Thinking of a 2001 Katana 750

[dabronzo]

Hey guys, newbie here.
I had a Kawa Zr-7 for some time and I want to go back to riding. Mostly to save some money and time commuting (25 miles each way every day)
I saw a 2001 Katana 750 for 1200 OBO that needs new brake lever and a new battery. Maybe new tires as well. Thinking of offering 1000 for it but wanted to talk to people that know the bike first.
What do you guys think?

[Kreylyn]

Hey guys, newbie here.
I had a Kawa Zr-7 for some time and I want to go back to riding. Mostly to save some money and time commuting (25 miles each way every day)
I saw a 2001 Katana 750 for 1200 OBO that needs new brake lever and a new battery. Maybe new tires as well. Thinking of offering 1000 for it but wanted to talk to people that know the bike first.
What do you guys think?

Do you feel comfortable working on the bike yourself? When I say working, I mean full disassembly and cleaning on the carbs, fairing repairs, suspension work, so on... Not just oil and gas.


If you do, then by all means go for it. Sounds like a decent deal.


If your gonna pay someone else to do it, then yeah... not such a good deal after all.


Krey

[Slammer46]

Mind you if you download a manual for the bike then giver a go

[dabronzo]

Do you feel comfortable working on the bike yourself? When I say working, I mean full disassembly and cleaning on the carbs, fairing repairs, suspension work, so on... Not just oil and gas.


If you do, then by all means go for it. Sounds like a decent deal.


If your gonna pay someone else to do it, then yeah... not such a good deal after all.


Krey

Well, I did most of the work on my Zr-7 myself, except cleaning the carbs because I didn't have all the tools and/or time.

[shpielers]

You going to UCD? I graduated from there in '07.
Carbs are the most likely thing to need work. Don't really need any special tools for them, just an understanding of how they work. Read carbs 102 in the wiki and watch the video. It'll give you a good idea if it's something you think you can handle. If the bike seems to run well already, jump on it. Most bikes need tires when you buy them anyways. I highly recommend anything in the Michelin pilot road series, all are good tires.

[expvet]

I had that very same model and it is a great bike. Nice powerband and very comfortable with the most underseat storage I've ever seen on a bike. If it is in good shape go for it. As for your brake lever, check out this link.

http://katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=134412

[dabronzo]

Yeah Graduate student at UCD. Got here in 07!

Thanks for the reply guys, I'm going to check on the bike, let you know later how it is!

[rk97]

I picked up a 2000 750 a few months back.

It was running, but a bit rough cosmetically. I also suspect it would benefit from a valve adjustment, and tightening/replacing the cam chain.

Long story short, I got my first full (finally) street-legal test ride in last night. I like it. a lot. I haven't had a street bike since 2011 when I sold my EX500, but the Katana is everything I want from a street bike.

it's got more than enough power to get me in trouble, and loads more roll-on torque in 6th gear than the EX ever had. The seating position isn't "relaxed," but it's not the sport position that my 600RR (race bike) had either.

I am going to be commuting 40 miles each way to work, and I think this will do nicely. I'm hoping for 40+ mpg, since my corolla already gets 34 or better. The Katana will just do it with more smiles on my face.

the only thing I have not really liked about the katana so far is that I had to put my front stand on the absolute tallest setting to raise the bike enough for the front wheel to fit under the fender when I remove it. That fender is crazy huge, and it has to drop straight down for easy removal.

$1000 sounds like a decent deal for a bike that can (almost) be ridden home. Batteries are $40 on amazon. Levers are $15. Tires are the expensive item there... I love Bridgestone BT45's as a good value tire. Those should run you around $200 for the set.

[dabronzo]

I picked up a 2000 750 a few months back.

It was running, but a bit rough cosmetically. I also suspect it would benefit from a valve adjustment, and tightening/replacing the cam chain.

Long story short, I got my first full (finally) street-legal test ride in last night. I like it. a lot. I haven't had a street bike since 2011 when I sold my EX500, but the Katana is everything I want from a street bike.

it's got more than enough power to get me in trouble, and loads more roll-on torque in 6th gear than the EX ever had. The seating position isn't "relaxed," but it's not the sport position that my 600RR (race bike) had either.

I am going to be commuting 40 miles each way to work, and I think this will do nicely. I'm hoping for 40+ mpg, since my corolla already gets 34 or better. The Katana will just do it with more smiles on my face.

the only thing I have not really liked about the katana so far is that I had to put my front stand on the absolute tallest setting to raise the bike enough for the front wheel to fit under the fender when I remove it. That fender is crazy huge, and it has to drop straight down for easy removal.

$1000 sounds like a decent deal for a bike that can (almost) be ridden home. Batteries are $40 on amazon. Levers are $15. Tires are the expensive item there... I love Bridgestone BT45's as a good value tire. Those should run you around $200 for the set.

Thanks for the input man, I am really hoping I don't get in a bad deal, 1000 is still 1000 for a graduate student.

[shpielers]

You talking about the Kat on CL that's being sold in placerville? From the pics there the bike looked ok. Hard to tell from just a few pics that don't show detail, but I'm pretty sure you could part it out for almost double that worst case scenario.

[Xeno_Gears]

I picked up an 04' 750 at the beginning of this season to get me started in the sport touring world. I have to be honest even though it is in incredible condition it's not the BEST bike in the world.... but I really do love it.

It has enough power to have some fun, handles well enough to tear up the twisties, not quite as comfortable as I was hoping (coming from cruisers/vintage bikes though)
but I have survived some longish rides with the cruiser guys so far.

The weird thing I find is that cruiser guys automatically seem to hate me because I'm on a "sportbike", yet the guys on the supersports look down on me. I haven't lost any sleep over the image associated with riding a katana though because I'm usually too busy riding the thing to be sitting around posing beside it.

Overall I am happy with my purchase, it is cheap to own + insure, lots of availability on parts. It does tend to have some rattles from the cheaper plastic parts, there can be a little more vibration through the seat/pegs/grips than on my CB750 but not enough to ruin it.

I really don't think you will be unhappy owning a katana 750, especially after seeing the incredible support for the katanas on this forum. Hope you can be riding this season!

[Kreylyn]

I picked up an 04' 750 at the beginning of this season to get me started in the sport touring world. I have to be honest even though it is in incredible condition it's not the BEST bike in the world.... but I really do love it.

It has enough power to have some fun, handles well enough to tear up the twisties, not quite as comfortable as I was hoping (coming from cruisers/vintage bikes though)
but I have survived some longish rides with the cruiser guys so far.

The weird thing I find is that cruiser guys automatically seem to hate me because I'm on a "sportbike", yet the guys on the supersports look down on me. I haven't lost any sleep over the image associated with riding a katana though because I'm usually too busy riding the thing to be sitting around posing beside it.

Overall I am happy with my purchase, it is cheap to own + insure, lots of availability on parts. It does tend to have some rattles from the cheaper plastic parts, there can be a little more vibration through the seat/pegs/grips than on my CB750 but not enough to ruin it.

I really don't think you will be unhappy owning a katana 750, especially after seeing the incredible support for the katanas on this forum. Hope you can be riding this season!

For lots of long rides, a seat upgrade and after market handle bars can put the bike into that extremely comfortable ride your not quite at yet.


Krey

[shpielers]

For lots of long rides, a seat upgrade and after market handle bars can put the bike into that extremely comfortable ride your not quite at yet.


Krey

+1000

Got a corbin saddle last fall and installed a 750 triple onto my 600 recently. I did several 400 miles rides before hand and came out ok, but a on the sore side, with the soreness starting around 150 miles. (stop every hour or so to stretch and it never gets bad) Did a 200+ mile ride (only stopped 5-10 minutes to refuel) 2 weekends ago, after doing hard manual labor the day before. Felt great when I got off the bike, felt like I could have gone another couple hours and still been totally fine.

[Stinger02]

I have had my 01 750 since 2008 and commute 100 miles a day on it. It currently has 69k miles. Love this bike.

[dabronzo]

You talking about the Kat on CL that's being sold in placerville? From the pics there the bike looked ok. Hard to tell from just a few pics that don't show detail, but I'm pretty sure you could part it out for almost double that worst case scenario.

That is exactly the one. the guy isn't the most helpful on text call as well.