‘It’s a classic.’ With those words Bike magazine concluded its glowing road test of Suzuki’s GSX1100 Katana in February 1984, noting that, despite having been around virtually unchanged for three years, the big Suzie was still the undisputed King of the Street. With a best one-way of 143mph, the Katana had the legs of rivals such as Kawasaki’s GPz1100 and Laverda’s Jota, while a standing-quarter run of 11.13 seconds demonstrated that there was no lack of bottom-end grunt. Styled by the German firm of Target Design under the direction of Briton Jan Fellstrom and first seen at the 1980 Cologne Show, the Katana represented a bold effort to produce an uncompromising sports bike in the European mould. The result was a machine that combined straight-line speed with secure handling like no Japanese bike before it. The speedy elevation of the original to the ranks of motorcycling style icon prompted the reintroduction of the model in Japan in the 1990s, though the second-generation version had to make do with 96bhp rather than the original’s 111 horses. This unique machine is Target Design’s actual Katana prototype – code ‘ED 2’. The Katana was acquired in 1987 and during 2005/2006 was completely restored in Target Design’s studio by one of the original design team, Hans George Kasten, so that it is now in original condition. A folder of documentation accompanies it.
‘It’s a classic.’ With those words Bike magazine concluded its glowing road test of Suzuki’s GSX1100 Katana in February 1984, noting that, despite having been around virtually unchanged for three years, the big Suzie was still the undisputed King of the Street. With a best one-way of 143mph, the Katana had the legs of rivals such as Kawasaki’s GPz1100 and Laverda’s Jota, while a standing-quarter run of 11.13 seconds demonstrated that there was no lack of bottom-end grunt. Styled by the German firm of Target Design under the direction of Briton Jan Fellstrom and first seen at the 1980 Cologne Show, the Katana represented a bold effort to produce an uncompromising sports bike in the European mould. The result was a machine that combined straight-line speed with secure handling like no Japanese bike before it. The speedy elevation of the original to the ranks of motorcycling style icon prompted the reintroduction of the model in Japan in the 1990s, though the second-generation version had to make do with 96bhp rather than the original’s 111 horses. This unique machine is Target Design’s actual Katana prototype – code ‘ED 2’. The Katana was acquired in 1987 and during 2005/2006 was completely restored in Target Design’s studio by one of the original design team, Hans George Kasten, so that it is now in original condition. A folder of documentation accompanies it.
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