Few Japanese motorcycles are held to as high regard as the Suzuki Katana. When it was first released in 1981, it captivated enthusiasts thanks to its then-radical styling—something it would go down the motorcycle hall of fame for. It goes without saying that today’s generation of motorcycle enthusiasts is very much into all things retro. As such, it wasn’t really surprising when Suzuki resurrected the Katana in 2019, and gave it a modern overhaul.
As it would turn out, however, the current generation Katana, or neo-Katana, if you will, isn’t exactly an all-new machine sitting on the bleeding edge of technological advancement. It is, in reality, a dressed up Suzuki GSX-S1000 running an iteration of the engine found in the 2005 GSX-R1000R. That said, the folks over at Hamamatsu have given the Katana a refresh for 2022. Apart from “striking new colors”, the Katana, surprisingly, gets a few refinements when it comes to electronics.
