[arsenic]

true

[The CyberPoet]

In the realm of the tragically hipster sport-bike riders, there is a pecking order. That order follows speed, handling, money and technology, usually in about that order, although money often stacks the other three in particular ways (you can always buy the best, if you can afford it). Show up with a Ducati (or Benelli, MV Augusta, Bimota) and you can look down your nose at the kids on their race-rep Japanese knock-offs that often don't share even basic block design with their MotoGP name-sakes (Suzuki races a V-4, not an transversely mounted inline four; ditto Honda with their previous V-5 and current V-4 engines). But like wearing the best Italian loafers, unless you can walk, run, jump without falling down, who really cares?

Your Kat doesn't even really qualify in the sport-bike realms; it's a commuter, a sports-tourer, really one of the last true UJM's [Universal Japanese Motorcycles - good at everything to a degree, specialized in nothing in particular] made. As such, it falls way down the pecking order and is looked at with distain by many rocket-jocks and squids. It is designed for the real world between 0 and 100 mph, rather than for the track, and all the design philosophies reflect that.

It weighs a lot. This is actually good for a real-world bike because it increases the sprung to unsprung weight ratios, meaning it tracks bad pavement better and smoother; the downside is a negative in acceleration and handling as a result (and a whole lot harder to do a wheelie).

It uses oil-air cooling. This has benefits in longevity, but serious draw-backs in power-to-weight ratios. Oil-air cooling is so very old-school and passe these days.

In most iterations, it had big fairings. Great for hiding behind in bad weather and keeping you out of the nasties, but a real (aerodynamic) drag and not exactly eye-candy to the minimalist SS-rep biker crowds. Don't even mention the under-seat storage area that puts all but the biggest tourers to shame...

It uses (gasp) steel box-frame design. Good for survivability in a wreck, good for keeping the price low, and great for triggering magnetic sensors at lights, again a big penalty in weight, looks, acceleration.

The only things that really matter are whether it does what you want it to (preferably reliably), and whether it makes you happy. I've put riders of the best bikes around to shame on the Kat here in Florida, simply because I'm a much better rider and know how to exploit my bike (& traffic patterns) to the fullest [nothing like already being at the destination with jacket & helmet off, smoking a cig when the GSXR1k pulls up, esp. after we both left at the same time] -- and I'm quite content that I'll never be able to outrun these guys in a straight line once we get anywhere close to triple-digit speeds.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

______________________
CyberPoet's KR Specials
Suzuki Stratosphere - 6 Cylinders, the new Katana?
The Best Motorcycle Metal Billet Tire Valves in the World, plus lots of motorcycle & Katana (GSX600F / GSX750F) specific help files.

[GSXfs600]

Your the MAN! CP.

In the realm of the tragically hipster sport-bike riders, there is a pecking order. That order follows speed, handling, money and technology, usually in about that order, although money often stacks the other three in particular ways (you can always buy the best, if you can afford it). Show up with a Ducati (or Benelli, MV Augusta, Bimota) and you can look down your nose at the kids on their race-rep Japanese knock-offs that often don't share even basic block design with their MotoGP name-sakes (Suzuki races a V-4, not an transversely mounted inline four; ditto Honda with their previous V-5 and current V-4 engines). But like wearing the best Italian loafers, unless you can walk, run, jump without falling down, who really cares?

Your Kat doesn't even really qualify in the sport-bike realms; it's a commuter, a sports-tourer, really one of the last true UJM's [Universal Japanese Motorcycles - good at everything to a degree, specialized in nothing in particular] made. As such, it falls way down the pecking order and is looked at with distain by many rocket-jocks and squids. It is designed for the real world between 0 and 100 mph, rather than for the track, and all the design philosophies reflect that.

It weighs a lot. This is actually good for a real-world bike because it increases the sprung to unsprung weight ratios, meaning it tracks bad pavement better and smoother; the downside is a negative in acceleration and handling as a result (and a whole lot harder to do a wheelie).

It uses oil-air cooling. This has benefits in longevity, but serious draw-backs in power-to-weight ratios. Oil-air cooling is so very old-school and passe these days.

In most iterations, it had big fairings. Great for hiding behind in bad weather and keeping you out of the nasties, but a real (aerodynamic) drag and not exactly eye-candy to the minimalist SS-rep biker crowds. Don't even mention the under-seat storage area that puts all but the biggest tourers to shame...

It uses (gasp) steel box-frame design. Good for survivability in a wreck, good for keeping the price low, and great for triggering magnetic sensors at lights, again a big penalty in weight, looks, acceleration.

The only things that really matter are whether it does what you want it to (preferably reliably), and whether it makes you happy. I've put riders of the best bikes around to shame on the Kat here in Florida, simply because I'm a much better rider and know how to exploit my bike (& traffic patterns) to the fullest [nothing like already being at the destination with jacket & helmet off, smoking a cig when the GSXR1k pulls up, esp. after we both left at the same time] -- and I'm quite content that I'll never be able to outrun these guys in a straight line once we get anywhere close to triple-digit speeds.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

______________________
CyberPoet's KR Specials
Suzuki Stratosphere - 6 Cylinders, the new Katana?
The Best Motorcycle Metal Billet Tire Valves in the World, plus lots of motorcycle & Katana (GSX600F / GSX750F) specific help files.

[katanawarrior]

+1,000,000,000,000 for CyberPoet...

Secondly considering the price to own, maintain, and INSURE say a gixxer 1000 for an average male is much much higher then the kat. Per say, riding a kat, most average males that are inclined to, can learn to do basic (and sometimes extreme) maintenance on their own to the kat, its a simple bike.

Saving big bucks in labor. Tires last much longer. If you ride 10,000 miles per year, you'll only use 2 sets of decent tires (riding hard) compared to a set on the gixxer every 3,000 (average for liter bikes with good rider)

Insurance is much less, even with an 1100 cc kat, due to a different classification (sport tourer vs. raw sport) its a great touring/ traveling ride (the main reason i love mine) theirs alot of upsides, some downsides, but the kat consistently pulls its own weight by saving the average gearhead lots of money compared to other bikes.

The term "minimalist" has been referred to previously, depending on how that's applied the kat would fall into that category on almost all accounts (exceptions size, weight). It requires minimum maintenance, tires, and fundage to ride, and at least 90% of the riders that were or are kat riders, get a much bigger fun return back out of the bike. That said, there are very few things now days that you can put in so little, and get back so much....

[The CyberPoet]

Now I do want to add, for all of those of you who were dishing the scooter concept ( http://katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=90852 ), IMHO: the same mentality applies -- the only things that really matter are whether it does what you want it to (preferably reliably), and whether it makes you happy.
Under some circumstances, the scooter is the better ride (inner-city hyper-urban traffic of certain cities for example), because it is geared for even better low-end acceleration and gives you lots of weather protection that the typical bike doesn't, plus it has a huge storage space integrated into the design.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

______________________
CyberPoet's KR Specials
Suzuki Stratosphere - 6 Cylinders, the new Katana?
The Best Motorcycle Metal Billet Tire Valves in the World, plus lots of motorcycle & Katana (GSX600F / GSX750F) specific help files.

[Cruisingram]

With all the bike whores I ride with- they wouldn't even notice that it isn't one of the "cool" sport bikes LOL

BTW- the guy I am riding with on Monday has a KLR 650, an old beemer, a triumph daytona 955i, and the nicest 996 in north america (declared so by the CEO of Ducati USA) and, a Ninja 250 he JUST bought for commuting.

Guys that snub thier noses at an old oil head don't hang out with true bike whores anyway LOL

[smitty600]

I was shocked to have got an a compliment on my Kat the other day. The guy was on a stretched cbr, with steel showing on his rear tire... He was like that a kanatuna right, I was like yup, he gave me the thumbs up and said looks good..

[hardlydangerous]

I've never had anyone dog the KAt to my face.. I have seen it on the internet etc but I have found that 99% of the people that do diss the Kat actually don't know much if anything about bikes at all.

[XKillerEliteX]

This is pretty much my take on it.

<----again

[Wild-Bill]

CP makes a lot of really good points but one he missed/skipped is that a lot of people (who don't know any better) associate a fairing with high-performance. The Kat fails pretty badly at being a high-perf bike. It's too heavy, the suspension's wrong and the wheelbase is too long. Fortunately for us, Suzuki made it all those things for a reason. They managed to build a really good all-around bike. (A UJM, like CP said.)

[Psycho1]

One thing I noticed with mine is, thanks to that "to long" wheelbase, my Katana fels rock solid stable at any speed. I've never felt it shake or shimmy like it was getting light, or had the bars wiggle even slightly at over 130mph.

[plyhockey3]

I have only been riding for about a month, but everyone I tell I bought a Katana, tells me what a joke it is. Then they see it, and their oppinion changes. Yeah it may be slower, but it was the best teacher a new rider could have. I don't have any desire to do wheelies or get killed so I will enjoy my slow heavy *** bike. I have noticed alot of really amazing paint jobs on here. Even the biggest gixxer or cbr fan has to admit when painted right the Kat makes even the the hottest ladies purr. When I first brought mine home the wife almost killed me. Once it was done being painted she couldn't wait to see me on it. Don't get me wrong I do look at the new ss bikes all the time, but I gurantee I wouldnt sell my kat to get one. I would just have both.

[Electrical_Tech]

Well said XIII

[Barreira]

My friend rides a Gixxer. When we take long rides, and after about 100 K's e looks at my bike and I know that sooner or latter I'll get the: "Don't you want to ride my bike for a while....?"
Yes, he looks cool on the Gixxer! But, I feel GOOD! (and cool)

[Fishbutt21]

There is nothing that I want from a motorcycle that my Katana won't do and I have never heard anything bad about it. I don't ride with SS guys much but the guys I do ride with most of the time are just happy to be out on the road.I have met many nice people while out riding and many have asked about my 750 or my wifes 600 Kat but none have ever had a bad thing to say about Katanas and most have had nice comments