SUZUKI KATANA SHARPER THAN EVER, OR RECYCLED RETRO?

It’s funny, actually. As I’m a part of that dodgy younger generation, I never had any contact with the hype that the original Katana mustered up. I love the idea that not only did it look space-age and wildly different at the time, but also it was claimed to be the ‘fastest mass-production motorbike in the world’ by Suzuki – yet looking back at pictures and seeing them in the flesh, they do absolutely bugger all for me. I mean, it looks long, dated, and forgive me for sinning, but slightly ugly. Yet even so, I can swallow the theatrics and appreciate how good it was… for the 80s, anyway.

But here we are today. The original Katana is now seen as the golden age of a generation and Suzuki have reincarnated it, albeit slightly less groundbreaking. Sorry if I’ve offended any diehard Kat fans, but it really isn’t; I mean, under that reworked bodywork is