Never knew about this fantastic bike! I’d get one in a heartbeat. They could release it now and they’d sell. Great video as always - no nonsense, just the info. 👍🏻
Was a mistake not to have it in showrooms to buy, even if it meant delaying the launch. The Sei/z13 and cbx1047 were very much of of their time. Big motors, skinny tyres, etc. A more upto date six would be amazing.
Like many others I've never heard of this Suzy. I wish it had made it to production, it would have kicked serious arse! Brilliant engineering to make a six narrower than a four and be so powerful. It should have been the engine used in several models. Guess it all came down to costs. The suits obviously won, the Bikers lost!
As always ,a very well crafted video . Solid intel throughout, with a slick finish .During the last few seconds of the video I was somehow distracted and the bike seemed to vanish .Thats a nifty bit of editing right there .Well played good sir .
I missed this one, never heard of it until now! I had/have an original Kat or two (in bits) and thought the same thing you did about the styling as soon as I saw your video. Thanks for the enlightenment, looks awesome but I wouldn't rush out n buy one nowadays!
If a modern version of this was produced today - I would ABSOLUTELY buy one. Problem is, the Suzuki Styling Department is famous for f***ing it all up.
Very interesting. I hated the original katana but I like this one. I don't suppose I'd buy one but even now it looks very futuristic. I had never even heard of it by the way 🙂
It was a concept that was never realized. This happens a lot at Yamaha and Suzuki, great idea's that get shot down after initial R&D and a few case models to test.
I loved the old KZ 1300 i rode it in town and on the highway it was exhilarating smooth fast. Nice big seat for 2 up riding wide handlebars. I would definitely buy this Suzuki. Remember BMW has a n online 6 cylinder too.
I'd buy that Suzuki Six in a heartbeat. I had a KZ 1300 back in the day and always loved it. I'm riding a Yamaha GTS 1000 these days and it should have been on this list. I still feel like I'm riding the future not a 30-year-old bike.
Yes i brought a gen3 busa after waiting 2years to see what they come up with but i was hopeing for a 6cylinder or turbo,supercharged vertion, i would buy this one now.
Cool ride. My dream machine was the Honda vfr1000 v5 it looked amazing in MCN never made it also was ready to trade my vfr800vtec and a kidney .Still got both
This six-cylinder would knock the competition for errrr.... six!! Stunning looking bike with quirky but very practical and intelligent features. Not sure about stat's, but if it wasn't overly tall or heavy, I imagine it would be very easy to live with. Yes, I would buy one for sure!
A Great Bike. Its likely that Suzuki would have sold loads of them had they put them into production. Maybe I have a bit of old dinosaur resistance to change in me but I am still a bit wary of a lot of electronics on a bike as a bike is uncovered on the road and exposed to different weather conditions. I could be wrong about this but It is a doubt that I have. Thanks for this video.
Stratosphere,hell yes.I've owned the GSX11ET with a full Pichler sports fairing and Eurodesign panniers which took me all over europe for 6 years.The best bike I have ever had even though I have a busa now.I covered 150k on my ET and not a bit of bother,let's hope the busa's as good.Good review by the way.
I bought a GSX 1100 in the 80s. It was the more conventional styled one with the same motor as the Katana. I didn't like the style of the Katana but I really like the look of the 6 cyl bike.
Suzuki were on a roll, developed and released the boulevard 1800 twin around the same time frame. The gsx1000 was at the top of road racer lists as well. The go fast machines👍
Honestly, you've got a voice that's truly like if not identical to the Ozzie actor Eric Bana. Are you Eric Bana??? Mate you could do his voice overs quite easily you know. Thanks for the upload. Enjoyable, and it brought back some "old school" teen memories.
I raced a CBX1000 and a six is worth buying. The Suzuki 6's looks were better than the old Katana which was a dog. Yes, I'd want one of those. Thanks for revealing what I missed. Fine scoop!
It's a good looking bike, and would look just as modern today as the day it was introduced as a concept. Sadly, the extra machine work, labor and parts needed to build this engine would increase the cost to the consumer. Even if the engine was slightly smoother, would you pay a couple thousand more for a 5hp gain over what a 4cyl bike of the same displacement delivered? This is a personal choice to be clear, but for many of us the answer would be no.
As being the owner of 36 Katanas in the past, I most certainly would buy this bike. Wow in fact this bike makes the Katana look dated which even by todays standards the Katana can hold it's own.
Yep. I would buy one. I was in my late teens in the early 80s and owned an xs 1100. Around the era of the Japanese big bore push and the great track races featuring heavy competition. I would consider this Suzuki motorcycle a Sports/ Tourer. I can see a some Katana about it. However the lines on this are smooth, sleek and flowing. The Katana was more box shape, awkward but it had balls. Just my opinion.
The Kawasaki, six cylinder, the Benelli, six cylinder, the Laverta Six cylinder, even the Honda CBX was just a flash in the pan. The Kawasaki was better because it was water cooled. The center cylinders on the CBX had to be jetted richer because they didn’t get the cooling effect of the airflow like the outside cylinders.. I have ridden every year of the CBX. The first year was the fastest/most powerful. But then the national highway safety Council pressure and other government pressures saw to it that horsepower was limited to 100 in countries like Germany. And speedometers would only register up to 85 miles an hour here in the United States. The Honda CB 750 was actually only 20 mm narrower than the CBX.. as for speed and road racing, sure it sounded fantastic with six open pipes. I was racing motorcycles at the time, and there was one cbx that showed up one day, the guys name was frank. Something begins with an M. I had seen him racing other bikes in recent years at that time. He seemed like a pro more than a weekend, club, racer. Of course he won, but that motorcycle could not survive a crash. Just like the Kawasaki two stroke triples, would not survive crashes, The engines were just too wide and vulnerable.. back in the early late 70s,motorcycle technology was skyrocketing. That’s when shaft, drive, water, cooling, fuel injection, six cylinders, turbo charging, electronic, ignition, tubeless, tires, dual and triple disc brakes, perimeter frames Single shock, suspensions, elimination of Kickstarter‘s became routine. In 1982 Honda had 52 different models of motorcycles available to the public here in the United States. I was a part-time motorcycle salesman for 17 years. And in 1982, we were handing out decks of cards at the Honda dealerships, with a different model of Honda on each of the 52 cards. I have several of those unopened decks of cards right now. Technology was a competition between the Japanese big four. Things were great, bikes were cheap, technology was improving every month. every month the big four motorcycle magazines had a different motorcycle on the cover, I remember the Yamaha XS, 1100 was on the cover, declaring it, the king of speed. The next month, the CBX was on the cover of that magazine company, they were declaring that the king of speed, and the month after that the true king of speed was on the cover, this is suzuki GS 1000 E.. Yamaha XS 1100 could get going, but it couldn’t go around corners because it had shaft drive. The CBX in 1979 had a little over 102 hp, I think that was the number. my best friend had a 79, a 1980, he had a gray 1981 when they turned it into a sport touring bike with fairing and color matched bags, then he got the 1982 pearl white CBX with that single shot pro link suspension, like the 1981. Also had, triple discs, that sewing machine, smooth engine, but it was a big lump, hanging there with six carburetors, 24 valves, it was majestic… but then the following month the true superbike of that time this is suzuki GS 1000 E came on the market. That thing was the fastest, and it could carry that speed around corners on the racetrack. And it had ground clearance, and it could survive a crash, and it wasn’t hampered by the shortcomings of shaft drive… it was tough to keep up with all the different new technology coming onto the motorcycle market every month..them the turbos showed up.. and suspensions were getting better, adjustable for more than just spring preload, brakes were getting better. Then water cooling became widespread, then the Goldwing interstate showed up, followed by the Yamaha, Venture, the kawasaki voyager , and the Suzuki cavalcade, which I think was a little better than the competition.. dirt bikes for water, cold, single, shock, suspension, disc brakes. The motorcycle improvements in technology breakthroughs from the big four was a battle that Honda and Yamaha were leading in technology, Kawasaki was leading in speed, and suzuki was leading in handling on the race tracks.. then the cataclysmic catastrophe happened to the motorcycle world.. the worst possible day in the history of United States, motorcycling happened, and it is still happening over 40 years later.. Harley Davidson hired a Wall Street type CEO. von beals..He went directly to Ronald Reagan the President of the United States and insisted that he do something to save the 600 American jobs at the Harley Davidson factory because the Japanese are dumping motorcycles here below cost… Ronald Reagan was a young man during World War II making movies to promote patriotism and improve morale..I think he saw it as his duty to save the Harley factory 600 jobs. So he imposed a 45% tariff on Japanese imported motorcycles. The technology race immediately stopped ..No more turbo charged machines, suzuki was about to come out with an air-conditioned cavalcade , competition for the Goldwing with reverse, suzuki was going to put supercharged motorcycles on the street. Kawasaki was going to have four-cylinder water cooled 250s. They did later, but they only were available in Japan. there were big plans for Rotary engines from suzuki, Norton, and Kawasaki.. Yamaha had 2 Wheel Dr. motorcycles, single front fork, motorcycles, in development that all came crashing down with the Harley tariff. Show rooms were deserted. I was a salesman part time in motorcycle shops at that time they went out of business. I had to start playing guitar in a band to pick up some extra cash because the motorcycle shops were closing down left and right. Over 1100 Japanese motorcycle dealerships went out of business permanently in the first two years. The average number of Americans working in those 1100 shops was seven. That was over 7000 Americans that lost their jobs but the 600 jobs at the Harley factory were saved… there were 22 Japanese dealerships within an hour of my home before the tariff. Here over 40 years later, there are only three dealerships that survived,and two of those dealerships were owned by family members and run by generations of family members. They already owned the buildings.. that’s how they survived.. The price of motorcycles went up 45% and never came back down. The selection of motorcycles with all those technological advances pretty much disappeared. The prices today still not come down, they’ve actually gone up… Young fathers did not buy motorcycles for their young kids. Three generations now have grown up, playing video games rather than riding motorcycles. those missing generations of motorcycles that grew up, riding cheap Japanese motorcycles, many of them would grow up and become Harley Davidson riders. But they grew up not riding small dirt bikes, so they have no interest in motorcycles today…Harleys shortsighted plan has backfired on them. They’ve eliminated their future generations of customers and they are hurting today because of it. Their core business is Riders in their 50s and 60s.. What goes around, is coming around.. I personally do not want Harley Davidson to go out of business because if they do, there will be anti-motor cycle legislation here in this country. but they just might go under. Believe it or not, their largest sales is in things like T-shirts/clothing. At one time they were selling Harley Davidson, beer, even cigarettes.. all of that relief they got by eliminating the competition, they did not put back into improving the product. They still have the same basic 1907 design it was actually stolen from Indian, and Indian actually stole it from the aviation/motorcycle genius, glenn Curtis, that made his own V-8 engine that set the record over 136 mph in 1907.. Glenn, Curtis is the one that invented the V twin motorcycle engine. He was in the motorcycle business, and he saw that he could add a second cylinder to a single motorcycle engine and still have it fit inside the bicycle frame they were using as a motorcycle frame in those days. so Harley did not invent the motorcycle or the V twin, they weren’t even the first of the dozens of motorcycle manufacturers in the United States. Indian was ahead of Harley. The only reason Harley survived until now is because they got the government contract to supply motorcycles for the war effort .. and they are still cranking out the same basic design, but with improvements since the 1980s, greatly in part because of the use of Japanese carburetors and fuel injection from Japan and Japanese electrics.. I have owned motorcycles from Honda, suzuki, Kawasaki, Yamaha, BMW, moto guzzi , Bridgestone, gas, gas, Beta, and fantic.. I never had a Harley, never wanted one.. they just don’t make anything I like..
Good summary to read. I left the business in 1979 as a technician and service manager in a Kawasaki/Suzuki dealership north of NYC. Last big bike I got to test was the KZ1300 and it was such an eye-opener. Now, I see the prices have gone through the roof compared relative to the years past. I didn't realize how much the tariffs had damaged the market until you spelled it out. Design wise, I see so little now that appeals to me though I was an avid enthusiast years ago. The bikes now are such a jumble of diverse angles and pieces, so hard to clean and service to my eyes. There are improvements but on balance, I still consider the '70s machines to have the best balance between practicality and optimum performance as well as visual appeal.
The bike on my pic is a 1984 four cylinder four stroke with advanced full floater rear suspension, and very advanced for it's year too...The six cylinder is a beaty but a collector of demerit points on all but the German autobahn ....The modern day Suzuki V-Strom is voted the best Suzuki of all bikes ever by most enthusiasts biker clubs as a great alrounder.....
When it came out as a concept I rejoiced! It's a shame that SUZUKI didn't put it into production. The time is now ripe for a return of the six-cylinder in a world of motorcycles that are all the same. This is stuff for connoisseurs with a refined palate!
Suzuki made a V4 1400 cc touring bike to take the Honda gold wing in the 80's it cost 2000 dollars more than the Honda goldwing or flag ship Harley Davidson ultra leading to poor sales so it was discontinued. I missed out on buying one it was called a cavilcade. I have since got to scratch the V 4 itch with a Honda. Horex have a 6 cylinder bike out now.
Amazing as a Suzuki fan and owner i had no idea this existed - you are correct the Katana was a very polarizing bike - for me bikes today are way to heavy and in the end lightness brings agility and speed - look at the Cagiva Mito - a 125 that can leave most modern bikes on the twisties and out brake the best - Colin Chapman ( lotus ) was right - the most important thing you can add to a bike or car is lightness
Yes you are right but a heavy bike does have one advantage, they are more comfortable, the weight forces the suspension to work on rough roads rather than skipping over bumps like a light bike does. Oh they are also much better in the wind, im just talking about big touring bikes not a standard bike. Give me a light bike any day.
@@motorcyclecafe Yes true - i have a Moto Guzzi and it is definitely my choice for any sort of longer travel - but i think there is a potential to make bigger bikes slightly lighter ( say 180 kg ) which will bring the two closer together - a better balance - BTW i think the Katana's looks have certainly grown on me ( i am old )
People who dislike the Katana either didn't have the money or were blown into the weeds by one. I like singles and twins. Zero chance of me buying a six.
