Suzuki GSX1100 Katana
With Ian Falloon
Until the mid-1970s, style was not considered a priority in motorcycle design. Street motorcycles gradually evolved as form followed function and, apart from a few coffee racing factories, all motorcycles have a fairly general path.
This involved an upright sitting position and dual seats, like many bare bikes today. BMW changed that with their 1973 R 90 S, but although BMW was the first to officially join a stylist, the R 90 S was actually created in-house.
Outside designers weren’t really considered until Suzuki started producing their Katana in 1979 and it’s no coincidence that Suzuki chose the German company Target Design to create their Katana. Heading Target Design was none other than Hans A. Muth, who was also responsible for both the later BMW R 90 S and R 100 RS.
Muth and Target Design directors Hans Georg Kasten and Jan Olof Fellström introduced Suzuki to a radical design created through wind tunnel testing. The rider and motorcycle are combined as a complete aerodynamic package, with the crankcase and fuel tank flowing air back and forth around the rider.
The first prototype appeared in April 1980 and was officially unveiled a few months later at the Cologne show. To everyone’s surprise, Suzuki announced the Katana (named after a Samurai sword) would enter production in 1981, and so it did, for the 1982 Model Year.
Compared to any other motorcycle available in 1982, the Katana’s styling is radical and polarizing views. There is no half a house with Katana; you either love it or hate it. And while it looks like the space age, the technology underneath the massive bodywork is still far from groundbreaking.
At a time when other manufacturers were incorporating liquid-cooled single-shock rear suspension, speed-up and experimenting with 16-inch front wheels, the 1100 Katana was a thing of the past.
The 1074 cc 4-cylinder engine may have had dual overhead camshafts, four valves per cylinder and Suzuki’s TSCC (Twin Vortex Combustion Chamber) but this air-cooled donk is very much an improvement. evolution of the previous design.
This doesn’t stop it from making a class-leading 111 hp at 8,500 rpm, making the Katana the most powerful production motorcycle available.
Unfortunately, the chassis lags behind the engine as underneath the styling is an original GSX 1100 Suzuki, complete with a twin-shock rear end, slim front forks (albeit with trendy hydraulic anti-dives). ) and 19-inch front wheel.
The wheelbase extends 1,520 mm and the weight stands at a remarkable 232 kg. Since the alternator and igniter are mounted on the outside of the crank, the engine is very wide and needs to be mounted high in a tubular steel support frame. Long, wide, heavy and with a high center of gravity, the 1100 Katana isn’t a trailblazer.
The 1100 Katana was one of the last Japanese bikes built using the old formula of massively overpowering the engine. It may be fast, but my vivid experience when testing the top speed of a new 1982 wheeled 1100 Katana on a deserted Victorian country road was horrifying.
This is a solid bike capable of more than 230 km/h but at 200 km/h it seems to lose control, creeping horribly across two lanes. Although Katana has now become a cult, even when it was released it was still a flawed dinosaur.
Style may prevail over function, but that doesn’t detract from its appeal. Thirty years of the Katana remains a celebration for an era where motorcycle manufacturers were prepared to push the boundaries, launching exotic machines to the masses without any guarantees of success. Commerce. The Katana did not sell in large numbers, but it is now considered one of the most memorable Suzukis of the 1980s.
Suzuki’s Five Facts About Katana
- The GSX 1100S Katana is offered with a string model option in Australia, mainly for production races as the wheels are slightly lighter and the rear is 18-inch with a larger tire range.
- In 1983, the upper limit for races in all Australian classes was set at 1000 cc, so Suzuki Australia imported some Canadian spec bikes. As the only katana with a standard plain bore, they have been ridden in the Arai 500 by Neil Chivas, Rod Cox and Rob Toomey but are all retired.
- Due to his long relationship with the Suzuki factory, NZ importer Rod Coleman was able to get his hands on a higher spec Katana than Australia (with E-27 cam and black exhaust)
- Although the GSX1100S Katana was not sold in Australia after 1984, it was popular in Japan for many years. The 1982 specification Katana 1100 was sold there until 1987, with a special anniversary edition released in 1990 to celebrate Suzuki’s 70th anniversary.
- The last Katanas were the GSX250S, available only in 1991 and 1992, and the GSX400S of 1992 and 1993. These were faithful copies of the original but with a modern liquid-cooled four-cylinder engine.
