Need help on my 1997 katana 750

[Bigboy22157]

Hey how's everyone doing? As you can see imma newbie to this whole forum thing and how it works so please bare with me...

Ok this weekend I bought a 1997 katana 750 with the intentions of it being able to run with my cousin and my buddy's which are all on cbr600r's
But sad to say that was not the case.

What I'm basically getting to is to see if there is anyway possible to put a little more pep into my bike? Could I get it to run with them? And if so what is a list of things I could do to get it up there?? I wanted to be different and not have the same thing they all got is the reason I got it...

If there is anyone out there that can help me it will be greatly appreciated
Thanks alot

[Wild-Bill]

Welcome.

OK, first of all you need to understand that your cousin and buddy have sport bikes. You've got a sport-tourer. The 750 Katana is meant to be an entry level bike that's fun to ride but still comfortable enough to spend the entire day riding. In order to both keep the price down and keep the bike comfortable some pretty big sacrifices were made in the performance category.

Now the good news. You can install an aftermarket exhaust to save some weight, a Factory Pro jet kit and an ignition advancer. That's about it for performance upgrades to the engine. Next you can contact Tmod (on this forum) for some suspension upgrades/refresh/tweaking. Then you can learn to ride that thing really well. It's not uncommon at all for a good rider on a properly configured Kat to run circles around yahoos on pure sport bikes. It's all about the rider, not the bike. Track days and lots of practice are your friend. Oh, and did I mention that the Kat is comfortable enough that you can stand to be on it a lot longer than your buds can stand to be on their CBRs? That translates to more practice time. Then, if you're still wanting to get faster you can take those same skills with you to a faster bike and actually be up to tapping some of that bike's capabilities. (Of course, your butt will curse you for it!)

[Bigboy22157]

Thanks for the reply man
I'm sorry I forgot to mention that the guy I got it from had it stretched( I don't kno exactly how long but it's not that much) and it also has a yoshimira r&d aftermarket exhaust on it... would any of that make a difference in my first post?
Also Iv heard about changing out the sproket set up to gain top end or bottom end?? Is that a good idea on a katana or no?

Again thanks for the help

Thanks for the reply man
I'm sorry I forgot to mention that the guy I got it from had it stretched( I don't kno exactly how long but it's not that much) and it also has a yoshimira r&d aftermarket exhaust on it... would any of that make a difference in my first post?
Also Iv heard about changing out the sproket set up to gain top end or bottom end?? Is that a good idea on a katana or no?

Again thanks for the help

[Wild-Bill]

Well, it does mean that you already have a 4-1 exhaust. You may already have a jet kit installed. The stretched swingarm doesn't help anything but it does make the bike turn a bit slower.

As for the sprocket thing, you don't gain or lose any power but you can tweak the power delivery to focus on one aspect or another. A larger rear sprocket can (as long as you don't go too far with it) increase your top speed by lowering the rpms required to achieve a given speed. A smaller rear sprocket will give you a little better acceleration from a stop at the cost of top speed. Either way, you don't get anything without paying for it somewhere else.

[cintidude04]

As for the sprocket thing, you don't gain or lose any power but you can tweak the power delivery to focus on one aspect or another. A larger rear sprocket can (as long as you don't go too far with it) increase your top speed by lowering the rpms required to achieve a given speed. A smaller rear sprocket will give you a little better acceleration from a stop at the cost of top speed. Either way, you don't get anything without paying for it somewhere else.

A little backwards there Bill. Larger rear sprocket (or smaller front) will lower top speed but increase acceleration. Smaller rear sprocket will gain a little top end but you won't get there as quickly.

[Million$]

What a about the gsxr cam swap for hp? Or was that only for big kats? Or am I way wrong? ...going to search ....

[Wild-Bill]

A little backwards there Bill. Larger rear sprocket (or smaller front) will lower top speed but increase acceleration. Smaller rear sprocket will gain a little top end but you won't get there as quickly.

Exactly right. Apparently I needed more coffee this morning.

[scottynoface]

A katana 750 will not run with a 600RR no matter what you do to it, been there done that.

Remove the stretch crap and learn to ride better, thats your only hope.