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Suzuki had revealed the new Katana concept at EICMA 2017.
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Now the manufacturer has released a teaser video.
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The new Suzuki Katana is set to be introduced at Intermot on 2nd October.
It was nothing short of a revolution when the Suzuki GSX1100S Katana was introduced in 1980.
Suzuki had revealed the new GSX-R1000 powered Katana concept at the EICMA show in Milan last year but nothing else had come from them since, although we did report earlier about Suzuki filing the patents. Until now. Check out the video below.
It shows parts of the processes of forging a katana before ending with the “Coming soon. Intermot 2nd October” message. That’s just 25 days to go at the time this article went online!
However, we are of the opinion that the concept looks like it’s made by Tupperware (as in too plasticky) and we hope Suzuki would’ve done away with it when the production bike’s revealed.
The 1980 Suzuki GSX1100S Katana was a motorcycle which featured a groundbreaking design concept, which blended the rear line of the fuel tank with the front portion of the seat. The seat itself had two different colours which lent the solo racing seat look. The fairing was given a sharp leading edge – “Katana” means samurai sword, by the way (watch “Kill Bill Vol. 1.” Or “The Last Samurai” if you’re a hopeless romantic).
The design concept, especially that seat/tank interface has since been widely adopted by other motorcycle manufacturers. This is why the first-generation model still looks great after 38 years and is highly sought-after.
Then in 1984, Suzuki released the GSX750E Katana with the pop-up headlight. It was the first and only motorcycle which has that feature.
It is also interesting to note that the bike was designed by Hans Muth, who was the chief designer at BMW. Among his greatest work during his tenure with the German manufacturer was the R90S and R100S. The R90S was the first production motorcycle to feature a headlamp-mounted fairing, while the later R100S was the first production motorcycle with a full-fairing.
