Greetings from South Africa!

E

Eben

Hi. Name is Eben and I'm from South Africa. Did post a thing or two on the old site some years ago. Joined again after acquiring a beautiful Katana recently. Actually very sad the way I got the Katana. Old friend of mine, David (Dawid Katana) Malan (72yrs) recently found out he has cancer. Things doesn't look good for him as it looks as if it spreading from the lungs to limf nodes to hip bone. He decided to sell his Katanas, giving me and his other good friend, Sagren, a chance to own the Legend. At one time he had close on 10 Katanas, but now "only" 4. Sagren is taking the 1000SZ and the 1100SZ. I'm taking the Yoshi SXZ. Another SXZ still haven't found a good home. A few pics of the Katanas attached. Some info on the Katanas and a few questions I hope you Kat owners can answer.
1000SZ (Striker):
Here in SA some 1000's were dealer painted and called the Striker. In later years all 1000's were called Strikers. According to Dawid all Strikers came with 2 sets of wheels, wires and 3 spoke mags. The Strikers had slide carbs on and came with oil coolers. The wire rear apparently on the 1000 was a 17inch. Some years back Dawid got original 1100 exhaust pipes and fitted them to the 1000. This bike is original, down to the 630 drive chain! Does anybody know how many 1000's came to SA and how many were sold World wide? Does anybody know if the 1100 exhaust pipes differed from the exhaust pipes fitted to the 1000?
1100SXZ:
Some info on the SA SXZ. Apparently only 25 came to SA and to NZ E27 engine spec. NZ apparently got 20. Don't know how many went to Aus? The SA SXZ had slide carbs, round chrome molly swingarm, oil cooler. The SXZ also apparently came with 2 sets of wheels, wires and 3 spoke mags according to Dawid. The wire rear on the SXZ was 18inch. The Vin and Engine numbers definitely identifies this bike as a genuine SXZ. Unfortunately the slide carbs was dumped sometime in its past for CV carbs. Interestingly this bike doesn't have the oil cooler fitted. However, Clive Strugnell owns and races an SXZ from new and his SXZ doesn't have an oil cooler too!? This bike does have the wire wheels too, but Dawid wanted a "different" Katana than the other 2 wire wheeled Katanas, so took them off and fitted the 3 spoke mags instead.
Yoshi SXZ:
This my bike! 1142 Yoshi kit, gas flowed head, wilder Yoshi cams, Yoshi exhaust, V&H air filters. The rear 18inch wire was widened to 4 inches, looks sooooo right! Does anybody know how many SXZ's went to NZ, SA, and Aus? What was the power output of a E27 spec SXZ?
cheers!
Eben
 

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G'day Eben and welcome back, Sad news of your good friends cancers, he had quite a rare collection of all lovely Kats, it appears they have gone to good homes. Cheers and thanks for the update, regards Ian
 
Welcome back Eben, yes sad news on your friend but good to see his Kats are being looked after now.
 
Hi Eben and welcome back. Thanks for posting the details of your Saffer SXZ here on the new Forum as there will be many here who may not be aware of the Saffer SXZ.

Cheers.
 
Welcome back Eben. Sad news of your friend. Next time I am up your way in the Eastern Cape I will make a concerted effort to drive up from Port Elizabeth to have a look at your Kat. Cradock can't be that far!!!
Cheers
Mel
 
Hi Eben, I'm lucky enough to own one of the 20 NZ SXZs, and 20 NZ units are confirmed by Carl Coleman (son of Rod Coleman, the first Kiwi to win a TT at the IoM) who actually placed the order with Suzuki for these machines. Coleman's were the NZ Suzuki importer and distributor at the time. Carl has kept tabs on the SXZs and the last time I saw him, him told me there were about 13-14 survivors, which included 2 or 3 that had been re-framed.

I've never seen any power specs on the SXZ's, but I have ridden both the standard Kat SZ, the 1100EZ (which I owned and had the same spec engine as the SZ) and the SXZ back to back in the 80s, and my abiding impression was that the power delivery was quite different between the 1100SZ and 1100SXZ. This impression was confirmed by a mate who visited from the Gold Coast earlier this year who had also ridden these bikes back in the day and owned an 1100ESD and later an 1150.

The SXZ actually feels a little underwhelming under 4,000 rpm but has a real feeling of "coming on the cam" at about 6,500 and there is this real surge from here through to redline. This sensation is exacerbated by the long travel on the slide carbs - you literally have to take a second grab to get the things fully open. So if you want to go WFO, you have to make a conscious decision and position your hand to do so. By comparison the SZ felt gruntier and crisper down low (I think the CV carbs help here), but the power delivery was far more linear and the top end didn't feel as frenetic.

My SXZ has just had its first oil change at about 1,500 km after the full restoration after sitting damaged in the back of the shed for a criminal length of time. Took it easy for the first hundy or two, more to run myself in and sort out the carburation, and then set about seating the rings with a handful of throttle here and there. To be completely honest I was initially disappointed by the power delivery -strong but nothing startling, until I got her into the upper rev range and the urgency of the acceleration actually came as a bit of an eye-opener. It's reminiscent of a road-going reed-valve two-stroke like an RD400 (owned a couple of those too), tractable enough to putter around on but with a definite character change as the revs build past a certain point. I guess no one will know the real power until one gets put on a dyno....

Anyway, welcome back, and I'm sorry to hear about your friend.
 
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Agree, not much happening below 6500rpm, but after that it goes bonkers all up to 9000rpm and probably beyond too! In fact, my CB1100RB had the better of this Yoshi SXZ below 6500rpm, even with Dawid weighing more than 30kg less than me. Above that however, the Yoshi SXZ just fooked off! I have read somewhere that the E27 spec SXZ made about 15-18hp more than the 108hp of the 1000SZ. I'm only guessing, but suppose my Yoshi SXZ, with 1142 big bore kit, wilder cams, and flowed head, should be good for another 10hp on that. Compared to my 1985 GSXR750, it is hard to tell which would be faster through the gears. A quick compare on paper would suggest about the same power to weight ratio, so should be close. The GSXR however hits rev limiter in top at around 237km/h on the GPS, and the SXZ is geared for about 256km/h. I guess 250km/h would be achievable, haven't yet had the chance to go see what she can do!
 
Just heard the sad news that Dawid Malan (Katana collector of note) that Eben mentioned in his post has passed away after his battle with cancer. Rest in Peace Dawid
Mel
 
What a wonderful collection.....I WANT ONE OF THOSE KATANA WALL HANGINGS, THAT WOULD BE THE ICING ON MY KAT CAKE( so to speak!)...Has any body got one spare to sell me , please.
 
Eben, I'm sorry to hear about your friend.
I'm sure he would have found comfort knowing that his collection of Kat's would be going to a good home and be well looked after,
they're all good looking bikes in great condition.
 
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