This bike is currently at $4,500 with several days to go – and what appears to be NO Reserve. That likely means carbs and tires, and any other pieces that have gone brittle with age. The seller notes that due to the time it has sat it will need to be serviced. Today’s bike is more on the show side of the fence, having traveled only 6,000 miles in its life and being the resident of a private collection. While never a canyon carver in its day, Katanas today are best utilized for more genteel rides and for the show. While time has tamed their brutal status as a monster – performance slower than that of a middleweight today – keep in mind that the chassis and suspension is pretty much 40 year old technology. The original speedometer showing 5984 miles will be included.Ĭomplete and original (or period correct) Katanas are getting stronger on the money side. The mileage shown on the speedometer on the bike is 75, but the actual mileage is approx. Please note that the title will show an odometer discrepancy according to the BMW regulations in Ohio. It will require some attention to make it roadworthy if it is supposed to be ridden. It has been parked for quite a while and is NOT READY TO RIDE This particular bike is part of a collection which is being sized down. The Katana, named for the famous Japanese sword, first appeared at the Intermot show in Cologne in May 1980, and production examples appeared a year later with only a few changes from the show bike. Ex-BMW designers Hans-Georg Kasten and Hans Muth partnered with Brit Jan Fellstrom to overhaul the Suzuki lineup. The Katana project actually began in Germany with a company called Target Design in 1979 with Target Design to improve Suzuki’s GS1100.
The 1100cc model of 1983 replaced the 1982 1000cc model which was supposed to be part of a homologation program to make them eligible for Superbike racing. You are looking at a great condition 1983 Suzuki GS1100S Katana, one of the iconic bikes of the early 1980s. While some technology peeked its way into the build (4-valve heads, anti-dive fork), the Katana was really a tarted up, big motor bike. Ancillary components hang off the end of the crank, making this bike impossibly wide. Wheels are 19 inchers, likely chosen as much for style as performance. Beneath the styling, the rest of the bike was surprisingly pedestrian a stock GS1000 chassis complete with twin shocks.
#Suzuki katana 1980 full
Stuffed full of a DOHC, 1100cc in-line monster of a motor, the Katana was claimed to be the fastest mass-production motorcycle of the day with 80+ HP (!). But the Katana wasn’t just another pretty face. The Katana was the most visually extreme, but the XN85 Turbo and full range of GS models all retained key elements and lines of the Katana. The seller has provided an accurate account of how the design of the Katana came to be, but fails to note the pedigree of Muth (long time BMW designer responsible for the R90S, R100S, R100RS and R65LS to name a few), and the extent to which the Katana design language extended throughout the Suzuki model range. Yet for a brief period of time the Suzuki Katana was top dog – and remains an iconic model even today. Suzuki gamely fought back with the likes of the Gen I GSX-R, but the era of air-cooling was headed the way of the dinosaur. By 1984 the Kawasaki Ninja made the Katana a hot-rod relic, and the remainder of the Big Four were close behind.
Unfortunately, that pinnacle was really a precipice the new world of liquid cooling, single shock swing arms, GP-inspired 16-inch front wheels, five valves per cylinder and aluminum perimeter chassis was just around the corner. Like the last of the front-engine Formula 1 racers, the Katana was visually stunning and stood at the pinnacle of old-school performance.
And while that is an accurate tag line, the truth is it sort of oozed its way boldly out of the 1970s. Links in this post have been updated to point to similar bikes available to bid on eBay.
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