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Suzuki Katana 1100

German style and Japanese engineering

21 August 2026, by Ian Falloon

It could be argued that style often wasn’t considered a priority in motorcycle design until the 1970s. Street motorcycles gradually evolved as form followed function and, apart from a few factory café racers, all motorcycles followed a generic path. BMW changed that with Hans A Muth’s R90S and when Suzuki embarked on their Katana in 1979, they engaged Muth’s Target Design firm to draw up the styling.

Muth and fellow directors Hans Georg Kasten and Jan Olof Fellström presented Suzuki with a radical design created through wind tunnel testing. The rider and motorcycle were incorporated as a complete aerodynamic package, with the fairing and fuel tank flowing air over and around the rider.

See this Classic Bike Hub feature on Muth.

The first prototype appeared in April 1980, with an official unveiling a few months later at the Cologne show. To everyone’s surprise Suzuki announced the Katana (named after a Samurai sword) would go into production during 1981, and so it did, for the 1982 model year.

At a time when other manufacturers were incorporating liquid-cooling, rising rate single shock rear suspension, and experimenting with 16-inch front wheels, the 1100 Katana harked back to the past. The air-cooled 1074cc four-cylinder engine had double overhead camshafts, four valves per cylinder, and Suzuki’s TSCC (Twin Swirl Combustion Chamber) but was still an evolution of an earlier design. Yet it still produced a class-leading 111 horsepower at 8500rpm, making the Katana the most powerful production motorcycle available.

However, the chassis lagged behind the engine as beneath the style was a stock GSX 1100 Suzuki, complete with twin shock rear end, skinny front forks (albeit with trendy hydraulic anti-dive), and a 19-inch front wheel. The wheelbase stretched to 1520mm and the weight was a considerable 232kg.

Intent on winning the 1981 Castrol 6-Hour race at Amaroo Park, Suzuki Australia ordered 100 6-Hour specials. These were fitted with 19 and 18-inch wire wheels from the Canadian-spec version.

The 18-inch wheel was preferred for racing as there was a wider range of tyres available and the lower sidewall didn’t flex as much as the 17-inch. But with the shipment stranded off Sydney heads due to a tugboat strike the Katana missed the cut-off date for race entry and the wire-wheeled Katana didn’t actually race in the Six-Hour that year.

Ironically Suzuki still won the 1981 Castrol 6-Hour race, with a GSX1100 shod with a 17-inch rear wheel! Dave Petersen and Neville Hiscock were the riders, a lap ahead of Roger Heyes and Malcolm Campbell on another Suzuki, who in turn were a lap ahead of third-placed Ron Boulden and Stephen Gall on a Yamaha XS1100.

See the Suzuki Japan Katana 1100S page.

Plus the Motorcycle Specs data and contemporary test page.

And the retro review from Bennetts in the UK.