[Mojoe]

i can't really tell ya a darn thing cuz i have owned the same kat since 93 and i know basically crap about other bikes because of it. i just wanted to say good luck on a good deal no matter what you choose. and welcome to kr.

[Tito750]

Find a good deal on a 750 Kat and go for it, you won't regret it.

[g_man500a]

Thanks again everyone for all the responses. I'm getting a lot of ideas from everything that everybody is saying, and it really is helping a lot.

Lou, there's something about that helmet..and the finger..it's just really freaky, lol.

As for wether or not I am going to go on short drives or long, I'm not really sure yet. I would like to think that I will go on some longer cruises to different places around here, but I'm not sure if I'll enjoy shorter rides more. I think I am leaning more towards longer rides, because there's a lot of interesting places within a couple hours ride from here, and if I ever get the chance to go and ride with Lou, It's a good little ride down to that area of the state unless I trailered the bike I would also like the option of hitting the twisties sometime when I get more experienced, nothing crazy, just some nice turns. Does the Kat handle them fairly well?

I love the fairing on the Katana, it's a really nice looking bike. I prefer a faired bike to a naked one for sure, but that leads to a question. I am a newb..so, I'm probably going to drop the bike at one point or another and when I do, how available are replacement fairings for a late 90s Kat? How about other parts like shifters and whatnot?

I definately plan to ride alot, so I think I might rack up the miles fairly quickly on the bike. The main maintenance concern I have about the Kat is the valve adjustment interval being only 7500 miles. How difficult is this process..I tried looking at the how to in another section of the forum..but I got real lost. When I buy a used bike, how can I tell if the valves have been done when they were supposed to be?

My other question for now is...does the weight of these bikes make it difficult for a newb such as myself to maneuver the bike at slow speeds? I just really don't want to drop the thing if I can avoid it when I get one, lol Also, is the weight of a Katana only noticable at slower speeds, or is it pretty evident at all speeds?

I'm definately leaning towards the Kat at this point, probably a 750. If I did decide to go for a 600 though, you guys don't think that I'd be cramped at all being 6'3"?, and with me weighing in on the higher side, would I be wishing I got the 750 if I bought a 600?

I have a lot more questions, but I am going to end this here for right now because if I make it too long, nobody will want to read it Thank you all again for your posts. I read every one and took something from everything that everybody said. I went through all the posts that I have read so far and made a list of things that I should bring up or ask, and that's what most of these questions are coming from. I have more that I will post up soon

[wantakat]

I don't notice the weight now that I have been practicing for a few weeks. I can easily balance the bike at a walking speed and do slow speed u-turns and circles in a fairly tight radius. I'll still put a foot down every now and then. Some folks who have ridden differnt bikes need to reply here, because I have nothing to compare the kat too. The weight might be more of an issue when it comes to quick moves to avoid animals or obstacles in the road, but I am not finding it to be an issue as far as balance goes.

[SweetLou]

Let me tell ya something G-Man. Once you are on the Kat, and you get your muscles used to being in that position (maybe a coupla days to a week, depending on the length of rides you take), you will find youself going further and further on the bike. I take mine out on all day rides here. Cover 300 to 400 miles in a day sometimes. The Kat was desinged in a wind tunnel, along with the Hayabusa, to be Aerodynamic. It is great for long distance riding as it is around town.

As for the valve adjustment. They are not hard. I can do them as long as they are not the shim type (I have never done that type before), I do have the tools to do the screw type though. (Thats what mine is) So valve adjustments will not be a problem. And once you do a valve adjustment, it will be easy as cake the next time. The Kat is a incredibly easy bike to work on. I have had mine pulled apart down to quite a few times. I can do a top eand rebuild pretty easy now I think, and dropping the engine has become second nature to me (I have a gixxer engine in mine, and whenever I have to do a valve adjustment or something of the like, I have to drop the engine because there is not enough clearance to do it otherwise, so needless to say, I have had mine out a few times).

Also, once I get down there, I am looking into building a little shop or something in my backyard, maybe even a paint booth. We'll see how much room I have to build one.

Lou

[g_man500a]

I guess I must have made my last reply a bit too long, lol

Thanks wantakat, that's one of the things I was wondering, slow speed U-turns and stuff. I really just don't want to drop the thing as soon as I get it

Lou, I'd absolutely love to that kind of thing. Just get on the bike and ride to new places. I absolutely love doing that in my truck, so I'm sure it'd be that much better on a bike. There is this one loop around town here that there's just something about it that I like, and I think that as soon as I get the bike and get relatively comfortable in traffic, I'm going to hit that loop because it's just kind of calming to cruise on(again in the truck, so I'm sure it'd be really nice on a bike).

Are the valves in a stock Kat engine the shim type? I've heard there's 16 of em?

I'm sure that'd be awesome to have your own shop out in the back. I'd love to have one here where I live..but I don't, lol. There's a barn out here, but it's not an ideal work area, and getting to it on a streetbike would be pretty difficult I'm sure. That actually leads me to a question I had while heading out of the driveway this morning. My driveway is gravel...is it going to try to kill me every time I go down it?

One last question for tonight, I swear. What is the durability of the transmissions on these bikes? What is this 2nd gear issue I've heard of? Will the tranny last the life of the engine or is it likely to go out before the engine quits? Thanks!

[The CyberPoet]

Are the valves in a stock Kat engine the shim type? I've heard there's 16 of em?

All 98+ Katana are nut-adjuster types. These require no replacement parts, just tools to set.

One last question for tonight, I swear. What is the durability of the transmissions on these bikes? What is this 2nd gear issue I've heard of? Will the tranny last the life of the engine or is it likely to go out before the engine quits? Thanks!

The 2nd gear issue is a symptom of improper user input causing damage and not an inherent flaw in the transmission design. If you search the threads using the search feature, you can find various reasons that it can happen, including shifting back down while at speed (example: cruising at 60, light 500 yards up turns red, user pulls in the clutch and goes 5-4-3-2-N without letting the speed drop first; since it's a sequential transmission, this forces way to much load through the tranny even with the clutch pulled in).

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

[g_man500a]

Thanks Cyber.

So are the shim in bucket style of valves a major pain in the ass to adjust? Should I just try to shy away from pre-98 katanas for this reason, or is it really not that big of a deal?

I'll do a search on the transmission thing when I get a little bit of time. I never knew that shifting down while at speed with the clutch in can actually hurt something, so I learned something new today

[The CyberPoet]

So are the shim in bucket style of valves a major pain in the ass to adjust? Should I just try to shy away from pre-98 katanas for this reason, or is it really not that big of a deal?

Not all pre-98's are built with bucket-n-shim style adjusters; there's some year range between 91 and 95(?) that use them, but I don't recall the years off the top of my head. The rest use nut-adjusters. Shims aren't that hard to install, but they do tend to up the down-time if you do your own valve adjustments, as they can be hard to source in just the right thicknesses, and you don't know what sizes you need until you get in there and check. The primary advantage to shims is they reduce the reciprocal weight a little and tend to drift slightly less often, but I'd rather have the nut-adjusters. As for pre-98 vs. 98+, that's a matter of taste and money -- I think the newer ones are better commuters and tourers becuase of their larger fairings (and being newer, are less prone to some age-related maladies), but many don't like the looks as much.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[g_man500a]

Alright. Thanks

I'm fairly handy with mechanical type things, but the main thing I lack is confidence. Everything that I have ever delved into mechanically on my older truck I've been able to do, but with most things I sit there thinking "I don't want to screw something up..I know I can't do this..it's too complicated" and I end up paying somebody way to much money to do it. If I can get over the confidence issue, then I think I'll be much better off with doing my own repairs and maintenance. My job has helped a lot with this. Before I started working at the place I'm employed at now 3 years ago, I would have never thought I'd be able to do some of the things with electronics that I'm doing now, so it's filtered down a little bit, but not enough, lol.

I tried searching for about 45 minutes earlier this morning to find out what the deal is with that 2nd gear issue, and I really couldn't find anything definitive. I'm sure I was probably using the wrong keywords or something. Could you please tell me what some of the main causes of this issue are, and how likely I would be to see it if I were to buy a used bike. Thanks!!

[The CyberPoet]

Any bike can have 2nd gear problems, including the 98+ Kats; they occur primarily from two reasons:

1. Rider action (shifting under too much load into 2nd -- especially downshifts from 3rd; incomplete shift movement first to second -- dancing gears; and general abuse during learning curves); plus...

2. Some of the metal components in the tranny are made of metals particularly suspectible to acid build-up in the motor oil, which weaks the metal and causes the oil not to provide adequate filming (known issue; one of the primary reasons JASO MA specs for oils have a low sulfated ash content limit).

To figure it whether a bike you're check out has a 2nd gear issue, shift in both directions both under load and standing still. The shift should be a clean, clear "click". Remember, bikes are not cars -- they want hard, clean snaps of the shifter (not slow motions).

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

[g_man500a]

Thank you for the continued information. I will be sure to check for the 2nd gear issue when/if I find a used Katana around here that I can get my hands on. After going to the dealer today(I have another post about it), I'm feeling kind of confused on what bike to get. I'm still leaning towards a used Kat though, I'm just not as sure as I was before I went today.

Another question that I had asked earlier but nobody got around to is the gravel driveway thing. This is more of a general motorcycle question and not so much just towards Katanas. I live out in the country and I have a gravel driveway, will I have to worry about the bike wanting to slide out from under me every time I try to go up or down the driveway? Thanks!

[The CyberPoet]

Another question that I had asked earlier but nobody got around to is the gravel driveway thing. This is more of a general motorcycle question and not so much just towards Katanas. I live out in the country and I have a gravel driveway, will I have to worry about the bike wanting to slide out from under me every time I try to go up or down the driveway? Thanks!

You will find that any motorcycle will want to slide on loose gravel or sand whenever you add inputs into it (i.e. - add throttle, tap the brakes, change directions). With a little practice, this becomes insignificant, but can be daunting for new riders, especially with heavy motorcycles. You may intentionally choose to ride across the grass next to the driveway or down the center of the lane instead strictly for stability (although wet grass can be just as bad as very loose gravel). Generally, you want to keep the throttle minimized when passing over such surfaces, using a gear or two higher than you would otherwise (in other words, if you would be using 1st gear at 15mph on pavement, do it in 2nd or 3rd closer to idle on gravel or grass; this will reduce the tendency for the bike to want to lose traction at the rear end).

You may also want to consider having the gravel tarred over (spray tar), or pouring a sidewalk, which is more than sufficient to act as a driveway for a motorcycle.

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

[g_man500a]

Thanks Cyberpoet,
At least it sounds like it can be done, lol. I was afraid that I was just asking for it by going up and down the drivewy. I've somewhat been considereing renting a storage unit for the bike whenever I get it(not sure yet though..I just don't want to spend the money each month), so it may not be an issue at all. The odds are that I'll keep it here though so I'll try to keep it in the grass like you said, or keep it where the wheels of my truck ride every day where it's really packed down. I'll probably keep my legs out all the way up the driveway too, just in case, lol. I would love to poor a sidewalk though, it just boils right back down to the money issue though, as with everything. Maybe someday

[The CyberPoet]

The odds are that I'll keep it here though so I'll try to keep it in the grass like you said, or keep it where the wheels of my truck ride every day where it's really packed down. I'll probably keep my legs out all the way up the driveway too, just in case, lol. I would love to poor a sidewalk though, it just boils right back down to the money issue though, as with everything. Maybe someday

If you've got the hard limestone-sand hard-pack that seems to be standard around SE Alabama, you'll be fine any time it's not soaking wet or pouring rain while on the driveway. You may also want to call the local cement company -- the price to buy a few square yards of cement is actually cheaper than most people expect; you dig out the hole, do the prep-work and have the cement truck show up to do the pour. I don't know how far back the house is from the road, but it's one option. Another is using this kind of pre-mixer tool (Cement Premixing Drum, Plastic, $34.95 ) and just doing a few feet at a time, say a couple feet every payday.

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet