Tuesday, January 09, 2007

The Katana File

I wrote this piece maybe 2 years ago. I called my Katana the Pink Panther because of the weird colourscheme its previous owner gave it. It eventually got stolen (maybe it was a blessing). Glad to say I ended up with a reliable VFR.


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My current ride is a 1982 Katana 750, a bike that I always lusted after for its styling. The Katana is a thrilling ride, and I can see why it still so sought after; it is a very commited bike that is difficult to ride slow, but I had the familiar experience of it spending more time with my mechanic than with me. I had dreams of restoring it to original condition when I bought it, but it was so troublesome.

But that was the case with my last few bikes, the Katana 550 and ZX-6R. The 550 snapped its cam-chain (also after a rebuilt...), and my beloved ZX (once a Greg Dryer race-bike) ran a bearing in the crank. I love bikes but I am beginning to wonder if they love me! They tell me; you can't break a Kawasaki motor and doef! I break it. They tell me you can't break a Suzuki motor and wham! I break it.

So what next? I hear you can't break Honda motors... I am looking for a NC24 (although there is a distractingly clean Katana 750 for sale at the moment!), and hope to eventually end up with a Honda or BMW (VFR750 or R1100S), as the peace of mind that comes with the quality and engineering of these makes - not to mention the BMW's after-sales back-up - is beginning to seduce me. Honda's and BMW are boring I know (the early Fireblade apart), so am I getting old? Maybe. All I know is that the reliability problems I seem to be dogged with, with the other manufacturers, make their comparative excitement less of an advantage as time goes on. It has become more important to know the bike will start on a cold morning and not get tired on a deserted highway in the middle of the night. Long-distance comfort with a pillion is a bigger consideration as well, but I am not quite ready for tourers or cruisers yet.

More about the Katana; I was initially going to buy a clean, wine-red GS550 for R7000,00 from Cedric’s Two-wheel Mecca showroom that he got from the dry, rust-free up-country. I actually dreamt about the bike, and even felt I am meant to buy it. Everything about the bike made sense to me. I am bankrupt so a cheap-to-buy-and-maintain bike like the GS made sense to me; it felt like a sensible buy. Until I rode it.

It was lifeless to the extreme. Starved of a bike as I was, I could not help coming away deeply unimpressed with it. Steering and brake has no feel, let alone excitement. The engine had no mentionable power, and the quiet exhaust suited the boredom express nature of the bike. But I was going to be sensible, so I stuck with my decision to buy it. Until I opened the local classifieds.

And I saw a rebuilt Katana 550. For a thousand bucks less. Same engine, different animal. I backed out of the deal with the GS, and took hold of the Katana. It was painted a lovely metallic light-purple with a metallic black frame, and I instantly liked it. The K&N filters and free-flow Cowly exhaust did the trick.

But the 550 (and its 650 look-alike) does not constitute the “real” Katana look of the bigger (750, 1000 and 1100cc) bikes, leaving one feeling a bit “less then” or even like a Katana wannabe. I mean, when you say “Katana”, it is not the shape of the 550 and 650 that springs to mind. Nevertheless they are still uniquely styled, if proportionally a bit bloated. Certainly not as sleek as the bigger bikes.

I had to go to Ceres to collect the Katana, and had one fantastic ride back home, two up (with Eddie, who took me to Ceres on his XT500, which we had leave behind because of a flat tire…), through De Toit’s Kloof, in the middle of the night, on my way home.

On that ride home, the battery stopped charging. A new rectifier was already on the cards. And for a rebuilt bike, the engine made some strange noises. I should have heeded the warning about the slack (and noisy) cam-chain. However, I did not worry, because the bike was just rebuilt, and besides, Suzuki makes bulletproof engines, right? Especially the GS models. But old Suzuki’s are notorious for their weak electrics, and I could not help wondering what is the point of a bullet-proof engine if the electrics threaten to leave you in the middle of the desert anytime.

Discouraged by the dead battery, I did not ride the bike very often, as it is quite a heavy piece of metal to running-start on your own. In fact, I had ridden it less than a handful of times by the time the cam-chain finally snapped. Luckily, I was just pulling away out of the parking bay, so damage was limited; valves and pistons were pretty much intact.

I took it to Cedric’s shop, and while scraping money together for the inevitable top-end rebuilt, another opportunity befell me.

Since the end of 2003 I have noticed what I considered to be the ugliest Katana tucked away in a corner of Cedric’s shop. It is a 1982 750 version, and has a horrific “jelly-and-custard” paint scheme, and just the rolling chassis without an engine. I’ve seen people do the most terrible things in attempts to personlise their Katanas, but this was surely one of the worst-looking efforts.

By the time I got back from Germany, I noticed the “jelly-and-custard” Katana on Cedric’s show-room floor for R15 000,00. Asking him about it, I learned that the owner could not pay for the engine rebuilt. He initially brought the bike in with a noisy crankshaft, and when it was time to pay the bill (of R15 000,00) he could only cough up a third of the money. The owner then decided to part with his bike, telling Cedric he could keep the bike for resale. Well, Cedric offered it to me for R10 000, basically making up the cost of the rebuilt. He offered me R2000,00 for my stripped Katana 550 as deposit, so I paid him R8000,00. So in the matter of a 3 minute conversation I ended with a Katana 750! Being a rebuilt, I felt at ease in spite of my experience with the rebuilt 550 Katana. The job-card in his workshop shows everything from cams and valves to the crank was reconditioned to new specification. But more importantly, the rectifier and stator was rebuilt too (or so it was claimed).

The month that I have been riding the Katana 750 has been absolutely amazing! It is not a particularly fast bike, but it provides a sensory experience of note every time I ride it. And the peace of mind that comes with knowing it will start every time I push the button, it worth bags of gold. After all, the bike is 20 years old.

And I seem to be the only one not liking the loud, gory colour-sceme. Complimentary comments range from “individualistic” to “unique”. I am not convinced though.

I would have taken it of the road for a few weeks for a chassis and cosmetic restoration, but fate had other plans for me and my Katana. More about that later. I wanted the frame and wheel-rims powder-coated, and the engine casing sand-blasted. Maybe I can still do it later... I am looking for an under-stated, if non-descript look. The colour will go back to the original Katana metallic silver. The idea is to have a clean, close to standard bike. Katanas, with their radical and unique styling, are so rare these days, there is no need to customise it if the idea is to stand out from the crowd.

Besides, I have always admired old, clean and well-looked after bikes. Concessions to “individualisation” will include red footpegs, red bar-ends, grips and smaller indicator lights. I am going for red Marzocinni gas-shocks for improved ride and handling, with braided hoses to improve the 20 year old, single-piston brakes. I might go for more modern, lighter wheels. These modifications are more practical improvements rather than customizations. The red touches will complement the red decals, which breaks the monotonous silver nicely. To expand the theme, perhaps I will outline the wheel-rims with a thin red line as well, or if I keep the original wheels, paint the spokes red. So in the highly unlikely event of ending up in a parking bay full of Katanas, I will still be able to find mine.

As if to indicate that the honey-moon is over, the first sign of mechanical trouble is appearing; a sticky butterfly throttle-valve that robs me of revs and clean combustion, resulting in an underpowered bike; and yes you guessed it – electrics in the form of a battery draining of its charge. So starting became a hit-and-miss affair again, with consequent running starts. Gone is my peace of mind.

Apart from all the electrical gremlins (stator, coils, solenoid, rectifier - parts that were replaced according to the jobsheet!) it has been diagnosed with a scraped barrel for the number 1 cylinder, because a (brand-new) piston-ring came loose. And this after running it in for a 1000km! So of course, it needed yet another set of pistons and rings.

With that taken care of, I had to abort a holiday ride to Oudtshoorn when the bike cut out with a sudden, shrieking noise, fortunately just outside Cape Town. Turns out the top-end ran dry of oil. Why? Because the oil-feeds to the top got blocked. Why? Because there maybe there was dirt in the oil, silly. Why? Because, maybe, just maybe, they didn't change the oil when they replaced the pistons, rings and barrels. It is conceivable, since I noticed that the engine was not not out of the frame when they did the job; they just took the topend of. Or could it be that the copious amount of silicon (used to make the old, re-used bottom-end gasket stick), got into the oil-feeds?

This is particularly dissappointing, as I bought the bike because it had a R15 000 engine rebuilt, therefor presuming it would be a safe purchase. It boggles my mind how a bike can give so much trouble after a rebuilt, and it must surely be a reflection on the competency of the workshop I got it from. I cant' help to feel that the bike it basically reliable, it is just the workshop that cuts corners, and the bike suffers as a result. Needless to say, I am no longer doing business with the bikeshop in question, and I am actively discouraging evey biker that I know to do so.
But the real tragedy is that this is a rather standard experience with most workshops in town, and my blacklist of bikeshops to avoid grows.

My Katana is with another place that has a good reputation, but they are very expensive. Expensive because, apparantly, they do not cut corners...
Related Articles
Give us a real Katana
Related Websites
A custom Katana
Katana Specials
Butterworth's Katana
Crotchrocket of the gods
Katana Planet
Katana 750 specs
Katana Links
All Suzukis ever built

Suzuki GS and GSX resources
Suzuki Owners Club UK

Old Skool Suzuki's

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

yip.
you have said it regarding the clown that has rebuild-ed the engine for you. very few reliable knowledgeable katana engine builders out there. bought an katana 750 the other day in Lydenburg. were told the engine is spot on..... guess what... yip top end gone for the clowns used silicone !!!!