One of Suzuki’s first racing-inspired scooters, with inverted Showa forks and carbon fiber-look dash panels, the Suzuki Katana was an instant hit and quickly became popular for tuning, with many high-end racing parts. performance from Malossi and many other manufacturers.
Early Suzuki Katanas had the air-cooled Suzuki engine, while later Suzuki Katanas had the new liquid-cooled Suzuki engine, and were designated the AY50R for the race production version.
A notable feature of the Suzuki Katana is its very low gearing, which means the motor makes more revolutions per wheel revolution compared to other scooters, giving very quick acceleration but a lower top speed, even on motors. tuned, most other unrestricted scooters can hold climbs to top speed, but you’ll have a hard time matching a race-tuned Suzuki Katana in shear acceleration.
Although some people find the Suzuki Katana’s low gearing a problem, it is also the scooters greatest strength, with blistering acceleration most other scooters will struggle to keep up in an urban environment as even when others are adjusted and equipped. with performance parts, they’ll still have a hard time matching the Suzuki Katana’s 0-30 times. When trimmed down the liquid cooled Suzuki Katana is pretty much untouchable against every other 50cc scooter on the market these days, only losing out on longer roads where other LC scooters can hit speeds in excess of 50mph.
Suzuki Katana’s are mostly restricted on the exhaust so on early models this requires bundling and replacing with a racing exhaust, while on later versions with a 2 part exhaust you can grind off the internal restrictor cone and re to fit the exhaust. , although nothing will match the performance that an aftermarket racing exhaust offers for the Suzuki Katana. On early models the CDI is also restricted and requires replacement with an aftermarket model, although this is not a problem on later scooters.
As with my usual recommendation, Gianelli Exhausts generally make the best performance exhausts for scooters, and since they’re all electronically branded, they’re completely road legal and come with a warranty when fitted by a licensed mechanic, so they’re By far the best fit option. for the road, the Suzuki Katana and all the other scooters that are being tuned for the road.
When installing a Gianelli race exhaust on your Katana, it will require a slightly taller jetting (0 to 2 sizes on non-catalyzed Suzuki Katana, I don’t think they’ve done any with catalytic converters) and slightly lighter rollers, since tall exhausts performance allow the Katana to make more power but at a higher number of revolutions. Going 0.5 – 1 gram lighter than standard usually works for Gianelli race exhausts on Katana, but it varies between exhausts and tunes, and Suzuki uses 17×12mm rollers.
After fitting a race exhaust, the biggest benefit the Scooter Katana will gain is fitting a performance kit, which adds a 40% increase in capacity and more than doubles the power. Malossi and Polini make the best big bore kits available to tune the Suzuki Katana, and will provide the best performance and reliability compared to the cheapest big bore kits on the market. As capacity increases with the big bore kit, a larger jet is required to be fitted to the carb, usually around 6-8 sizes larger, although it is recommended to do a plug cut after a test ride to verify the jet. your scooter does not run smoothly after adjusting, otherwise it may explode.
When tuning your Suzuki Katana it is important to make sure you are using the best quality full synthetic oil, especially with the Katana’s oil pump system as it can be prone to clogging exhausts, especially standard ones. This is one of the reasons that installing an aftermarket racing exhaust on these scooters can provide such a difference over older models.
After installing the Gianelli racing exhaust and tweaked Malossi 70cc big bore cylinder kit, you will have a scooter with exceptionally quick acceleration, but without a surprising increase in top speed compared to other scooters, due to the low gearing. by Suzuki Katana. Now you can either keep the acceleration snappy or sacrifice a bit and put a gear kit on your Katana, allowing you to use some of this new power provided by your 70cc big-bore Malossi kit to give you a better top end, right. for another 10 mph in most cases. Even though you lose some acceleration by installing a gear kit, your scooter will still accelerate faster than a standard unadjusted Suzuki Katana, so don’t think that a gear kit will make performance worse than before.
For even greater increases in power, larger aftermarket carburetors and variators are available, but they don’t make as big of a difference as Gianelli race exhausts, Malossi big-bore 70cc kits, and gear kits. The variator will provide a substantial benefit if fitted to a Suzuki Katana that is older and has done a lot of mileage as this, combined with a new belt, will provide much smoother acceleration and a slight increase in top speed.
