Class of '84: Suzuki Katana 1100 v. Kawasaki GPZ900R

There is a lot about the GPZ900R that I have forgotten over the last 24 years. For example that if you press a button on the simple dashboard the rev-counter’s needle changes role to indicate battery voltage on an inner scale and that the clutch is hydraulically operated so that unlike  ‘70s Laverda and Ducati clutches you don’t have the worrying question of which will snap first: the cable or the tendons in your left forearm. The brake pads on this bike are fresh and the more we ride the bike, the more effective they become until eventually we are able to properly test the 900R’s anti-drive front forks.

It was inevitable that in the pursuit of horsepower that Kawasaki would have to follow the other Japanese manufacturers and adopt four-valve combustion chambers and that water cooling would allow even more power. The layout of a single camchain running off the end of the crankshaft to twin cams and the alternator mounted behind the cylinders is common now but was radical for 1984. The engine produces 115bhp, which was serious power in 1984 and gave the bike a top speed of 155mph. No production bike was faster, which is why the GPZ bagged the top two steps of the podium in the 1984 production TT. And they meant production in those days. Headlights, indicators and just racing numbers to differentiate racers from spectators.

Have you spotted the odd little liquid-filled bulb next to the carbs? This is part of one of the most complicated recalls in bike history. The GPZ’s carbs had a habit of icing and Kawasaki’s fix was a complicated carb heating system that flowed engine coolant around the carbs using a complicated system of pipes. It works, but Kawasaki’s engineers must have wished they’d got it right in the first place.

What the GPZ900R really is, although we’d never have thought of it in 1984, is the first of the sports tourers. The riding position is very comfortable, the fairing keeps the wind off your torso and the power delivery is smooth yet there’s a further burst of power as you hit 7,000rpm. Best of all, with fuel consumption as low as 50mpg and a fuel tank with 22 litres the GPZ has a range of 200 miles. If you’ve ridden a first year Fireblade you’ll know how edgy a 16in front wheel can feel, especially at  low speeds. The Kawasaki has none of that feeling and it’s easy to turn the bike around in a road’s width without even putting a foot down. Perhaps it’s the high mileage that has smoothed the edges of the gears but I never remember Kawasakis having gearboxes this slick.

Amazingly, the Katana is comfortable, too. Even today the styling is striking, and interesting. If you look down at the tank it is thin and long, a bit like a ‘60s Triton café racer, yet the angles and downward rake of the styling predicted current nose-down sports bike styling 20 years early. For years the Suzuki GSX1100 air-cooled engine was the motor of choice for drag racers because it’s easy to tune and incredibly strong, and at this mild level of tune (110bhp) it will last forever. It’s quietly rapid without being crazily fast, power building right off the bat but it’s obvious the chassis is capable of dealing with a lot more. The exhaust note is deep and wuffling, building to a solid roar as the Katana hits the juicy part of its power. Keep it smooth, don’t bother grabbing big handfuls of throttle and the Katana blasts along at a reasonable lick. When you’re done and the engine’s off, the air-cooled engine sits there ticking loudly, all four cylinders cooling down in unison. A wonderful noise.

Suzuki didn’t just hit the green button on the production line when it built this Final Edition Katana and its 1,099 brothers (they only built 1100 of them), it had a look in the parts bin to see if anything could be improved and in doing so stuck a pair of four piston Tokico calipers on the Suzuki’s front forks and a pair of similarly modern floating discs (a hefty old-style caliper does the work at the back). There’s a little perspex screen that deflects a small amount of air out your way but then unlike the Kawasaki this isn’t a bike that you’d tour Europe on.

Like the GPZ the Katana has a very light clutch. Not because it is hydraulically operated but because the cable runs to an electric servo that lives under the tank. You can both feel it working and hear its odd buzz. There’s a lot to talk about on the Katana, or argue about. Like whether the two-tone seat with soft-touch fabric is cool or tacky or whether the moulded plastic seat tail is naff. It’s these interesting features that take your mind off the fact that this Katana is a bit slow. If it was a modern ‘retro’ like a Bandit 1200 and had only 95bhp nobody would buy one but the Katana’s uniqueness makes its performance a side issue.

Its appeal is that it’s unlikely you’ll pull up at a bikers’ pub and find another one parked up. These bikes are seriously sought-after now and a good one will set you back around £8,000, so people tend to ride them sparingly on the road. Where the GPZ uses a tiny 16-inch front wheel, the Katana runs a skinny 19-inch item. Despite the Suzuki’s sportier stance (and it feels wonderfully long and stretched out to sit on, like a drag bike) it turns far, far slower than the Kawasaki. The Kat’s handling is very much old school, you can feel all the weight of the bike pushing it forwards and you have to plan turns accordingly. Katanas were born on the drag-strip and you can feel this on the road even today.

In summing up, it becomes obvious that these two are both very special. The GPZ900R is one of two things: first, still a very competent sports tourer that has rock solid reliability and enough grunt to be very fast but not so much to terrify and second, a key link in the timeline of the modern high performance motorcycle. You either buy a tatty one as cheap and brisk transport or a minter like this one as a running reminder of Kawasaki’s knack of building bikes just that bit more exciting and raw than anyone else.

Any serious bike museum has to have a Suzuki Katana in its collection. It was born after a decade of fuel crisis, war in the Middle East and pessimism. Suzuki took a punt and came up with a unique style of bike that has influenced designers ever since. I virtually ignored the Katana when it was launched, thinking it was a daft styling excercise and nothing else. Today, though, I see it for the beautiful thing it truly is. What a fantastic pair of bikes.