well,
considering you're admittedly a new rider, and said yourself you're trying to follow sport bikes and doing 135 mph, how could you even say that your problems were not user error, and blame it on the bike ? You have no frame of reference, and based on what you told me, you have no experience handling any bike in those conditions, let alone a katana.

Im not saying the katana is the best bike i the world, or even defending it. I just have a hard time you saying all the issues and crashes were due to faults the bike has, and not yours...

Maybe I dont have all the info though, Im just making a judgement call based on what i know, which is limited to this post...

Sounds just like a review written by someone looking for a sport bike.

My 750 Kat corners just fine. Does 80 mph all day without a complaint. Carries me, my wife and enough 'stuff' for a weekend out and carries me to and from work, when the weather permits, without a hiccup.

The Kat is a GREAT sport tourer. Have you ever ridden on an ST1100, ST1300 or R1150RT????? They're not nearly as fun to ride as the Kat, but they are geared more for the Touring crowd.

Sounds like you need to get yourself a CBR, R1, or ZX and you'll find the ride you're looking for.

I have to basically agree with jason the kat is no gixxer or cbr, but it is comfortable and I believe it has very good handling. I also like that not everyone has one and noone thinks you can do any stunts on it, but that also makes me think of what the hell I could do if I had something else.

You hit the nail on the head with the comment that you should have bought a used one, I bought new and damn do I regret it, I bought my wifes 92 750 kat for a grand, jetted full race exhaust. And that thing hangs even with a gixxer 750 no prob until 90 and it will top out above 160. Never topped it out, the highest I had it was 150 in middle of fifth gear.

The katana is so ridicously under estimated it is not even funny...good at everything not great at anything...

you need to work on your riding before you start blaming the bike...i highly doubt you are riding the kat to anywhere near 100% of its potential...

it sounds to me like the problem is your battered pride, not the katana.

you said yourself you wanted a bike to learn on... so why on earth would you want to learn on a brand-new bike? anyone here would have told you that you'd end up wrecking it sooner or later and would wish you had gotten a used one.

also you compare it so the SS bikes... but a Katana is not meant to compete with those. if they were... then suzuki wouldnt make the GSXR.

it sounds to me like you started out with the right attitude. unfortunately the "cool people" (a.k.a. toolbags) get under your skin when they crack on your kan-a-tuna.

the reality of it is that is to anyone worth half a $hit in this world, it doesn't matter what you ride, as long as you have fun. if you are so worried about comparing what you have to what everyone else has (a.k.a. jealousy), then you'll never be happy, so maybe you should worry about those self-esteem issues before you kill yourself trying to be what some doochbags idea of "cool" is.

live your own life.

sigh. the katana was not designed to be a race bike. thats what the gsxr is for. and jason sorry but you are not experienced enough to do the things you try and do on it. like trying to run with true race bikes, hence you've had several accidents. you say you scrape pegs going around corners in your neighborhood. this tells me you are going too fast for riding in a neighborhood. and if you ride properly, you won't scrape parts, but rather knee pucks. I think you should keep the kat a while and find a riding school in your area. if you get a race bike, I'm afraid we'll be reading another oh shiate post from you or worse. just my .02

I'm not getting involved in this one b/c eveyone is entitled to thier opinion and everyone knows the kat is NOT a superbike, but it is great at alot of things and it's fun to ride. It's better to have anything to ride than nothing at all trust me, been there done that. Now the one thing that keeps boggling my mind is how everyone says the pre 98 kats are comfortable. My back usually starts to hurt after about 120 miles of riding and the wind protection is about as good as sticking your head out of a semitruck window at 90mph (of course I have a chopped windscreen). Now my 2002 R6 I can ride for 300 or 400 miles a day without a single pain. Ehh maybe I'm still too young to sit upright on the Kat? LOL!

Well my last 3 bikes were:

2000 katana 750
2003 zx9r built
1993 katana 750

My honest opinion... For general street riding it's great. This is VERY subjective and meens different things do different people. My definition of streetriding including but not limited to --:

1) Riding a twistie road to maybe 1.5 times the speedlimit and making NO attempt to drag a knee and keeping it to the point of being able to stop if you had to.

2) An hour of freeway driving comfortably (which is a neccesity around boston if you travel anywhere).

3) Light to light drag racing fools in cars who think they're fast (which I've never lost on my katana).

4) 150 mph blasts on the interstate when I feel the need for speed

5) General sunday riding which usually includes all of the above.


In this context it gets the job done just fine. What it does and where it holds up poorly:

1) Racing any new sport bike, any size, in any condition or scenareo (sp?)

2) Technical road racing or riding where you have the ability to drag a knee either on the road or on the track.

3) Group chatting with the guys and talking about how good your bike is

In my opinion if your pushing your bike and you crash it's your fault, not the bikes. If you were aware of the bike limitations you wouldn't have pushed it over the edge..... besides riding technique is EVERYTHING. Any experienced track guy will tell you the same. Go to your local roadracing course and you'll see pros on little ex500's toasting the local weekend warriors on 1000's, it's very humbling to watch (I actually seen this and happens at just about every road racing course). That said will a sportbike designed for that application perform better in that situation? Of course, you might not have crashed. It also needs to be said that you would have been going 100mph easily with a good sportbike, not 60.... the stakes are much higher. From reading the post you need a good sportbike and more importantly you need instruction (seriously find a roadracing school, money well spent and fun . Take the katana and trade it in. BE VERY CAREFULL THOUGH!!! I don't care what bike your on, you can always get a faster one and one that will perform better. It never ends until your cashflow does.


Does the katana make a crappy sportbike? Well yes it does compared to the new ones and would be hard to argue otherwise.

Does the katana make a great street/touring bike? Well yes it does compared to the new sportbikes. Grab a new gixxer and go on the interstate for an hour. Take your girlfriend for a long ride on one The thing is the katana gets flack for not being 'bigger-faster-stronger' but no one ever nocks sportbikes for being:

1) uncomfortable... how many times how you seen guys standing up or stretching on a sport bike?

2) making long trips miserable cause your girlfriend keeps sliding forward and is complaining she's stiff and all the other b.s. that goes with it

3) for getting thieved so much

4) insurance $$

5) payment $$

6) and your still going to be oldschool in a few years..

In short it's all relative

Man, I <3 the kat because it is BIG. I rode my roomates Gixxer, and I looked like a clown piled on top of it. But my big 'ole Kat... Yummy

Jason;

Not wanting to pee in your soup but...

... although some of your points are credible, unfortunately the source (YOUR LIMITED EXPERIENCE), probably isn't.

I've read most of your posts that refer to your riding incidents. I am truely, without any prejudice, fearful of your life.
Your obviously energetic, articulate and intelligent, but just not smart with regard to riding. I would hope that you would recognize that when it comes to sport riding a motorcycle, there is no substitute for experience. And there's only one way to get it. Time!
I have been a licensed rider for 28 years now, and yes I've had my squidly moments but I'm alive because I've riden within my skill level. That level had progressed to a point that I was even comfortable racing for a period of time. But, I got there with experience.

If had more time I'd like to tell you about a good friend of mine and the tragic loss he has had to endure. Perhaps I'll PM you with it.

Ride safe Jason.

Well duh......... It's NOT a super sport. Never was and never will be. Coupled with the fact that you are an inexperienced rider and trying to keep up with the local heros (Read, Ricky Rocket Squidly), it's a damned wonder you are even alive.

Go ahead and get a Gixxer or R6. Maybe next time it will be over 100mph that you wreck. Course, it will be the bike's fault again I am sure. I wish you knew how many locals here I have left with their heads shaking wondering what the hell happened and asking me "Is that thing stock or what?". Sure, I get smoked on the straights, but then I don't shoot for top end, but rather rapid twisties. In that category the Kat does just fine with someone that knows how to ride.

The best mod in the world is proper riding instruction. It's worth more than ANY bike.

good comments people... lemme bring up a point.

i dont care how good of a driver you are, you arent gonna take a stock ford explorer and beat a stock corvette in the turns. i impress the boys in the twisties occasionally... but there is a fine line that i pass occasionally that puts me on the pavement.... that line is a lot higher with a bike designed for cornering. otherwise, we would see the katana platform on the racetrack against SS bikes. i dont blame my crashes on the bike.... i blame it on myself for believing everyone on here that says the katana handles well and me pushin it hard until i eat it.

Umm Jason have you ever watched the video Twist of the Wrist by Keith Code? Watch it sometime and tell me what bike they are using? Then get back to us. Also have you seen any of the videos I have done? I guess not since you say it will not keep up with a SS bike.

here is my point..... i could outride myself in the twisties on a SS bike.