The Little Katana

The 1982 GS-550M Katana.

Suzuki’s Katana lineup stole the headlines in 1982 with its Star Wars inspired styling. Streetbikes of the early 1980s featured boxy, squared off lines – designer Hans Muth blew that concept out of the water with the Katana. Muth was a hero after his beautiful and sleek design of the BMW R100RS in the late 1970s. But for most sportbike fans Muth missed the mark with the Katana. It was a design that people either loved or hated and the haters definitely outnumbered the lovers. Perhaps the forgotten motorcycle in the Katana lineup was the little GS-550M pictured here. The 550’s lines were a little more subtle and mainstream than those its 1000cc big brother. To my eye this was the best looking of the early ’80s Katanas. The 550 Katana didn’t sell however. By then the engine design was over five years old and Kawasaki had released the lighter and better handling GPz550. The Suzuki gets the last laugh today though. Since the bikes didn’t sell in big numbers it’s rare to find these today and a well-maintained version would certainly fetch more than a  GPz550 of the same vintage.