A sort of (re)introduction of myself after a long break……….
When I was in full time work and not too busy I used to spend a lot of time on the old Katana Central forum. I just found a print out that I saved of Topic 948 from 25th May 2004 about bleeding spongy brakes, started by Deedes. I don’t remember if/what forum name I used. If my memory serves me well, around the time when the original forum posts got lost due to some IT glitch, I stopped working full time and then did not contribute much to the rebuilt forum. There are a couple of names on this forum that I recognise from the old one: Fossie being one of them.
And now the bike. I have a GSX100SZ. My brother bought it new in June 1982, but did not register it until 1st August so that he could get a Y suffix registration. He was working for a motorcycle shop at the time so he unpacked the bike from its crate and did the PDI himself. He greased all the bolts and waxoiled all the electrical connectors so the bike has survived well. In 1984 the FJ1100 came out and because he was always interested in the latest and fastest bike he needed to sell the Kat to afford the FJ. I thought the Kat was too smart to let go so I bought it off him. Then I had to borrow a 125cc learner bike from the shop where he worked to do my part one and part two bike test! A couple of months later I passed my test and celebrated with a ride out the same day on the Kat and his FJ. The Norwich Union insurance rep was rather surprised when told that I wanted my rider policy to go up from 125cc to unlimited!
Then in 1986 I got married. My wife and I left the register office after the ceremony on the Kat. For a while it was our only transport. Weekly trips to do the food shopping were interesting, with bulging throw over panniers and my wife with an armful of groceries. No sudden acceleration!
We went down to Bandol on the Kat to watch the Bol D’Or three or four times, as well as other camping holidays in the south of France. Our record run was over 800 miles in one day, from Orange to home (in Stafford at the time).
In 1988 I needed a bike for commuting so when I saw a GS650G advertised locally I had to get it. I used it until 2000 when it was almost run into the ground, so I passed it on to a friend. I kept the 1,000 for pleasure riding on high days and holidays.
Then we both spent three years living in Australia. I kept the bike safely stored in a bricked up shed in the UK. Since then it has been mostly SORNed, although I did dust it off it in 2009, and again in 2015. Now I have the Covid-19 lock down time to spend in the shed I am recommissioning it again. The set of tyres on it were fitted in 1994 so it got a new set put on today. The next step is getting a MOT test and then hopefully taxing it on 1st August, which will be its 38th birthday.
The bike’s had a few falls over the years: my brother crashed it when he owned it; it’s been knocked over by car drivers twice and it fell over on a cross-channel ferry once. It has never been restored, but it has had the damaged parts replaced with genuine ones, as well as the worn out 4th and 5th gears: how it whined in top gear! The only non-standard parts are a 4-into-1 Powerflow exhaust (the original rotted out at 4 years old) and Koni rear dampers/springs. So it’s in a patinated condition, with 74,000 miles on the clock.
I will have a dig around for old photos, including the wedding one, to scan and post on the forum, if I can work out how to do that!
That’s enough for now. Well done if you have read this far without falling asleep. I hope to be riding it for a while yet, until old age sets in. If I keep the new set of tyres for the next 26 years they will see me out!
If any of you go to Box Hill to hang out on Sunday’s I might bump into you there.
David.
