New Suzuki Katana To Be Unveiled On October 2 At INTERMOT 2018 — Third Teaser Out!

The Suzuki Katana is a bike enthusiast's dream machine from the ‘80s. The late 20th century saw manufacturers launching a wide range of performance motorcycles that would become legends in the automotive world, soon after.

The original Suzuki GSX1100S Katana was first introduced in 1979 and was designed by German design house, Target Design. The Katana employs a semi-faired sport-tourer styling and there were 1100cc, 750cc, 650cc and 550cc models of it over the years; the first one being the most popular.

The Suzuki Katana 1100 is powered by a 1075cc air-cooled DOHC inline four-cylinder engine which makes 111bhp and 97.1Nm of torque. The engine is mated to a 5-speed gearbox. Put together, the superbike had a top speed of just over 220km/h. In fact, it was once the fastest motorcycle on the planet.

The design of the ‘80s Katana was concentrated for high performance without compromising on its touring capabilities. The new 2018 version is expected to carry forward the same philosophy but in a much more modern and advanced package.

As mentioned before, Suzuki has released three teaser videos of the new Katana so far. Although the first two videos do not reveal much about the motorcycle, the third one shows a glimpse of the fuel tank. The tank looks similar to that of a GSX-S1000F-based concept shown at EICMA 2017.

Before the teasers came out, some documents from the US Patent and Trademark Office were leaked. It revealed that Suzuki had filed an application for the ‘Katana' nameplate along with the iconic Japanese sword logo.

Rumours also suggest that the 2018 Suzuki Katana will be turbocharged while some others say that it will have GSX700T tag; ‘T' standing for turbocharged. If that is indeed the case, the new Katana will be one of the first mass-produced turbocharged motorcycles in the world.

Once launched, the new Suzuki Katana will showcase a fierce rivalry to the proven Kawasaki Ninja H2 — a supercharged motorcycle.

Thoughts On The New Suzuki Katana

According to many purists and motorcycle enthusiasts, the 1980s witnessed the best of two-wheeler engineering and the Suzuki Katana was one of them. It was also the time when four-stroke engines slowly started replacing two-strokes. The new Katana has got high hopes from fans all over the world and we are sure that Suzuki won't disappoint at all.

Finally, the legend will be reborn!