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davekpcv
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Brand new Suzuki Katana 1100
Brand new Suzuki Katana 1100

Somewhere in Darlington.

Now before anyone starts getting excited and reaching for the cheque book ( do they still do cheque books?), this was taken in the early 1980s and was the first Kat I'd ever seen.

I stood there drooling, hardly able to believe what I was seeing. Because motorcycles in the early 80s didn't look like this.

In fact, I even went away to get my camera.

Target Design came up with what is probably the grand daddy of modern motorcycle design.

And 30 years later it still cuts the mustard, so to speak.

One thing I knew as i stood there, open mouthed, was that I was, without question, going to have to have one.

And I did.

Except mine was the "production race" 1000cc version with slide carbs, not the 1100 with CVs. For a while at least, I believe it was the fastest production motorcycle available. But compared to today's superbikes, the power output was fairly modest.

I had a hoot on mine, even going as far as to tour Europe "two up" for a fortnight. Someone wouldn't need to be a bike expert to see that this isn't a close relative of the Honda Gold Wing.

But without a shadow of a doubt, the best bit of having my Kat was riding alongside Filfy Wilf on his GPZ1100 Unitrak in those golden days before speed cameras were even thought of. Bear in mind when this was taken, we hadn't even arrived in "1984" and back then Big Brother wasn't watching. Luckily. There were plenty of police 3 litre Fords, Capris and Granadas, kicking about so it wasn't total "freedom", of course.

My bike was eventually sold and was the largest capacity motorcycle I ever owned, because when push comes to shove, I prefer small bikes, especially 350 Yamahas which in the right hands (mine) and on the right road would wave a cheery goodbye to some larger bikes.

Am I glad I had one? Yeah, too right.

© All Rights Reserved
Taken on: January 1, 1983
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Camera: Nikon D40X, f/4.8, 0.4 sec, 38mm (=57mm), ISO 400 (more info) (hide info)
Camera: Nikon D40X
Lens: 18.0-55.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Aperture: f/4.8
Exposure Time: 0.4
Focal Length: 38mm (35mm equivalent: 57mm)
ISO: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program: Not Defined
Exposure Mode: Auto
Metering Mode: Multi-segment
White Balance: Auto
Gain Control: Low gain up
Color Space: sRGB
Software: Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.0 Windows
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