Suzuki Katana 600

Good power from my Suzuki Katana 600 which is a user friendly motor, entertaining, but not scary. Great beginner bike. Perhaps all the bike you need for a public road. CHEAP!!!I always have a hard time finding good reviews/info on older bikes, and typical 65 word user reviews are usually about useless. So here ' s my very long review of the ' 95 katana.

I bought a '95 katana for my wife to learn how to ride on. She had taken the MSF course, and ridden a few older bikes that I had in the garage, but this was the first bike she spent any real time with.

From her (very novice) perspective: She fell in love with its looks (the sportiest bike she had ridden), mostly because I had painted it pink/black at her request. She likes how low the seat is, and the feeling of being "in" the bike, rather than "on" it. The gauges are easy for her to read, it's very comfy, and the squishy suspension works well for her light (130 lbs) weight. She loves it, and doesn't want to trade it for anything. It's been a great bike for her to learn on, with power to spare, but not enough that a ham-fisted rider will toss it down the road. Her only real complaint is that it's on the heavy side, although it's low enough to the ground that it isn't much of an issue for her.

From my perspective (10+ years of riding sportbikes, dirtbikes, cruisers, baggers, and everything in between):

MOTOR: This bike uses suzuki's Air/oil cooled motor originally seen on GSXR's. The good news here, is that suzuki put this motor into everything....Bandits, Katanas, GSXR, some of the parts even interchange with the RF series of bikes. There are parts EVERYWHERE! With over 20,000 miles on hers, it has shown no sign of trouble, although it has sprung a slight oil leak from the oil pan gasket. Not a big deal, it just leaves a spot here and there in the driveway.

Power wise, this bike has plenty. Forget about the ' bigger is better ' crowd that says you need to have a 1000cc sport bike or else it ' s not a real bike. Trust me, it ' s more fun to push this bike hard than it is to ride my zx10r, which sometimes scares the crap out of me. It has plenty of real world power, and often seems like it makes more power in the midrange than comparable race replica bikes like suzuki ' s own GSXR. Obviously the GSXR will eat it alive above 11,000 rpm, but how often on your daily ride do you scream along at 100+ mph? Not too long if officer Law has anything to say about it. The katana offers real world power, that is enough to keep an experience rider entertained, but tame enough to be newbie friendly.

Handling: One of the low points on the katana is the handling. Being a budget bike from the very beginning, suspension/frame is one of the areas that Suzuki cut corners to beat a price point. The front forks have an adjustment on top for something, although I can ' t figure out that it does anything. The rear is preload adjustable, but after 14 years of dirt/grime/corrosion (more on that later)it ' s not even movable anymore. The bikes suspension is soft, especially for a sportbike, which can be nice on the highways but a real problem if the going gets aggressive. The chassis pitches around quite a bit, and the rear squats excessively during corner exits. Remember, it ' s 14 years old now, so perhaps a complete rebuild and a replacement shock would help, but as it sits, it ' s not enough for my 200lbs. It will scrape pegs if pushed, but by then I ' m way past the point of ' this doesn ' t feel right ' .

Maintenance: This can be a chore with the all-enveloping body work, but the simple stuff like oil and tires are pretty standard affairs. The 4000 mile valve adjustment interval is a pain in the butt, and honestly, I often skip it unless it's making noise or running funny. inspection requires removal of...well, everything.

Build Quality: another are where this one falls a little short. The plastic fairings look good, but upon removal you realize that they are somewhat flimsy and not very high quality. Certainly not up to par with today ' s standards. Gaps in the fairings are large in places, and in general don ' t seem to fit well. On the plus side, they did a nice job of covering all the ugly stuff underneath. Another problem with the build quality, is that this bike seems to corrode rather easily. The steel frame, if scratched will develop rust that can get out of hand if neglected. When I bought mine, the previous had done a poor job of maintaining it, and I found virtually every bearing in the bike dry. A good disassembly and greasing fixed it, but this hasn ' t been a problem on other bikes I ' ve had, even ones that had been neglected.

Bottom line? The price is what really seals the deal for this one. Good running, rideable katanas can be had for crazy cheap, as in around $2000. They can be had far cheaper if you ' re willing to put a little work into them. This actually prices them in line with a ninja 250. Which would you rather have? A 70 hp 600cc katana, or a ninja 250? It ' s a no brainer for me.

This is not a balls-out, 150 mph sportbike that will wheely at will and scare the daylights out of you. If that ' s what you ' re after, double your budget and get a GSXR. But, this katana will satisfy your sporting urge, at least as much as you should be doing on the public roads, and it will do it more comfortably, and economically than many alternatives. The motor is good, maintenance/insurance is reasonably cheap, and it gets 50mpg. Overall, it ' s been a great buy for me and my wife, and after 2 years, she ' s not about to trade it in for something faster. She likes her katana just fine, and so do I.

Although it's heavy and underpowered by today's standards, this is still a competent bike. If you can get around all of the Can-O-Tuna jokes, this is really a good bike. It's cheap upfront, insurance and maintenance costs can't be beat. It's got enough power to get you out of trouble (or into speeding tickets if your not careful) for general commuting. Good gas mileage and comfortable riding position make this a good sport tourer.

If your looking to stunt or race, this isn't the bike for you. If you looking for a bike with sport looks but touring personality, you should take one for a ride.

Even though my Suzuki Katana 600 is pretty cheap, it is not a good bike to start on. I practiced on my cousin's Honda CBR600F4i it was very hard to go from that bike to the Katana 600. There was a huge difference in weight. The CBR weighed about 380 pounds where the Katana got to about 500 pounds. I can say that the Katana is a real eye catcher and transmission is real smooth. The gear sifting is smoother than competitiors such as the Kawasaki Ninjas and the Honda CBR's.