's an '83 from memory and a USA import.