Howdy Howdy
Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 10:46 am
Hi Folks
I have been a regular lurker on here for some time since I decided to get back into scootering. I have always wanted a Suzuki Katana 1100, since the very first time I saw one being thrashed down the main road in Zimbabwe in the early eighties. A couple of my mates from school got their hands on them in the late eighties, and some of them are no more as a result. One chap who shall remain nameless refused to leave his bike wedged between the tracks, and was hit buy a shunting train still wrestling with it by all acounts...
There are no functioning 1100s in zimbabwe at the moment, although I understand there are two very tatty ones lurking somewhere in the light industrial sights of Harare. It seems the combination of a very fast heavy machine, open roads, and bad driving saw to the end of many of them. On joker even painted his bright Pink, but he always had a hotness on the back so he can be forgiven.
I went round to a fellow pilots house looking for some rotax parts for my aerie, and saw what was clearly a katana peeping out from under a tarpaulin in his garage. Sadly it was only a 550, but I just had to have it. It had 12000M on the clocks, and was 100% original except for the exhuasts for obvious reasons. Paid USD2000 for it, which he though was not enough, but turned out to be spot on as it cost $500 to get running - breaks, carbs etc. It runs very smoothly, and can do 110 with a bit of shaking and wobbling, but is definitely not powerful enough. It got me back into this game after a 15 year layoff..
I now have two 1100 Katanas, one of which I intend to bring up to scratch over time. Right now, I am so excited that the suns out, it never gets a moments rest!
Will post a few pictures in due course.
I have been a regular lurker on here for some time since I decided to get back into scootering. I have always wanted a Suzuki Katana 1100, since the very first time I saw one being thrashed down the main road in Zimbabwe in the early eighties. A couple of my mates from school got their hands on them in the late eighties, and some of them are no more as a result. One chap who shall remain nameless refused to leave his bike wedged between the tracks, and was hit buy a shunting train still wrestling with it by all acounts...
There are no functioning 1100s in zimbabwe at the moment, although I understand there are two very tatty ones lurking somewhere in the light industrial sights of Harare. It seems the combination of a very fast heavy machine, open roads, and bad driving saw to the end of many of them. On joker even painted his bright Pink, but he always had a hotness on the back so he can be forgiven.
I went round to a fellow pilots house looking for some rotax parts for my aerie, and saw what was clearly a katana peeping out from under a tarpaulin in his garage. Sadly it was only a 550, but I just had to have it. It had 12000M on the clocks, and was 100% original except for the exhuasts for obvious reasons. Paid USD2000 for it, which he though was not enough, but turned out to be spot on as it cost $500 to get running - breaks, carbs etc. It runs very smoothly, and can do 110 with a bit of shaking and wobbling, but is definitely not powerful enough. It got me back into this game after a 15 year layoff..
I now have two 1100 Katanas, one of which I intend to bring up to scratch over time. Right now, I am so excited that the suns out, it never gets a moments rest!
Will post a few pictures in due course.
