Suzuki Katana 750
SUZUKI KATANA 750
CYCLE WORLD TEST
Striking the balance between comfort and speed
MOTHER ALWAYS SAID THAT THE ROAD TO PERDI-TION WAS PAVED WITH FAST MOTORCYCLES.BUT THEN, the new Suzuki Katana 750 might just make her smile.
The Katana certainly is fast; in fact, its 10.99-second dragstrip clocking is the best we’ve attained on a production 750. But the Katana has more than just speed. It is for those of us who want a competent sportbike, but one that we can ride on all kinds of roads without feeling the pain of kinked knees from high footpegs, or sore butts from seats with minimal padding. It also fills in the last gap in the Katana lineup, fitting neatly between the 1100 and 600 Katanas, and is the best Katana so far, in addition to being one of the most versatile motorcycles in recent years.
In building the 750, Suzuki was able to combine successful elements from several of its existing motorcycles. The engine is a version of the powerplant that propels the potent GSX-R750. And the chassis is a modified version of the unit used by Suzuki’s middle-class sportbike, the Katana 600. Most of the body work is borrowed from the 600 with a slight styling influence from the 1100.
At the heart of the Katana is its 748cc air/oil-cooled inline-Four engine. The engine retains the same 73 x 44.7mm bore and stroke of the GSX-R engine, but has cam timing that Suzuki claims produces more low-end and mid-range power. The Katana uses 36mm Mikuni flatslide carburetors borrowed from its racier brother, but it has a 4-into-2 exhaust system designed especially for this bike. Overall, the engine tuning gives the Katana a smoother, broader powerband than that of the GSX-R engine.
KATANA 750
By far the most impressive quality of the Katana’s engine is its smoothness. At low engine revolutions, it sends a bit of tingling through the frame and footpegs, but as the revs increase, the amount of vibration decreases so that near redline, the bike smooths out much like a speedboat coming up on plane. The bike has a silky power delivery as well; from just above idle, the engine spins almost casually upward until it hits hard at 9000 rpm. From that point on, the engine pulls fast and hard to its 12,500-rpm redline.
That kind of power curve makes the bike quite tractable in most situations, especially around town, where you don’t have to be constantly playing around with the shift lever to find the right gear in the six-speed transmission. You can short-shift the Katana and smoothly motor away. But out on the open road, you are reminded that the Katana is, after all, a 750, and when you need a sudden burst of speed you will have to downshift a time or two to get the engine spinning.
Some riders may even find the Katana’s power delivery unexciting, especially if they've grown accustomed to fullon 750 sportbikes. But the bike’s power characteristics are deceptive, because, even at high engine speeds, the motor is so smooth and so quiet that you get few sensory inputs that anything very stimulating is happening underneath the bodywork. But the bike is a sleeper and often is going much faster than it feels. So if you use feel alone to determine speed, you could soon be explaining the bike’s smooth, deceptive engine characteristics to the judge.
In much the same way, the handling of the bike at first seems unimpressive until you discover that it corners as easily at sight-seeing paces as it does at down-and-dirty, knee-dragging romps through the turns. But it does this with such nonchalance, and so much composure, that you almost miss the drama of lesser motorcycles. Of course, the Katana 600 had a similar unflappable feel, but the 750, with its inch-longer wheelbase, feels even more composed than the 600.
Furthermore, straight-line stability on the Katana is great at any speed. Peeling off into a corner, the Katana needs a firm push on the bars to initiate the turn, with the front end feeling a bit heavy and slow to respond. But once in the corner, the bike tracks well, easily staying on line.
The competent handling is due to the chassis, especially the excellent suspension components. The 750 comes standard with a 41mm front fork that has three rebound damping adjustments. Position two is fine for touring and moderate paces on backroads, but for more aggressive cornering, you have to spin the adjuster on the top of each fork leg to the number-three position, which gives the bike a much tauter ride.
Like the fork, the single rear shock is also adjustable. It comes with a three-position rebound damping control and a seven-way, spring-preload adjustment. Setting the rebound damping is a simple matter of pulling a knob located under the seat. The machine works best when the setting on the shock corresponds to that of the fork.
With the shock and the fork set on the number-two position, the Katana has a compliant ride that soaks up most minor road irritations and bumps, but on faster sections of twisting roads allows the bike to wallow a bit. Cranking the rebound at both ends up to the number-three position provides a noticeably stiffer ride, but the bike is then able to handle higher cornering speeds.
To top off the handling package, Suzuki has equipped the Katana with premium Metzeler tires. The front 17inch wheel comes with a V-rated ME33 Laser, the rear 1 7inch rim with the new ME55A Metronic. At anything below an all-out, race-style charge, both tires offer plenty of stick while showing excellent wear characteristics.
Certainly, those tires help with the handling, but they also help with the braking chores as well. When grabbing a handful of front brake, the front tire gives excellent feedback. That’s a good thing, because much like the front brake on the other Katanas, the brake on the 750 is a bit spongy during the first half of the lever travel. Once you give a serious pull on the lever, the brake works fine, transmitting plenty of information back to the rider. In addition, it is possible to scrub off some speed in the turns with the front brake without the bike wanting to stand up and head for the nearest ditch.
There is little doubt that the Katana is a tremendously competent package in terms of performance, but even better is that whatever it may give up in sheer, cutting-edge technology or performance to the pure sportbikes, it more than makes up for in ridability and versatility. And that is reflected as well in the general layout of the machine. In fact, this bike further alters the idea of the Universal Japa nese Motorcycle from the simple, do-it-all kind of bike to a motorcycle that has the performance levels expected in the Eighties and the comfort levels associated with the Seventies.
KATANA 750
While the Katana does not have the room of a touring bike, it is one of the more comfortable motorcycles on the market today. In fact, the footpeg/seat/handlebar relationship nearly equals that of the Yamaha FJ 1200, the current sporting comfort king. The seat itself has a smooth shape, rising slightly in the rear, and falling off at the sides with no hard edges. The foam padding is firm, but not too hard, so 150-mile stretches in the saddle are reasonable. In addition, the Katana pampers its rider with relatively high, wide handlebars for comfort and leverage, as well as with rubber covered footpegs that are low enough to keep riders’ legs from cramping, yet high enough to keep from scraping until the cornering speeds become very serious.
Also, the fairing itself offers decent protection from the elements. Granted, it is no Gold Wing, but the Katana offers enough of a fairing to keep the wind blast off of the rider and a windscreeen that is tall enough to hide behind. The holes in the sidepanels allow a bit of hot air to escape from around the engine, but not enough to bake the rider. And the mirrors extend far enough past the rider’s shoulders to provide a good view to the rear.
In the end, Suzuki has built the best Katana yet, one with a feel and character of its own, and one that is a little of each of the bikes from which it borrows its parts. It has enough performance to keep lesser riders on pure sportbikes struggling to keep up, and unquestionably it is the most versatile bike in the entire Suzuki lineup. But more than that, regardless of size, or configuration, it’s one of the best all-around motorcycles on the market today. 0
KATANA
750
SPECIFICATIONS
$5299
