Editing Suzuki GSX750F Katana

{{Motorcycle
|name             = [[Suzuki]] GSX750
|photo=Suzuki-GSX-750F-88--1.jpg
|aka              = GSX750E Silver Suzi, GSX 750 E Silver Suzi, GSX750S Katana, GSX 750 S Katana, GSX750F (reduced effect), GSX 750 F (reduced effect), GSX750FR, GSX 750 FR, GSX750FS, GSX 750 FS, GSX750F Katana, GSX750F, GSX750ES, GSX750EF, GSX750E, GSX 750 L, GSX 750 F Katana, GSX 750 F, GSX 750 ES, GSX 750 EF, GSX 750 E, GSX 750, GSX750L
|manufacturer     = Suzuki
|parent_company   =
|production       = 1988 - 89
|model_year       =
|predecessor      =
|successor        =
|class            =[[Sportbike]]
|engine           = Four stroke, transverse four cylinder, DOHC, 4 valves per cylinder.
|bore_stroke      =
|compression      = 10.9:1
|top_speed        = 234.2 km/h / 145.5 mph
|power            =
|torque           =
|fuel_system      =
|ignition         = Electronic ignition
|spark_plug       =
|battery          =
|transmission     = 6 Speed, constant mesh
|frame            = Double-cradle steel pipe
|suspension       =Front: 41mm Telescopic fork, [[coil]] spring, oil damped, [[rebound damping]] adjustable, 3-way adjustable <br>
Rear: Link type, gas/coil spring, gas/oil damped, spring [[pre-load]] fully adjustable, [[compression damping]] force fully adjustable, rebound damping force 4-way adjustable
|brakes           =Front: 2 x 290 mm Discs, 2 [[piston]] [[caliper]] <br>Rear: Single 250 mm disc, 1 piston caliper
|front_tire       = {{tire|110/80-17}} 
|rear_tire   	  = {{tire|150/70-17}} 
|rake_trail       =
|wheelbase        = 1470 mm / 57.9 in
|length           =
|width            =
|height           =
|seat_height      = 790 mm / 31.1 in
|dry_weight       = 209 kg / 461 lbs
|wet_weight       = 224 kg / 494 lbs
|fuel_capacity    = 20 Liters / 5.2 US gal / 4.4 Imp gal
|oil_capacity     =
|fuel_consumption =
|turning_radius   =
|related          =
|competition      =
|oil_filter={{oilfilter|K&N KN-138}}<ref name="kl_2019">{{cite book|title=2019 K&L Supply Co Catalog|publisher=[https://www.klsupply.com/ K&L Supply Co]|date=2019}}</ref>
|air_filter={{airfilter|K&N SU-7588}}<ref name="kl_2019">{{cite book|title=2019 K&L Supply Co Catalog|publisher=[https://www.klsupply.com/ K&L Supply Co]|date=2019}}</ref>
}}

It could reach a top speed of 234.2 km/h / 145.5 mph.  

==Engine==
The engine was a Air/oil cooled cooled Four stroke, transverse four cylinder, DOHC, 4 valves per cylinder.. The engine featured a 10.9:1 [[compression ratio]].  

==Drive==
Power was moderated via the Wet, multiple discs, cable operated.  

==Chassis==
It came with a 110/80-17 front [[tire]] and a 150/70-17 rear tire. Stopping was achieved via 2 x 290 mm Discs, 2 piston caliper in the front and a Single 250 mm disc, 1 piston caliper in the rear. The front suspension was a  41mm Telescopic fork, coil spring, oil damped, rebound damping adjustable, 3-way adjustable while the rear was equipped with a Link type, gas/coil spring, gas/oil damped, spring pre-load fully adjustable, compression damping force fully adjustable, rebound damping force 4-way adjustable. The GSX750F Katana was fitted with a 20 Liters / 5.2 US gal / 4.4 Imp gal fuel tank. The bike weighed just 209 kg / 461 lbs. The wheelbase was 1470 mm / 57.9 in long.  
== Photos ==
[[File:Suzuki-GSX-750F-88--1.jpg|600px|Suzuki GSX750]]
[[File:Suzuki-GSX-750F-88.jpg|600px|Suzuki GSX750]]
[[File:Suzuki-GSX-750F-88--2.jpg|600px|Suzuki GSX750]]

== Overview ==
Suzuki GSX 750F

Katana












































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Review
Any magazine writer knows that he has at his disposal many different types of
introduction to select as the story dictates. Popular among writers "of a
certain age" who've been writing about a subject for a number of years is what
we may call the "Boring Old Bastard" style. When you spot this one it usually
means that the scribe concerned is about to give you a lightweight history
lesson on something or another. It's easy to pick his type of story out because
it nearly always starts with something like, "I remember. . ."
(Cut to scene of droves of PB readers heading for the pub to listen to Frank, 50, bald, tedious, talking about his 1760 Sunbeam as a less boring alternative;
you know, the one that went "twice round the world on a thimbleful of petrol
blah blah").
I remember 1978 the summer in particular.
It was a bad time.
My girlfriend ran off with my best mate. I got some satisfaction by
administering cosmetic surgery to his 500 Triumph with the largest hammer I
could find. It was not perfect. As I revelled in the rapidly altering shape of
his petrol tank I could not help thinking that he was probably having far more
fun than I was he being engaged at that point in physical communion with my ex.
I mean, which would you rather be doing? Then I had a row with the boss of the
sheet metalwork business where I earnt my crust welding. He owned the company so
it was me who won the P45 and last place on the grid outside the benefit office
that very same afternoon. It got worse.
Some months before my 400 four Honda wasn't looking where it was going and
tripped over at 60mph. I thoughtfully broke its fall by diving face first to the
floor at the point of impact. My generosity of spirit was repaid by being
pressed lovingly into the tarmac by the full weight of the bike as we slid
together down the road. If wealth had been measured by the amount of skin a
person had on his body, I would have been pretty poor at that time.
On my recovery, I repaired the bike so it was pristine again.
The day after I won the D.C.M. (Don't Come Monday) I fell off it again,
smashed the headlight, clocks, indicators, twisted the bottom fork yoke, dented
the tank.
Life was bad. I toyed with the idea of hammering my winkie flat on an anvil
and trying to get a job as beaver in whatever country it is that beavers come
from.
Sanity prevailed. I opted for a major corrective dose of motorcycling
adrenalin. The Honda was disposed of to a sharp chap who knew the power of £300
in fivers over a depressive who knew his only solution was something bigger,
newer, flasher and faster.
And here is where this story really begins. I went out and bought a six month
old Suzuki GS750. They had come out later the year before. Suzuki's first
attempt at a 750 across the frame four-stroke four was a belter. They were last
into the shops with such a device and they had learnt well from watching the
other bike makers. It was top dog. It was quick. By the standards of the day, it
had excellent handling. It braked well too unless it was raining in which case a
prayer to Whoever It Is Up There would have stopped you quicker.
It was a revelation. Motorcycle Mechanics (who?) speed tested their test
model at 126mph. Flat on the tank and left hand gripping the top of the fork leg
just like Cal Rayborn (who??) I could just get the speedometer to show 132 miles
an hour. It was a bit twitchy running flat out. Chassis technology was still
pretty crude ten years ago and the tires had nothing like the stability of
modern rubberware. But you could lay it on the footpegs in the turns and it
stayed pretty well put I seem to recall it did about thirty five miles to the
gallon.
So there I was on a bank holiday Monday in the Dartford tunnel. I was
beginning to get frustrated  surrounded by hordes of the tin-clad tribesmen who
every year make bank holiday visits of worship to watery places with their awful
wives sporting Dallas hairdos and C & A frocks. The back seats are invariably
packed with at least two point four kids.
They know what it's going to be like but they come every year to get stuck in
the same traffic jams and experience the same frustrations and family discord 
weird.
Trickling through the tunnel I was thinking about my old GS750 and how much
times had changed. Out on the M25 (did you know they're going to change it into
a pay and display car park next year) once the traffic thinned I lazily wound on
the power in top and effortlessly the speedo climbed through to an indication
some 20 miles a hour faster than the old GS went flat out. Nothing dramatic
there. My chest was nowhere near the tank and I had only to lean forward a tiny
bit to get full protection from the slipstream. There was just a trace of
nervousness in the steering but nothing that would allow itself to be provoked
into a stimulating shake. The old GS, if you were in the mood, could be easily
induced to wobble like a bastard.
OK, the historical perspective closes here. It was an interesting comparison
 Suzuki's first 750 four of some 11 years ago against the latest of the line.


The GSX750F is the cooking model, the less glamorous companion of the
decidedly slick and macho GSX-R750J; no alloy frame, no radically low clip-ons
or high footrests and an allegedly detuned version of the same oil cooled engine
that first saw the light of day in 1986.
My first reaction when the bike arrived was, "What an ugly brute". I nipped
out to the next village to pick up my pension and found the motor fussy and
annoying. Below about 3,000 rpm it doesn't show much willing. It's a bit better
than the "R" version up to 7,000. It still has an unmistakable hole between
5,000 and 7,000 which is tedious unless you accelerate hard through it but it's
not as bad. From 7,000 it flies like a modern 750 should, getting stronger until
its hits about 10,500 where you can feel the power start to drop off. Ten and a
half was the best gearchange spot for maximum hard charging. It needs all of its
six gears unlike the Honda VFR or the Yamaha FZ which could easily get away with
five were it not for the dictates of fashion and the demands of production based
racing
The valve timing on the GSX is less radical than on the"R". The inlet tracts
are longer too and careful attention has been paid to the exhaust system
configuration in order to boost mid-range power as much as possible. It's still
nothing like as flexible as either the Yamaha or the Honda and maybe just a
touch better than the Kawasaki GPX. It's liveable with after a time but its
general fussiness in heavy London traffic pissed me off more than a little at
times when my main preoccupation was to transport me and my girlfriend safely
(neither of us was wearing too much) through the hot sunshine to our weekly
meeting of the OAP Alcoholics Glee Club.
The redline is set at 12,500 rpm which jogged another memory. The girlfriend
who an off with the Triumph owner was a psychiatric nurse. Many acquaintances of
the time said that this made her perfectly qualified to go out with me (I didn't
mind the medication but I suspect she enjoyed the cold baths more than I did).
Fed up with unreliable buses she bought the all new CB125T Honda that had just
come out. I was awestruck to realise that it revved to 12,500 rpm which was a
hell of a lot even for a 125 twin with light pistons, con-rods and crank. It's
an impressive place to have the redline on a 750 and it will go to 13,000 rpm
before the limiter cuts in. In practice though, there's not a lot of point in
going to the red unless you're just in one of those moods where you want to dosh
out a dose of engine abuse.
It was only moderately thirsty, recording an average for the whole test of
just over 45mpg with a worst figure of 34 or so. In theory this gives you a
range of somewhere near 200 miles from the 20 litre capacity of the fuel tank.
In practise, however, it would run onto reserve after 120 miles and I only
trusted reserve for another 20 miles. It's no better or worse than its
competitors in this respect and the reserve tap sited on the left hand side of
the bodywork is mercifully easy to manipulate while on the move.


The drilled twin discs up front work exceptionally well under the bite of the
four piston calipers. They are a fully floating design which seems a touch over
the top on a cooking road bike. The advantages of full floating discs are not
much use on the road in my opinion. They do self-align in use to minimise any
unwanted reactive forces being fed into the front suspension and the physical
gap between the discs and their carriers are a considerable aid to keeping the
rotors cool. I doubt if you'll ever regularly ride the GSX hard enough on the
road to make use of these features. If you do you would be well advised to take
up proddie racing before you end up being measured for one of those nice pine
boxes with the pretty brass handles.
There's a bit of adjustment to play with in the suspension. The forks offer
three rebound damping settings while at the back you get a choice of seven
different spring preloads and, again, three rebound options.
I rarely fiddle with the suspension on test bikes. They usually arrive with
everything set somewhere in the middle of the possible range of adjustment and
they usually work damn well. Such was not the case with this Suzook, however. It
jittered at the front and while it was not in any sense alarming, the back end
felt vague and floppy both flat out in straight lines and laid over in gentle
but fast curves.
The forks were easy to adjust with small knobs at the top of each leg and
clearly marked datum points.
I tried "3" and finally settled for "2" after I'd finished playing around
with the rear end.
It's not so easy at the rear end. The rebound is controlled by a sliding knob
under the seat which is simple enough to get at. Adjusting the stepped preload
collar on the Full Floater suspension unit isn't so great. You can get at it
from the lefthand side when the bike is on its centrestand (yes, it's actually
got one) if you lie down to the job. The "C" spanner supplied in the toolkit is
not that great however and you need to exert a lot of pressure in a restricted
space to shift the collar. If the bike were mine I'd get a better tool and I'd
also use Copaslip or similar on the collar as its position makes it a prime
candidate for rust and seizure.
The handling is acceptable but not brilliant. It's slow to turn into corners,
much more so than the "R" version. It was not a machine that inspired scratching
although it was always adequate and always predictable.
Original equipment Metzelers front and rear seemed to suit and the whole plot
is easy to control in the wet.
The riding position is comfortable and conservative. I wouldn't thank you for
an "R" in the London traffic unless I had a particular need to strengthen my
wrists but the plain old GSX is dead comfortable and easy to thread through the
seams of cars, lorries and buses.
The handlebars are quite high and the seat very comfortable. The fairing
looks as if it wouldn't do much to keep the wind off but you only need to crouch
a small amount to get full protection. It is also very comfortable on long
journeys.
But the news for a regular pillion is decidedly gloomy. The passenger perch
has a pronounced forward slope and this pair of hands kept appearing on the back
of the fuel tank as my guest sought to prevent herself smacking into me every
time I braked (it doesn't work that way round, apparently). She found the grab
rail too uncomfortable to hang onto to make regular use of it and the footrests
were too high for her long legs (not to mention her slender ankles, firm thighs.
. . 'scuse me. Back in a minute).
The bodywork I did not manage to like. I thought it was ugly when it arrived
and closer acquaintance did nothing to alter this. I seemed to be largely alone
in this opinion but as most of my friends are visual cripples, I'll settle for
saying that they were wrong.
The panels all fit well but the full enclosure means that you have to remove
a circular panel to get at the oil filler orifice. Marvic style three spoke
wheels look good. Overall the styling reminds me quite a lot of the still
radical Katana shapes but considerably retuned.
The price does a lot to recommend the GSX. At £3,999 it is noticeably cheaper
than the Honda VFR and a bit less than the FZ Yam. Against that it's all a bit
too clinical for my tastes and a bit too unremarkable compared with the grunt of
the Yamaha, the sophistication and style of the Honda and even the questionable
nerves of the Kawasaki GPX.
It's something like trying to remember when you last ate a McDonalds
hamburger  you know it didn't do you any harm, you know it satisfied your
hunger temporarily in a basic fashion but quite where you were and how long ago
it was escapes you completely. Could have been last month, could have been last
year, could have been San Francisco, Croydon or Newcastle. I prefer my food and
my motorcycles to be a bit more memorable than that.
Jim Lindsay

{|  class="wikitable"
|- 
!Make Model
|Suzuki GSX 750F Katana
|- 
!Year
|1988 - 89
|- 
!Engine Type
|Four stroke, transverse four cylinder, DOHC, 4 valves per cylinder.
|- 
!Displacement
|748 cc / 45.6 cu.in
|- 
!Bore X Stroke
|73 x 44.7 mm
|- 
!Cooling System
|Air/oil cooled
|- 
!Compression
|10.9:1
|- 
!Lubrication
|Wet sump
|- 
!Induction
|4 x 36mm Mikuni BST36SS carburators
|- 
!Ignition
|Electronic ignition
|- 
!Starting
|Electric
|- 
!Max Power
|72.9 kW / 100 hp @ 10500 rpm
|- 
!Max Power Rear Tire
|67.3 kW / 90.2 hp @ 10500 rpm
|- 
!Max Torque
|73.5 Nm / 7.49 kgf-m / 54.2 lb-ft @ 9500 rpm
|- 
!Clutch
|Wet, multiple discs, cable operated
|- 
!Transmission
|6 Speed, constant mesh
|- 
!Final Drive
|Chain, 118 Links
|- 
!Final Reduction Ratio
|3.133
|- 
!Gear Ratio
|1st: 3.083 / 2nd: 20.62 / 3rd: 1.647 / 4th: 1.400 / 5th: 1.227 / 6th: 1.095
|- 
!Frame
|Double-cradle steel pipe
|- 
!Front Suspension
|41mm Telescopic fork, coil spring, oil damped, rebound damping adjustable, 3-way adjustable
|- 
!Front Wheel Travel
|125 mm / 4.9 in
|- 
!Rear Suspension
|Link type, gas/coil spring, gas/oil damped, spring pre-load fully adjustable, compression damping force fully adjustable, rebound damping force 4-way adjustable
|- 
!Rear Wheel Travel
|136 mm / 5.4 in
|- 
!Front Brakes
|2 x 290 mm Discs, 2 piston caliper
|- 
!Rear Brakes
|Single 250 mm disc, 1 piston caliper
|- 
!Front Tire
|110/80-17
|- 
!Rear Tire
|150/70-17
|- 
!Caster
|65°
|- 
!Steering Angle
|32°
|- 
!Trail
|101 mm /4.0 in
|- 
!Dimensions
|Length 2130 mm / 83.9 in Width 730 mm / 28.7 in Height 1180 mm / 46.5 in
|- 
!Wheelbase
|1470 mm / 57.9 in
|- 
!Seat Height
|790 mm / 31.1 in
|- 
!Ground Clearance
|140 mm / 5.5 in
|- 
!Dry Weight
|209 kg / 461 lbs
|- 
!Wet Weight
|224 kg / 494 lbs
|- 
!Fuel Capacity
|20 Liters / 5.2 US gal / 4.4 Imp gal
|- 
!Reserve
|5 Liters / 5.3 US qt / 4.4 Imp qt
|- 
!Consumption Average
|6.4 L/100 km / 15.7 km/l / 36.9 US mpg / 44.3 Imp mpg
|- 
!Braking 60 Km/h - 0
|14.1 m / 46.3 ft
|- 
!Braking 100 Km/h - 0
|37.7 m / 123.7 ft
|- 
!Standing ¼ Mile
|11.2 sec / 192.6 km/h / 119.7 mph
|- 
!Top Speed
|234.2 km/h / 145.5 mph

|}

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Suzuki motorcycles]]