How often can you do that? What I also appreciated was that after a while, the road became familiar. It was a great idea: all day, we rode pretty hard on the street without paying any attention whatsoever to speed limits and without encountering a single car. A closed highway with plenty of smooth curves and no cops to care – no wonder Bert could do this all day long. We would then turn around and do it again, and again, and again. We split into groups and rode from one end of the parkway to the other, about 10 km each way. Still, we needed to ride the Katana, so Suzuki closed the Arashiyama-Takao Parkway for the test day - an awesomely cool and scenic road that winds up and down a mountain range here just outside Kyoto. Knowing how naughty new bikes press launches can get (in Spain, say), and having witnessed how incredibly civilized and polite Japanese people are, including when they drive, I’d say not letting us loose on public roads over there was a smart choice. I asked why and didn’t get a straight answer, but what I was told could be interpreted as a preference not to see moto hacks from around the globe wreak havoc on Japanese roads. Japanese manufacturers almost never let the foreign press ride on the street in Japan. This is what the rest of the world calls “spring.” What’s it like to ride? So far, only a couple of countries have released their pricing which shows a premium of between 10 to 20 per cent above the GSX-S1000’s MSRP. It will come on sale in Canada in late fall or winter of 2019, though our price is not yet announced. Less than a year later, at the Intermot show in October of 2018, the new Katana was announced. Suzuki liked it so much the decision was made to put it in production almost as is, and as soon as possible. Suzuki did offer, however, that the idea of a new Katana, while always present within the company, really gained momentum after the “Katana 3.0 Concept” by Italian designer Rodolfo Frascoli was presented at EICMA in the fall of 2017. For sure there were strong opinions on what form a new Katana could take.” But it was a dead end. What I’m after is the story behind that decision. What followed was a long silence, heads turning, then a long discussion in Japanese between the entire panel of Suzuki’s staff, and finally the answer: “We made the decision to produce this new Katana.” To which I replied: “Respectfully, I know you did, the bike is right there. I asked the question directly to the Katana’s design team: Considering the legendary status of the model within Suzuki’s history, wouldn’t it deserve the full-replica treatment? It was tough for Bert to get a straight answer about the Katana’s styling from these guys, and we can understand why. I wanted to know -as I’m sure many fans of the model want to know - why Suzuki didn’t create a more authentic replica. So, overall, the answer is yes, both bikes are technically very close. Moving it to this position, along with the rear turn signals and licence plate holder, eliminates parts extending from under the seat to give the tail section cleaner lines. Finally, on the Katana, there’s a small rear fender supported by the swingarm that hugs the rear tire. According to Suzuki, the suspension is adjusted slightly softer on the Katana than on the GSX-S.Īlthough the frame itself is the same massive aluminum unit as on the GSX-S, the rear subframe is specific to each bike. The seat is 15 mm higher on the Katana at 825 mm, but the riding position remains similarly upright. The body and tank are specific to the new model, as are the one-piece seat (unlike the two-piece on the GSX-S) and the GSX-R1000-inspired instrumentation. The entire rolling chassis, the engine and the electronic package are identical to the GSX-S, but the Katana is different in other areas. KYOTO, JAPAN-Is the new Suzuki Katana just a reskinned GSX-S1000?Įven at first glance, and even to the untrained eye, it’s obvious the new Katana isn’t a modern replica of the original 1981 or 1984 bikes - something with the authenticity of, say, a Kawasaki Z900RS - but rather, it’s a kind of homage model built on a modern platform. Is it enough to deserve the return of the logo with the sword? “We just clocked a rider on a silver Katana at over the speed limit. Now, at last, it’s back, albeit somewhat controversial because it’s based on the modern GSX-S1000. In the world of Suzuki, the Katana name is legendary, second only to the GSX-R.
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