| Author | Message | ||
     Paroyboy |
Is anyone here familiar with a Suzuki Katana 750? Good points? Bad points? (besides not being a Buell!) A friend is looking at a used one. Great price and a sharp bike. All I could really gather from Epinions was valve maint. can be expensive. Thanks for any info | ||
| Dynarider |
I had a Katana 600...same basic bike...& I loved it. Very dependable & comfy. Got good gas mileage too. The only issue I had with mine was it was very cold blooded, when first fired up I had to just let it sit there for a minute or 2 while it warmed up. If I tried to give it any gas at all during the intial warmup it would die. But after that first minute or so, the bike ran like a bat outta hell. Not the fastest thing in its class, but a fun ride none the less & cheap to own. | ||
| Newfie_buell |
I think the valves are shim and bucket, so to adjust them the camshafts have to come out and they have to be shimmed. Easy to do but time consuming. I knew a guy that had one and very reliable only for the valve maintenance - I would not let that stop me from buying one though. I'd love to find a good late model GS1150EF the bikes before the GSX model line was started in 85 (I think) | ||
| Reepicheep |
A friend of a friend here in Dayton is selling a low milaged 2000 Katana 750... asking $3500 as I recall, in good shape. The UJM aircooled inline fours are great engines. Valve maintainance is expensive if you get the shop to do it. Annoying, but the rest of the bike is rock solid. The only problem with the Katana is the niche it hits. It is a good capable bike, but about the worst of the "sportbikes". Were it a naked standard (called the ZR-7  "> ) it would be respected and appreciated. But it is a fully faired sportbike looking thing. So it does not get respect from the all rounder naked bike crowd, because it is a decent naked bike that has been ruined with all that plastic. It does not get respect from the squid crowd, because it is only 30% more bike then any of them will ever use, while the other sport bikes are 80% more then any of them will ever use. So it has a bit of a reputation as a poser bike, which is silly, but so is that whole crowd. And it is not super practical as a daily rider, a Kawasaki ZR-7 or Suzuki SV-650 would be better. But it is a fully capable bike, and people that know nothing about motorcycles will think it is just as cool as an R1. It has plastic, must be one of those "racin bikes" "> Could be expensive to drop in a parking lot though if it is a first bike. Scratched pegs and exhaust cans and tanks are a lot less noticable then a gret big chunk of fairing broken off and missing. edited by reepicheep on October 24, 2003 | ||
| Nevco1 |
Great bike. Katana's were more GT than sport oriented. Translation: a gentleman's sport bike. Not the fastest 750 in it's day, but a comfortable long ranger. Can make a great sport touring bike. Valve maintenance is not expensive even if a dealer does it as a part of a "Full Service." I had my FJ1200 done at the prescribed intervals and it never missed a beat. I figured the extra bucks for a full service was cheap insurance for the mechanically declined. Only area the old Zook's were prone to have problems was the fork springs going soft due to metal selection and fatigue. A set of progressives are cheap and will greatly improve the handling if not already installed. | ||
| Dynarider |
Could be expensive to drop in a parking lot though if it is a first bike. Scratched pegs and exhaust cans and tanks are a lot less noticable then a gret big chunk of fairing broken off and missing. Nope..the bodywork actually flexes pretty well & about the only thing that gets broken are the mirrors...they break real easy. | ||
| Paroyboy |
Thanks all...I'll forward the positives.  | ||
| Paroyboy |
Instead of clutttering the board with another off-topic, I thought I would just add to this one..... THE CHINESE ARE COMING Was looking around the web and found a pretty cool looking little bike from Alpha Sports (China). The dealer applet wasnt working so not sure how many dealers there are. I'd like to see one just for kicks. Its a 250CC with 28HP \image | ||
| Paroyboy |
Damn, it never works the first time!  | ||
| Dynarider |
Looks like a suzuki 500 GS frame. And is that a V-twin? 250cc v-twin, pistons the size of thimbles  | ||
| Nevco1 |
Sorry folks, but due to the trade imbalance with China...I hope they lose their collective butts on this and other ventures. | ||
| Rocketman |
You're gonna have to keep praying because they've just won the World Endurance championships and the Chinese are also entering World Super Bikes next season! Rocket  | ||
| Paroyboy |
I read up on them a little. Built by HYOSUNG in China. It weighs 415lbs with 28hp verus a Blast! at 360lbs and 34hp. Definately not sounding like a speed demon! They also build cruisers with the same engine. No dealers around here so I'll just put that money in my XB #2 fund! | ||
| Jim_witt |
Yea right, I worked in China for a while too. Probably sell'em for a couple of hundred since they'll build them in sweat shops. -JW:  | ||
| Dynarider |
a Blast! at 360lbs and 34hp I wish the Blast actually had 34 hp. Do they even produce that much at the crank? | ||
| Krassh |
Hey newfie, Here is a 85 GS 1150E all setup for the drag strip. I have wanted one of these they easy to setup for drag. It is in Rhode Island. http://adcache.cycletrader.com/5/4/2/58279442.htm  | ||
| Nevco1 |
Jim...Headed up US operations for two Chinese manufacturers. Always starts out well then gets ugly. Am still trying to get the chop sticks out of my eyes and apologizing to my network of US customers and manufacturers reps that believed in me. I tarnished a 30 year career pretty quickly by expecting the Chinese to live up to their word. Love the way they duck and run back home and send somebody new all the time. Not to mention, when cornered, they pull the same crap. "Am Chinese citizen...You no touch me." Read you can't sue me or hit me. Granted one of the two companies is battling liability suits in Canada...but they skated on the charges here in the US where the problem was significantly greater. Think about it the next time you buy a power tool or small appliance sold by an US Marketing Company (read: no longer a US Manufacturer compliments of slave labor available elsewhere and no protective import taxes to pay for the unemployment in this country.) and the Box says "Made in ROC." | ||
| Bomber |
My experiences mirror Nevco's exactly . . .they are trying desparately to become a major player on the world economic stage . . . . they are also in dire need of hard (read useful) currency . . . they are, on the other hand, the single largest uptapped market for everybloodything that upright mankind can devise, market and sell - - - this makes our government (and others) loathe to anger them by holding them to standards of behavior and ethics that are considered a minimum in the rest of the trading world. Caveat Emptor has a much stronger meaning in Asia than in the western world -- standards of behavior in part of the world differ from ours greatly. Lastly, mainland Chinese have a deep and abiding feeling that we (non-Chinese) are not quite human, and therefor, not worthy of their concern. They share this, in one degree or another, with their hated enemies across a small body of water, the Japanese. I'm not knocking either country nor it's citizenry. They play by different rules than we do. | ||
| Nevco1 |
Lastly, mainland Chinese have a deep and abiding feeling that we (non-Chinese) are not quite human, and therefor, not worthy of their concern. They share this, in one degree or another, with their hated enemies across a small body of water, the Japanese. Don't know what they call the Japanese, but do know they call us "Dogs" and "Devil Dogs". Hope the latter is a reflection of their fear of the US Marine Corps! | ||
| Road_thing |
"Gwai Lo" = "Foreign Devil" | ||
| Bomber |
Thang's got it right, Nev . . . there are momre deep-rooted cultural differences that most realize, and they contribute mightily to the trade imbalance . . .. . I'm not a big "Look For The Union Label" kinda guy, nor do I fly the Stars and Stripes when shopping (got nothing against those that do), but, as much as I'd like to see a world economy, with everyone playing on a level field, I'm affraid we ain't got it now, nor will we in my lifetime (which, as Court keeps telling me, ain't got much left {grin}). My next non-US bike will come from Europe, I'm thinkin . . .. . . | ||
| Nevco1 |
Thanks RT...Will pay attention during my next encounters. They tried to teach me some Chinese but not those phrases. LOL Bomber...Was proud to put the Red, White and Blue over the "Made in America" logo. Didn't even mind when I had to add Spanish and French to the packaging and instructions. However, we al got bent out of shape when certain major retail chains in this country made us take the Flag off our packages and move the "Made in USA" logo to the back in and switch to fine print. Why??? They were afraid it would detract from the sales of the knock off lines they imported direct from China. Hope you have better luck at learning Chinese than I did. Then again, I pray it never becomes the official language of this country. | ||
| Bomber |
I have little interest in learning Chinese . .. I have enough noise in my head without yet another partial language rattling around in there . . . . when the Made in the USA stuff was huge, I was naive enough to think that US manufacturers would be compeating on a level playing field, and that they should allow their quality to stand up against all comers . . . .. I was young(er), and my hair was a different color (most of it, anyways) . .. . since damn near every other country has protective tariffs in place, no reason why we shouldn't do the same . . .it greatly slow the world market, which is something I think is needed for many reasons, but it ain't happenin any time soon | ||
| Nevco1 |
Protective Tariffs...LMAO. You ought to try to get something into China, even raw materials that they don't have available in country. Takes a lot of time, effort, paperwork, money and bribes. The only thing they want is dollars and technology and we are stupid enough to give it to them. | ||
| Bomber |
it's the marshal plan all over again | ||
| M1combat |
Oh don't get me started on the marshal plan... You're right though, except this time it's aimed to help our enemies. See we have such a "Can't we all get along" attitude that we ASSUME that other regime's do too. China chose the Panda for a reason. Those little bastards are MEAN! Cute and cuddly looking to the unassuming little girl though. | ||
| Paroyboy |
Someone at work posted an article from some magazine outlining what Harley is upto around the world. It said that Harley reps were in China recently and were very interested in a company called Lifan, and especially their 400cc motors. New Sprint maybe? | ||
| Jim_witt |
Before I knew any better, I worked on a semi-conductor base build/tool hook-up facility in Tianjin. It's right at the top of my biggest mistakes list. It's my opinion the Chinese government should not be trusted in any fashion. Their business ethics are non-existent, along with their human rights issues, sweat shops (forced labor) and copyright infringements. It absolutely blows me away that any American would knowingly purchase anything Made in China! They should have their ass kicked! -JW:> |
