eRIDING IMPRESSION
e
1991 GSX750FM Suzuki Katana
To Katana or
not to Katanat
By Kit Palmer
port touring. Hmmm. That's how.
Suzuki des cribes its GSX750
Katana. Okay, we can understand
the spo rt part, but the touring part?
Well . . . o kay, if they say so, but
where's the stereo? . .
Be as it may , the 1991 GSX750
Katana does hav e the wo rd "sport"
written all over it, but if you compare
the Katan a , side by side , to its next of
kin , the full -race GSXR750, perhaps
it do es look a little bit on the tourish side, with its cleaner lines and
smoother styling, but you have to look
at it for a real long time and it he lps
to have a good imagination.
Far and away the question regarding
the Katana that we heard most often
S
was, "How does it co mpa re to the
GSXR750? " which was almost always
followed up by, ' 'I'm thinking about
bu ying a new bik e and I like the GSXR
because it 's 'racey,' but it costs a lot
more than the Katana and is uncomfortabl e for anything but short stints
in the saddle. i'-Basically, we interpret
, th is as, "T he GSX R is the 'cool' bike
to hav e - you know, the girls really
like it - and it's way fast, bu t I really
don ' t have the bu dget for the GSXR
and I don 't want to live with the
i n co n ven ien cies (comfort) of the
GSXR, so should I settle for the
Katana? Is it really more comfortable
than the GSXR? Is it fast? Is it cool
enough?"
.
T he B-17 Fl ying Fortress
was a feared weapo n of
the U.S. Army Air Corps
during World War II ,
and the Kata na is
another feared weapon of sorts. Named after a
J apan ese sam urai's
sword, the Suzuki
GSX750 Katana slices
throug h the cany ons on
tight, twisty roa ds as
well as the B-17
performed its du ties in
the Europe31n skies .
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