I blame Tamiya!!

[Nitomor 2122]

So there I was, an innocent kid around 1985, Street Hawk had aired recently and I'd ride my Raleigh Striker bicycle around wearing some massive elasticated black tinted visor I'd bought from a beach shop, must have been fashionable beach wear in the 80's lol, right up until some teenage yoofs laughed at me and said, "ha look, he thinks he's Street Hawk". Must have been a convincing impression then lol, should have taken it as a compliment, instead I engaged hyperthrust and high tailed it out of there! Anyway, must have been the '86 Tamiya catalogue, around the time I got my Hornet, at a time when we all longingly spent hours poring over the Tamiya catalogues, I fell properly in love with my first motorbike. The Suzuki Katana 750S (thank you Tamiya  )

Not hard to see why, I thought it was the most awesome looking motorbike I had ever seen! Just like Street Hawk it had a pop up panel (housing a headlight though, not a laser!) I spent ages staring at it.

Anyway, fast forward 31 years to be precise and I've just turned a childhood dream into a reality...placing a deposit on this little beauty...a 1986 Katana 750SE. It has a lovely story behind it. These were never originally made for the UK market. They were originally made for the Japanese market, where they were restricted by Japanese law to 77bhp. Some were made for export to Canada and Australia too. The Australian bikes, courtesy of the Bathurst 6 hour endurance racing (where they came in third with this bike in 1984 after a Yamaha RZ500 and Honda VF1000) were endowed with a larger 18" rear wheel because it enabled a wider choice of race rubber at the time, along with the full power engine which the domestic bikes had to do without, raising power to 90bhp with wilder cams and bigger carbs.

Fortunately, a logistical error meant that 25 bikes destined for Australia, missed the boat. As a result, Heron Suzuki, the UK Suzuki distributor were offered these 25 orphan bikes which they took in. After successfully selling them, they asked if they could get some more, the only remaining bikes were of the domestic variety and were the restricted versions, subsequently approximately 50 of those made their way here. So only 75 of these came to the uk of which this is one of the coveted 25. All of the ones I have rarely seen over the years had aftermarket pipes on. This one has its original pipes. The current owner, has another UK bike with a tuned GSX1100 lump in it, he was one of the first in the uk to carry out that conversion many years ago and removed his system at the time and put it carefully in storage as they were redundant on his higher powered version. Fortunately they got to see the light of day once more and why the pipes look so mint. The bike has covered an average of 2k miles a year so it's no museum piece, but it's an authentic piece of history and I can't wait to get it. They say never meet your heroes in case they turn out a disappointment but tbh, I'd be as happy just to stare at it again!! 

[iluvmud 812]

Wow! Cool story and an amazing looking bike. Wonder if any ever made it into the us...

[WillyChang 1814]

1 hour ago, iluvmud said:

Wonder if any ever made it into the us...

Nah, you guys drive on the wrong side!! 

Can't just flip Katana's hilt from left to right side, only those skilled in rare art of NiTorYu (Two Sword Style) can safely swing both ways 

[Terz1 745]

Great to see you've got your childhood dream bike in 1:1 scale. As soon as I saw the picture of the bike I thought that looks familiar. I got a bike kit for Christmas and it's just been laid out on the table ready to build. It's the suzuki gsx1100s katana.

I'd love to have a 1:1 scale version like yours. I plan to get my bike license over the coming year. Have fun with yours whether that's riding it or looking at it. I think the gold frame and the front looks much better on the 750 version. Enjoy!

[iluvmud 812]

41 minutes ago, WillyChang said:

 can safely swing both ways 

That has a whole different meaning here in the states.......

[WillyChang 1814]

26 minutes ago, iluvmud said:

That has a whole different meaning here in the states.......

hey afaik it was you guys invented the hippy-thang...!

But much as I love bikes, I'd think twice before parking the

Gilera Fuoco 

behind the

BMW K1200R-Sport !!! 

 

(apologies to OP for derailing thread. T makes a lot of nice bike kits... was looking at the 1/6 Gorilla last week... hmmm, Monkey...)

 

[Nitomor 2122]

5 hours ago, iluvmud said:

Wow! Cool story and an amazing looking bike. Wonder if any ever made it into the us...

Some made it to Canada, I understand they have a green canadian maple insignia on them, at least I read that somewhere. Don't think the states got the 750s pop up. There were other variants, the S1 and s2 750's didn't have the pop up light and looked just like the bigger brother. It was the 1984> series 3 (gold frame) and the 1986> S4 (silver frame) that had the pop up light. The bike was designed by Target in Germany, the pop up was controversial at the time as Suzuki styled that bit themselves.

3 hours ago, WillyChang said:

Nah, you guys drive on the wrong side!! 

Can't just flip Katana's hilt from left to right side, only those skilled in rare art of NiTorYu (Two Sword Style) can safely swing both ways 

Learn something new everyday. I had to look that up, sounded too close to my name lol, I am ambidextrous so does that qualify me for two sword style, I won't say swing both ways lol!! Interestingly, when I play Squash I quite often throw the racquet into the opposite hand instead of playing backhand. Easier for me to pick the ball off the wall like that and drive it into the corner.

3 hours ago, Terz1 said:

Great to see you've got your childhood dream bike in 1:1 scale. As soon as I saw the picture of the bike I thought that looks familiar. I got a bike kit for Christmas and it's just been laid out on the table ready to build. It's the suzuki gsx1100s katana.

I'd love to have a 1:1 scale version like yours. I plan to get my bike license over the coming year. Have fun with yours whether that's riding it or looking at it. I think the gold frame and the front looks much better on the 750 version. Enjoy!

Cool, I'm going to need to get a model of mine now, as a child I tried to get one but they didn't have them at the shop so ended up with a Harley Electraglide and iirc a Marlboro BMW R80? paris Dakar bike. Only the series 3 and 4 750 got the pop up light. S3's were white and S4's silver. I think the SE denotes the full power version with bigger rear wheel, these also had rear indicators on stalks whereas the restricted jdm model had them integrated in the rear light I believe. That Gsx1100 had a 20 uear lifespan, way more than the 750. Yoshimura created 5 very special 1135R models as late as 2001 as its swan song. The weight was cut to under 200kg and power to 150bhp in 2001. In 1981 when launched it was the most powerful mass production motorcycle.

Good luck with your bike license, it's a whole new world on 2 wheels, very liberating and an amazing experience.

2 hours ago, iluvmud said:

That has a whole different meaning here in the states.......

Lol.

Cheers

Nito

[Terz1 745]

You really know your stuff about these. That 1135r looks awesome. My dads always loved his bikes, the family had a bike shop back in the day and raced them so we're planning on going to watch the TT. He liked the old triumphs so that's the bikes I've got in my head from childhood because he was always talking about them as it's what he had in his 20's. I also remember going to my mates as a kid and his uncle popping around on his yamaha virago. He loved that thing. Always polishing the chrome and chalking the letters on the tyres.

 

[Nitomor 2122]

Thanks Terz, your old man will love this website;

http://www.thebikespecialists.com/

 

 

[StrokerBoy 772]

Love the 750 pop-up. Got a garage full of rare JDM bikes but I could find space for one of those. 

[Nitomor 2122]

Cheers SB, I love your collection!! Very special indeed.

I've just sold my track car so am replacing it with a couple of bikes instead. The other is an M1 homologation ZXR750R, my other dream bike from when I first started riding. It's the same year and base homologation bike as the one that took Scott Russell to Kawasaki's first world title (SBK Riders championship) beating Foggy on the Ducati and the uber expensive Honda's, a lovely under dog story! I love homologation bikes, I think they'll hold their money well and seem to be on the up at the moment. I wanted to get in before they become totally unobtainable. Looking at the way cars have gone, something like the Integrale has just gone stratospheric price wise so it seemed a case of now or never

 

 

 

 

[StrokerBoy 772]

15 hours ago, Nitomor said:

I love homologation bikes, I think they'll hold their money well and seem to be on the up at the moment. I wanted to get in before they become totally unobtainable.

There's a lot of stupid prices being asked lately but there are still proper bikes at sensible money out there.

We put this together at Stafford Show a few years ago :

[Nitomor 2122]

Fantastic. Eeny meeny miny mo, For me it's the ZXR's (and the YZF SP I also quite like), the latter haven't gone stupid just yet. The Honda's are high 20's-30k at the moment. My ZXR is featured below. The Suzuki is also a lovely bike, what a lineup, just missing a Yammy!

 

[StrokerBoy 772]

I remember seeing a brand-new 750 pop-up in my local Suzuki dealer back in the early 80's, I knew they weren't a mainstream model but I didn't know the story about why.  Thanks for that.  Your bike looks ace.

As iconic as the 'normal' non-popup Katanas are, I think they've dated quite badly, although fitting different wheels and exhausts makes a huge difference.

You'll love your M1.  My mate let me out on his and I much preferred it to his OW01.

[StrokerBoy 772]

By the way, I used to have a black TDR250 in the late 80's.  I parked up outside a shop once and when I came out a bunch of little kids thought I was Street Hawk.  I pulled a wheelie away from the shops but the backflip was beyond me...

[Nitomor 2122]

Lol, yeah you'd need the thrusters for that!

I bought the box set of Street Hawk recently (maybe 2 years ago) and watched them. George Clooney is even in one episode! I remember how the back flip came about, he used the jump and reverse thrust function or whatever at the same time with Norman shouting "we've never tried it" or something! Good old days.

There is one GSX1100 that looks more up to date/awesome, well a Yoshimura tribute from France dubbed an 1175R, hope the pic comes out. I hadn't previously appreciated it was made right up to 2001!

With regards to the Kawasaki, it has spent 24 years dry stored in an Italian collection, it's only covered 24 miles so needs running in! Seems sacrilege to register it and put any miles on it, but then again, it's the same argument if it were to sit there unused. I plan to do a couple of hundred miles a year with it. It won't appreciate as well as not putting any miles on it, but it has been bought to be enjoyed, not just bought as an investment and I figure it'll still appreciate even with 2-3k on the clock in 10 years time. I've had Millers competition running in oil put in which I plan to drop after 200 miles and refill with the same but fresh oil until 500 miles after which I'll probably switch to Silkolene Pro4 which I run in everything else. Only mods are fresh rubber (Pirelli Diablo Rosso III) and Goodridge brake and clutch lines for which I've gone with the black versions so they look virtually stock, oh and an optimate lead. I've managed to track down some brand new unused workshop manuals and the R supplement.

Do you use your bikes or preserve them? It's a tricky call, easier for the Katana as it already has so many miles on it but a tough call what to do with the R.

 

[Shodog 1835]

Funny how having a toy can inspire something real.  I would love to have a 1:1 scorcher or sand rover someday.  If you're blaming Tamiya for this motorcycle purchase then I blame Kyosho for this one.

 

 

 

I specifically bought a CBR100RR just so i could put the Rothmans livery on it, 

 

[Nitomor 2122]

Excellent, great paintwork, good old Mick Doohan lid on the Kyosho! 

I meant to ask in my original post, who else has been inspired in 1:1 by Tamiya? 

I noted the excellent Brat build in another section of the forum.

[Swarm 242]

You just like Rothmans full stop Shodog ,goes with your Porsche 956,Porsche GT2 and Rough Rider Rothmans theme

I just took stock of a Casey Stoner CBR 1000 Fireblade .......not sure who to blame for that one

Always liked the Repsol livery though ....straight to the pool room literally to join the Yamaha YZF R1.,pool room is getting crowded wont be able to play pool soon !

Then there is the Honda VFR800 VFER the wife and I go touring on .....and her bike a Yamaha FZ6R.

I blame Tamiya as well started building Tamiya static kits back in the 1990's.

[StrokerBoy 772]

3 hours ago, Nitomor said:

With regards to the Kawasaki, it has spent 24 years dry stored in an Italian collection, it's only covered 24 miles so needs running in! Seems sacrilege to register it and put any miles on it, but then again, it's the same argument if it were to sit there unused. I plan to do a couple of hundred miles a year with it. It won't appreciate as well as not putting any miles on it, but it has been bought to be enjoyed, not just bought as an investment and I figure it'll still appreciate even with 2-3k on the clock in 10 years time. Do you use your bikes or preserve them? It's a tricky call, easier for the Katana as it already has so many miles on it but a tough call what to do with the R.

I use them.  Nowhere near as much as I should, but it does them good to be ridden I think.  Having them increase in value is a nice spin-off benefit but it's not why I buy them, I just like having stuff that hardly anyone else has.  My 750RK is quite tatty close-up, I'd like it to be mint but then I'd probably ride it less.  It's a proper one though.  Team Classic Suzuki borrowed it for their display at Stafford last October, where it sat alongside Barry's RG500 and Kenny Jr's RGV500.

 

[StrokerBoy 772]

There's no Tamiya kit of it unfortunately, this is the nearest I've got :

[Nitomor 2122]

Slabby looks great. I tried to find a ZXR static kit but curiously they don't seem to make one!

My wife kindly showed me last night that she bought a static Katana 750S kit for me a couple of days ago, she was scared I'd go off and buy one, looks like a vintage kit as they seem to be unavailable now. Haven't built a static kit for nearly 30 years. My hands are bigger now!

[Supercoolnothing 721]

I haven't converted any of my 1:1 vehicles into tamiya replicas but I did make a tamiya 1/12th scale replica of my 1:1 R1 if that counts?