Crazy choppers in japan3/8/2023 With around 100bhp, top speed was a little over 140mph, if you compare that to the competition (around 120mph or so), you can see why every performance-nut and their cousin wanted to ride a Kat. On looks alone, there was no doubting it. On its release, Suzuki claimed to have the fastest production motorcycle in the world. Yes, really.Įverything about the Katana was to convey the message of SPEED the sculpted seat, the shark-like fairing, the angled screen, and right in front, centre of attention was that shiny 16-valve, 1100cc engine. The reality is a little different though – Hans Muth (the designer) was the ex-chief of styling for … BMW. Given the looks, you’d have thought it had been designed by a violent psychopath with a hunger for fighter jets and WMDs. The original Suzuki Katana was a radical departure from the usual 80s stuff, it looked like it was doing 100mph just standing still, and there was an air of menace behind it. The Suzuki Katana was considered by most to be the more lethal of the two. Suzuki GSX1100S KatanaĪn original Katana was a Japanese sword used by the Samurai. The Yamaha V-Max: it’ll pass everything (in a straight line) except a petrol station. Long motorway journeys weren’t really its forte either, but that’s OK because the fuel tank was just big enough to get you to the next petrol station. With that said, it was no lightweight – 631lb (compare that with something like a new Triumph Bonneville at just over 500lb), and perhaps that’s an indicator as to why the brakes felt a bit lacking. Yamaha even designed it with a shaft drive because a regular chain would have needed adjusting after every power run. (Stopping it was a different matter though). In a sprint off the line, very little could live with the ‘Max’, thanks to the near 100lb/ft of torque and fat rear tyre. The thing about the V-Max 1200 is that it was designed for the ‘Traffic Light Grand Prix’ – getting from one set of traffic lights to the next, in the shortest possible time. All of my “oh god, I’m going to die” moments have been delivered by that V4 70-degree bastard motorcycle. The phrase ‘Widow Maker’ could have been invented for this bike.Įven in today’s power-hungry world, the V-Max would be considered as pretty powerful, which is great, but remember that you’re dealing with 35-year-old brakes, tyre technology, suspension and chassis. I’ve actually owned a full-horsepower V-Max (145bhp), not a namby-pamby UK spec with 100bhp, and it was an experience. Not to be confused with the VMAX (the later 2009 onwards version), the original Yamaha V-Max 1200 was introduced in 1985, as a sort of steroid-fuelled muscled cruiser. Cycle Trader have several others available here. The V-Max 1200 was the ultimate muscle bike of the 80’s. In no particular order: Yamaha V-Max 1200 The list that I’ve put together isn’t a definitive list of ‘The Greatest motorcycles of the 1980s’, but rather my personal list, either that I’d want now, or that I desperately fell in love with as a kid in the 1980s. In my career as an automotive engineer/journalist, I’ve driven all manner of super-fast cars – Porsche, Ferrari, AMG, TVR, Lamborghini, Spyker … you name it and there’s a chance I’ve driven it, but if it ever came to a choice for a performance vehicle for the rest of my life, I’d choose a fast bike every time.Īs I’ve previously written though, I’m getting on a bit now … my knees are shot, my back is in pain every day, my reactions are slowing, and my eyesight isn’t what it was … my thoughts have turned to something a little slower, and an 80s bike could just be the ticket. My first proper job was for a well-known motorcycle tuning company, that mainly specialised in drag racing bikes, but we did quite a lot of road stuff also, and I guess it was there that I learnt to love the power of the big Japanese four-cylinder bikes (although I have a huge hankering for an RD500LC). My middle brother was working for a Kawasaki dealership, dad had the Bonnie, as did my elder brother, and then there were the friends of brothers: Suzuki 550 Katana (x2), Yamaha RD200, all manner of Triumphs (including an X75 Hurricane), Gypsy 1100, Kawasaki Z1, Suzuki GS850, there was even a Rickman Kawasaki … plenty of choice for a teenage lad to think about. With that said, motorcycles were in abundance at our household. I didn’t pass my test until the early 90s, so small two-strokes were it. I’m a little too young to consider the 80s as my motorcycling decade of choice, although of course I had started riding then – a Kawasaki AR125, Yamaha DT125R, Kawasaki KH125 (the choice of my boss after offering to lend me some money to buy some transport).
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