Suzuki Katana 600
SUZUKI KATANA 600
RIDING IMPRESSION
Falling in love again
THE YEAR WAS 1983, AND IT WAS easy to fall in love—particularly with one very alluring motorcycle. That bike was the Suzuki GS550ES, the harbinger of a new generation of middleweight sportbikes. It had a sexy half-fairing, a 16-inch front wheel, a potent, 10,000-rpm redline and, for a short while, the lust-filled attention of every rider looking for the quickest, nimblest way down his favorite backroad.
Infatuation fades quickly, however, and riders soon were being wooed less by the 550 Suzuki and more by the Yamaha FJ600, Honda Interceptor 500 and Kawasaki Ninja 600. And by the time some even more enticing creations—the FZ600, the 600 Hurricane and an improved Ninja 600—arrived a short while later, Suzuki had withdrawn the aging GS550 from the class altogether.
But for 1988, Suzuki wants back into the game. And the Katana GSX600F clearly shows that Suzuki has been paying close attention to the ongoing developments in the 600 class. Fike the 600 Hurricane, the Katana is almost totally sheathed in plastic, with just a glimpse of engine and steel frame rail peeking through here and there. And like the Hurricane and new Ninja, the Katana is designed to be an all-around sportbike, one that doesn’t sacrifice too much comfort and versatility for the sake of performance.
Nevertheless, Suzuki chose to demonstrate the Katana’s sporting prowess by introducing the bike to the motorcycling press at California’s Riverside Raceway. Three hours of lapping the 2.56-mile circuit showed that the 600 in stock form is a great handler, but handicapped as a production racer by its tires, rear shock and vague front-brake feel. The tires, Dunlop K655s, would begin to slide—albeit predictably—way before the cornering clearance was used up. The rear suspension felt under-damped on the track, a condition that couldn't easily be remedied because the shock has no damping adjustments. And the front brakes, which are as strong as anything in the class, offered little feedback during the initial portion of the lever’s travel.
Just as with the Hurricane, Ninja and FZ, then. Katana 600 riders intent on collecting contingency money in production-class roadracing will have to fit stickier rubber and an aftermarket shock, and do a little hot-rodding of the front brakes.
The good news is that on the street, where most Katanas will be spending all their time, those glitches are not evident. Final evaluation will have to wait for side-by-side comparisons, but the Katana has a shot at being the most streetable mid-displacement sportbike yet. It has a compliant suspension that isn’t defeated by potholes or freeway expansion joints, and a seating position that puts the rider into the proper sport-riding tuck without extracting a heavy toll on the buttocks, knees and wrists.
Whether on the track or the street, though, the Katana’s engine is up to snuff. Basically, it’s the same oilcooled motor that powered the 1985’87 GSX-R750, but with a decrease in bore from 70mm to 62.6mm, an improved ignition system and a 4into-2 exhaust. Suzuki didn’t release any horsepower figures, but performance runs with CYCLE WORLD’S computerized third-wheel gear yielded a quarter-mile time of 12.08 seconds at 1 10.59 mph, putting it on even par with the 83-horsepower Hurricane and 84-horsepower Ninja despite weighing 448 pounds (without gas), which is about 20 pounds heavier than those machines. The Katana clocked a top speed of 134 miles an hour, which is 3 up on our test FZ600. identical to the Hurricane and 7 down on the Ninja.
Suzuki knows only too well how fickle the affections of sportbike buyers can be. With its handling, comfort and power, though, the Katana 600 just might entice enough riders to become the new class heartthrob. 0
