92 KATANA

In May of 94 I went and plunked down my good credit on a two year leftover 1100 Katana.Nevermind that I could'nt ride or had inspected a bike up close for that matter.Anyway,I could'nt pass on the "cool" factor.A friend rode it home for me and I spent the rest of the summer learning to ride that big sumbitch. Fall came and so did my first fall at Deal's Gap NC where I leaned entirely too far going entiely too fast and gravity took over where tire friction left off...funny thing about that lowside,2 guys in a pickup stopped to see if I was O.K. They drove off when I asked for help getting the Kat outta the ditch.Assholes! Fast forward about 2 months:insurance check in hand and a small local shop whose owner loves GSX motors and loves to rant on and on about when GS's were KING,"Dave" the owner,sez "Why dontcha put a V+H pipe on for more H.P.?It's lighter too."LIGHTER!!...Great.After pushing that hefty thing outta the ditch (MYSELF!!!) Light sounds good. The pipe made lots of noise,but did'nt really make more H.P.,that I could tell,But HELL,if it's louder it's gotta be faster!(East Tennessee Redneck Law#1).We were having trouble jetting the 34mm carbs for some reason so Dave says "whatcha need is a set of flatslides".If that will cure the crackin and popping when I roll off the gas,git'em.--$600 BUCKS!!!SHIT!ALRIGHT I'LL SELL SOMETHING. We got 36mm and they were worth EVERY penny and really improved throttle response.Now off to practice riding. 1 year and about 4 magazine subscriptions later,I decided the katana needed to be more like a GSXR so I purchased a set of PM rims,wider of course,and GSXR clipons.What was purely for asthetics turned out to be the best improvement I could have made in the handling dept.The wheels gave the KAT a completely different feel. Summer of 96 things started to get a little hairy.Perhaps I read too many articles on "light is right" and went a little crazy.My brother Chris and I tore the entire bike to pieces,save the motor,and began the great weight purge of monsterous proportions.Every bracket that was steel was replaced with aluminum.The mirrors went, turn signals "got smaller",and the windshield motor got tossed.We "swiss cheezed" the battery box and changed the foot pegs to a lighter model.Did all this make it lighter?Probably.Could you feel the difference?Notta chance.All this was a drop in the bucket on a 550+ pound bike. 97 came and so did more mods in the form of an MSD ignition,nitrous,cams,and an overbore.The thing had more go than whoa.I rode it like this all summer til I crashed AGAIN!This time it was a heat/concentration thing.I just fell off! With severe stopping and ground clearance problems,I opted to try another chassis.I bought an 86 GSXR 750 that winter(97) and kept only the frame and tank.I also found a braced 95 GSXR swingarm which fit perfectly with a SniderSpecials swingarm bolt.Then I saved the motor and wheels off the Kat and got rid of the chassis,which by the way was still heavy as hell even with the engine out.Anyway ,I put the Kat motor in the 750 frame and got a 97 GSXR frontend.This configuration got me thru the summer of 98. Just like the 2 previous years,I ended this riding season with another CRASH!I was following a CBR9 entirely too closely through the gap when I leaned deep,deep,deep into a corner and the stupidass hits his brakes!Not wanting to hit him,I snatched the brake a little to hard and wham,Gravity lesson.So that's where we are now.We are gearing up for 99 with a 6 and a quarter rear PM Chicane wheel,new fenders,tailsection,Tank,and an MSD crank trigger.