Experience The Sharpness Of The Suzuki Katana

WHERE IT ALL STARTED

The name ‘Katana’ brings to mind a sharp, curved blade, used by the Samurai of feudal Japan. Fitting then, that the name would be used on the winner of a cutting-edge design exercise that German motorcycle magazine Motorrad started back in 1979. They invited three famous design houses to provide ideas for how motorcycles should look in the forthcoming ‘space-age’ 1980s. Porsche Design, Ital Design and Target Design took part and it was  based on a 750cc MV Agusto shaft-drive four from Target that won and was displayed at the IFMA Cologne show at the end of 1979. Target had been founded that very year by Hans-Georg Kasten, Jan Fellstrorn and Hans Muth. Kasten had started his design career at Porsche in the 1970s and later worked at BMW on motorcycles such as the GS80. Muth had already established a reputation by designing the first properly aerodynamic motorcycle, the BMW R100 R S sports tourer.

FORGING THE KATANA

The response to their design was huge – so much so that Suzuki asked Target to produce something similar. By March 1980 Fellstrom’s sketches of the new bike were being released. This was the prototype ED-2 (ED stood for ‘European Design’) version of the then-new GSX 1100. It had many features of the original MV Agusta design, including that shark-esque bikini nose fairing and sculptured tank and seat, as well as low-set clip-on handlebars.

With the bike suddenly looking so sharp, curved and slim it was inevitable that this new machine would be named after the sharp, slim samurai blade – the Kotono. By September 1980, the refined production version was shown at the Cologne motorcycle show and for some this looked a little watered down. Suzuki had put standard indicators on the bike, while the pipe had been replaced with a black chrome four-into-two one. A small fly screen topped the snout and off-the-shelf Suzook mirrors added some visual bulk.